abrilliantone
26-07-2008, 03:05 AM
http://www.redshift.com/~beyond/real1010.html
REALITY CREATION 1010
FOREWORD
So, who am I to be audacious enough to begin to believe that I can write a book on a topic such as this? At first glance, I'm a 35 year old engineer diagnosed as bipolar with a bunch of bills and insufficient income to pay them. I live in Monterey, and commute over 80 miles each way to work in Sunnyvale, something I've been doing for over four years. Recently, I began sleeping 3 days per week in my van in the parking lot at work -- because I could no longer tolerate the commute yet still needed the weekly paycheck; but also, because I needed to free up some time for writing about the stuff inside of me that feels like it's about to explode.
I've spent 20 years involved in a personal spiritual search, primarily through metaphysics. I've probably read more books than most people read in a lifetime. Further, I've engaged my mind in thinking about various metaphysical principles often and deeply because such activity is one of the greatest pleasures of my life. As a result, my understanding is far superior to my years. No, I haven't used my understanding to eliminate problems in my life, especially monetary ones, mainly because I cannot do so and remain within my integrity. There are many techniques that can be used for the gain of one at the cost of others. These are not acceptable to my consciousness, hence I cannot use them. The only true key I've found to abundance, is that when you are doing work you truly love in line with your purpose, the universe will bestow its great abundance unto you. As yet, I have not been doing this long enough to see the results come forth. I believe that this work that I am now doing is the work of spirit. Much that comes through will be new to me as I write it. Yes, the work will incorporate all of my talents, training, and understanding; but, it will do so in a manner that is fresh -- that includes connections beyond any that I have previously made.
As I write this, I'm excited about what lies ahead. Books are trips for the mind. The ideas they convey provide us with internal revelations and experiences that can change us forever. They can point out new ways of seeing things that alter our very reality. As the writer, I get an even more intense experience than you the reader. For you see, my consciousness must experience the meaning of the words before it is allowed to express them. At least such has been my experience over the past year or so.
One of the main reasons my consciousness is being used for this task is that I have a balance between scientific and metaphysical backgrounds. It seems it is time to start looking at various metaphysical teachings regarding the nature of reality using more of the scientific method, yet at the same time being open to the nature of beliefs and allowing more subjective validation of the utility of the resulting models. It's as if both science and metaphysics have reached the limits of where they can truly go on their own. Their union is required to propel knowledge further by allowing the best and the brightest on the planet to use all of their resources in pursuit of knowledge and Truth. The power that can be unleashed is enormous. The inventions and the results that will come from the union will be beyond imagination.
To some degree, this marriage of science and metaphysics already exists within my mind. It has taken over 20 years for the gestation however, since it is only recently that concepts have started to be born within my mind that truly involve both parents. Science and metaphysics were both a part of my life. One was my occupation, the other my passion and preoccupation. Now, I'm starting to see that both are integral to my life, both will be required for me to progress further so that I can finally do the work I came to the planet to do. This work involves the communication of a vision of what the world will be in the Age of Aquarius, and to start to bring forth the ideas and methods necessary for the building the foundation for this new world.
Big task for someone who is only 35. Maybe, but someone's got to do it. One of my friend's once told me, "In the times ahead, if you see a task to be done, and you have the right abilities, then it's probably yours to do." Lately, I've taken an attitude that involves doing what I know to be my tasks. After all, what's there to lose. If I don't succeed, I'll have learned some tremendous lessons anyway. If I do succeed, I've given those who thought I wouldn't a whole lot to think about. Besides, the ultimate fate is in accord with the Plan. I can only do what I believe that it calls for me to do. From the flow of this writing, my sense is that this be it, at least for the moment. All we can do is let the moment extend to the Eternal NOW. All that happens will happen as it unfolds in that one moment.
This book is titled Reality Creation 1010. Even though it deals with basic principles, this is far beyond what mere introductions of the 101 variety bring to people. Also, we feel that this topic itself is definitely graduate material. Those reading this are preparing to graduate into the Age of Aquarius -- a level beyond your wildest imagining. In addition, 1010 is 10|10 = 22, 1|010 = 12, |1010 = 10. All three of these numbers have a hidden significance. Twenty-two is the completion of the cycle through the major arcana of the Tarot. Our hope is to attempt to impart knowledge corresponding to that level of awareness. Twelve is the completion number of the pyramid of man (physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual sides). Ten is another type of completion of man, one step beyond the enneagram. Further, reality creation is a topic for beings who are rediscovering their true nature as the gods/goddesses that they are.
The truth is we create our own reality. We do it all the time, both personally and en masse. This book attempts to explain how this is done, by proposing a series of models as conceptual frameworks that explain various aspects of what is created to various degrees. It does not prove that these models are valid, but it does provide criteria for evaluating utility of the various models in your own life. We are breaking new ground here, trying to talk in a scientific way about things that have been outside the realm of science. However, this attempt is necessary at this time so that appropriate energy can be applied to thinking in new ways about one of the most intimate and important topics around -- the very nature of how we create reality. CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO REALITY: A NEW LOOK
Before we get to reality creation, we had better take a look at reality itself and define exactly what we mean. And I don't mean pull out Websters. If you're reading this, you've existed long enough that you should have a resonable concept of what constitutes reality. Anyway, I'm going to assume this is true for myself and provide what comes to mind in this area as a basis for the discussion in this chapter.
The consensus belief is that reality is the world outside us, the world that we touch with our senses, an objective thing that is the same for all of us. Reality is the stuff that science can deal with. Occassionally, it stretches into our very bodies, but only on terms that science can understand objectively. Whenever we cross the objective/subjective boundary, we start leaving the realm where conventional reality dwells.
Part of reality lies in the organization and structures of the things that are within reality. Part of this includes the behavior and mores of the society. In addition, feelings and emotional states are allowed a place as well, but on fuzzier ground, and primarily as tied to specific physical conditions. Psychology and psychiatry are still relatively primative ways for dealing with the complexities of emotional and mental behavior.
The difference between fantasy and reality often resorts to looking at what is out there in the "real world". The external world is treated as the truth or the standard. The images in our minds are representations of this reality and may be distorted from the real thing.
I find it difficult to deal with a view of reality that separates itself from the consciousness that experiences this reality. From the point of view of an individual, there is an inner and an outer reality. The outer reality includes everything I sense with my senses, including others that appear to be as I am. The inner reality is one of thoughts, feelings, models about the world, and models about myself. The inner reality is the one that is the most prominent. It is where the majority of life is lived. Then again, this may be because I'm an introvert. I don't have the experience to know whether extroverts see life this way. Regardless, these two level of reality exist, and it is the experience of the individual that determines the ultimate nature of reality.
There is an argument against this. It would say that if one is perceiving reality incorrectly, then what one is seeing is not reality but a distortion. The idea being that the distortion of the instrument perceiving bears nothing on the nature of the object of perception. It's a nice little argument really, until one considers that all of our sensors are instruments as well -- instruments with biases and filters that allow us to see the world in the way we do. For instance, our eyes behave as bandpass filters that emphasize higher frequency components. This allow us to see edges and changes much more sharply, resulting in an image that is of greater utility to us in interacting with the world. Scientists can back off the impacts of this filtering to find out what the world "truly" looks like. When they do, the result is much more blurry -- literally, the world that we would see would be much different. From many standpoints, it would be different enough that we might call it a different world. What would be our reality then? Is it what we perceive or is there really an objective reality out there independent of a perceiver? Also, what about those who are blind? Clearly, their reality is different from those who are sighted. But, how different is it really? What happens when one cannot perceive things that the consensus humanity perceives? In the case of the blind person, suppose he develops his other senses to compensate for the lack of sight. He is developing his senses in a manner that any other might assuming that they had sufficient discipline. The result is being able to perceive different aspects of the world that many never sense. Yet, this is reality too. It is perceived. Sensors suitably calibrated could theoretically detect the subtle inputs. But it is the mind of the perceiver that translates this all into meaning.
This is an important question. To what does reality apply? We would argue that it applies to a being of intelligence experiencing its existence, period. Reality is what that being experiences. Our concepts of reality should thus include all that this encompasses. We might take this one step higher and also consider a group of intelligent beings experiencing their existence in a shared world. The Earth and Nature appear to be common components of reality that apply to everyone yet are outside of anything that we create in our heads. Many other components exist primary as constructs that we believe and use to explain things.
Maybe we should consider reality to occur at levels of existence. Rocks, minerals, and inanimate things occur at one level. Flora, fauna, and the abundance of nature occur at another level. Man occurs at still another -- where consciousness starts to abide more fully. That is, consciousness can potentially abide more fully.
All levels of reality exist, but only some are relevent to us in considering the nature of reality creation. Science has uncovered theories for how much of the basic stuff came into existence. These may or may not be correct. Focused HERE and NOW, much of it has little importance anyway. The bottom line is that there is a given amount of physical stuff from which to construct forms at any of these levels. Nature uses much of the stuff in ecosystems that provide an incredible diversity of plant and animal life. Further, nature sculpts the lands in incredible ways via a handful of basic operations used in a variety of ways. Here, too, science has its theories although even such basic things as weather show incredible complexity.
Personally, I believe in the power of simplicity. Truth should be expressed succinctly and easily when it has been rightly and fully understood. Where great complexity is required to explain something, the keys have not yet been found to unlock the complexity.
Everything comes down to meaning, the meaning of experiences in our lives. Our inner world thrives on such meaning. We constantly evaluate what the things, events, and experiences in our lives represent. What do they really mean? On the one hand reality involves what something is. On the other hand reality involves what something means. Yep, what it is and what it means. Those are the two main issues. Now we can ask a series of questions:
What are physical objects?
What do physical objects represent? .
What is life?
What meaning does life have? .
What is nature?
What meaning does nature have? .
What are emotions?
What meaning do emotions have? .
What are thoughts?
What meaning do thoughts have? .
What are humans?
What meaning do humans have? .
What is consciousness?
What meaning does consciousness have?
Thus far, science has addressed the first three sets in detail, and the next four only in limited areas from limited perspectives. However, science is typically very light when it comes to dealing with the issue of meaning. This is typically left as a matter for religion. The major reason for this is that answering the what question is usually sufficient to being able to use knowledge in ways that "benefit" mankind.
From another standpoint, reality is you and the worlds in which you exist. These worlds include the physical world, the emotional world, the mental world, and the spiritual world. The outer world is primarily the physical world though it also includes exchanges with other beings at the emotional, mental, and spiritual levels. From the world standpoint, it is useful to know what objects exist in each world and how those objects behave. In addition to know what interchanges happen between worlds, and what correspondences appear between objects and interactions in different worlds. For instance, particular emotions may always result in the same body conditions such as breating rate, blood pressure, heart rate. They may also be tied to the same types of thoughts as well. From that standpoint, there is truly one interrelated world -- though it is useful at times to talk about it as if it had separate component parts.
OK, so where does meaning come into the picture? Ultimately, reality for an individual is the meaning that one gets from one's experiences.
I'm a monk living in a dark cave. Reality has little to do with the physical senses and everything to do with emotions, thoughts, and spiritual experiences. For all practical purposes, the physical world is illusion -- possessing much less force within my awareness than the visions that may be played out in my mind.
I'm a person from a small town with a limited education who has never ventured outside of my own town. My world is relatively small, confined to a limited geographic area. It matters not that there is a large city 200 miles away. For all I truly know, that is mere fantasy. In fact, I may have a hard time believing that the world is other than flat. My experience is that I travel in straight lines, and I don't see far enough to force my reasoning to think in any other manner. I may know quite alot about the woods, farmland, streams, vegetation, and wildlife in my particular area but I haven't extended this to a concept of nature encompassing the entire planet.
I'm a rocket scientist. I know the laws of physics and many of the laws of chemistry. I know the Earth is a sphere and that there are other planetary bodies out there. I know that I can use the physical laws to calculate the orbit for any rocket I design. Much of my knowledge about the world is mental, not from direct experience, but from reading the results of the experiences of others. Most of these results have been confirmed by multiple sources adding to their credibility. I live and work in a primarily mental world, a world where concepts about the physical world are discussed. Occasionally we get an opportunity for a physical experiment to bring back new data.
I'm a psychic who sees auras, and makes my living doing readings for people. I see bands of color around my clients which over many years I learned to interpret. These color bands appear around other living things as well. To see these bands clearly, I have learned to alter my state of awareness slightly so that my eyes perceive differently. These energy bands convey information about health, abilities, significant occurances, and other history information about each person. People are dynamic information systems or energy systems that broadcast their energy to the world constantly.
These a just a few examples. Look how different reality is for these four individuals. Literally, the reality they experience is different. All would have a hard time really relating to any of the others. It's not a matter of which one of them is correct. They all are. The problem is the one of blind men and the elephant. Reality is the large and intricate thing. We are blind men with a few sensors and a brain in which we create the conceptual context to make sense of our experience. Because we only need enough of a context to explain the parts of the world that we personally interact with, each of us creates our own and refines it as we go through life. Part of this framework is created as models, and part as a belief system. We typically change the framework only when confronted by sufficient evidence which does not fit.
The bottom line from this is that reality is truly something beyond which we can completely describe. There are many parts to it, each of which various disciplines can describe and define. But our knowledge is insufficient to even attempt to describe the whole, yet. We have to be satisfied with that part we can describe. When we talk about reality creation in this book, we limit ourselves to that part of reality that is personal, the part we experience as individuals and as groups of human beings. Science has already explored much of the physical world and nature, so we'll stay away from those areas and focus more on the nature of personal reality, primarily those aspects that we experience in our head, though we may also get into our bodies a bit.
Personal reality primarily involves the meaning that we give to things and events in our lives and how we respond or react to this meaning. It deals with what we see and why we see it, what we feel and why we feel it, what we think and why we think it, what we know and why we know it, and what we do and why we do it. These are some pretty heavy topics, but at the same time this is everyday stuff, so it shouldn't take a Ph.D to figure it out. After all, each of us do these things (see, feel, think, know, do) in the course of each and every day.
This is the bulk of where reality lies. How do I know this? Simply because this is what we spend most of our time doing. It is only logical that reality would be found where the bulk of our existence is found. If not, we live most of our lives in unreality or illusion. That might make sense if you subscribe to eastern philosophy and religions or if you're committed to "A Course in Miracles", but for the masses in the west, this is a rough one to take. Personally, I'd prefer to believe that our current experience is real -- it is the reality we are experiencing. Whether this is the true reality is another matter that is left to spirituality. The reason for wanting to understand reality creation is twofold: first, to allow us to make this one better for ourselves and others; second, to allow us to understand more of what the true reality is like.
Some things about reality are common. They provide a common background environment in which we can allow experience our personal reality and interact with others. Other parts of reality are private -- the things in our heads or in the places that we keep closed and guarded from others. Both are important. For me, the private part has been the most important, however this is starting to shift. Overall, I believe the outer has been far more important than the inner for far too long. We embarked on the scientific adventure in the early 1600's and have been pursuing it relentlessly for 400 years. In that pursuit, we've focused strictly on explaining as much of the outer world as we could using the scientific method. The hope was that by understanding this world we would better understand ourselves. It is not clear that we've achieved this. One only has to go back to Socrates and Plato to find basic questions that could be asked by the Ancient Greeks yet still cannot be answered even with all of our science and technology. The problem is that these disciplines deal with entirely different parts of the elephant that we call reality. We have small disciplines in the social sciences that have attempted some work in the areas we are concerned with, but the successes have been relatively few, and the models relatively shallow. Much of this is due to lack of resources and funding. We get what we focus upon. If we want answers in particular areas, we need to get quality people and apply them to the task at hand for as long as it takes to get results.
One of the most complex machines on the planet is the human brain. Yet, we have very few people truly studying it to understand how it works. Don't get me wrong, there is much more research now than there has even been. Also, it is not an easy task. Essentially, we are asking a machine to understand itself -- but, this is what self-awareness is all about. And, self-awareness is one of the key behaviors that must be included within the definition of reality. The key reason for this is that shifts in the level of awareness change the very nature of reality that is experienced by the individual, and many times, change it permanently. Any concept of reality that does not encompass these kinds of reality shifts -- does not deal with the most important aspects of personal reality.
We experience reality every moment of every day, both while asleep and while awake. However, we have another reality as an observer who watches our activities as we perform them -- physical, mental, and emotional activities. When we experience ourselves as this observer, we are operating from a spiritual standpoint that is as much a part of our reality as any other. It's interesting, we can be doing, feeling, thinking, and watching simultaneously as if one point in all four of our bodies were merged together at once. This, too, is part of our experience -- at least for those of us who have achieved this level of awareness. It's almost like a game, with our state of consciousness determining the level we have achieved. I don't even begin to know how many levels there are. Further, I refuse to discuss levels beyond those I have experienced. I have read of others, but until I personally experience them, they are as fantasy to me. Actually, provided I have confidence in the author, they are treated as likely possibilities.
Regardless of the number of levels or their structure relative to one another, it is important to realize that there are several levels and that each of these levels is just as much a part of reality as any other. There is still one overall reality, but it is of such complexity that we are only familiar with the pieces that we experience regularly. Our growth involves learning about behavior on the various levels and doing what is required to achieve higher and higher levels of understanding and awareness. Awareness involves being able to perceive, interpret, feel, understand, and create reality. Yes, that's a lot of stuff. But, reality is that big of a subject. Our awareness is our primary tool for dealing with reality. Our ego is the conscious part of our awareness most intimately connected with reality.
(http://www.redshift.com/~beyond/real1010.html#TOC)
CHAPTER 2: SO, WHAT IS REALITY CREATION?
Reality creation is how reality is constructed. In particular, it includes how we create the reality we experience as individuals and en masse. Given the scope of reality discussed in chapter 1, this is a broad topic as well, containing many aspects and nuances. Here, we'll provide an introduction sufficient to establish an overall framework for further chapters.
Reality creation is what human life is all about. We are creators, learning of our own true nature. It is through our experience of reality that we discover that we are creators and start learning the basics of how we create the reality we experience. This is basic stuff, but it is not simple stuff. It takes achievement of a relatively rare level of awareness to even begin to understand this. Perhaps I should have mentioned this as a prerequisite for this book. Some things I just take for granted. Be forewarned, if you are already lost, maybe you should start somewhere else. I recommend my previous book, Beyond Imagination: Foundations for Creating a New World, as a place to start. It provides a recommended reading list that will provide a thorough introduction to much that is understood about reality creation.
As individuals, the general understanding is that reality is what happens to us. Many believe that they have no control over it, whatsoever. If you're in this camp I'm not sure you'll find this book of much use except in presenting alternatives that you might find sufficiently empowering to start believing in them. I'm assuming that most readers are coming in with a basic understanding that we create our own reality. The Nature of Personal Reality by Jane Roberts is a great place to start for gaining a background understanding.
Creation of the natural background to reality is done primarily by Nature. Further creation of physical reality is done via ideas which get translated into the resources and labor necessary to fabicate the objects required or change the natural state of the background. This work can be easy or difficult depending on how attuned it is to natural laws and principles. Everything that humans create comes first from the idea or mental picture.
Emotions and ideas are also creations in and of themselves. They, too, are part of reality -- hence the process for generating them or bringing them into this existence is reality creation as well. I would argue that this is one of the most important areas of reality creation because of it fluidity and the rapidity with which things can happen.
The bottom line is that reality creation is going on all the time and we are all participating in it in a most intimate manner whether we are aware of it or not. In fact, most of us are not aware of how we are creating reality even though we know or observe that we are doing so. For instance, few of us understand where our thoughts originate. They just appear in our heads. Similarly, we don't know where our words come from when we speak. We know they come through our mouths and that we speak them, but we don't know how this really happens. Similarly, we feel emotions. Typically, we sense that these surface or arise in reaction to things going on in our lives, but we don't know exactly how circumstances trigger emotional and mental states. We know the body is involved as well via hormones and other chemical and electrical mechanisms, but the physical effect is simultaneous with the emotional one.
So, it's obvious that much of reality creation happens at levels that are outside of our normal conscious awareness. However, we can become more aware of how this takes place even though we don't consciously control what is happening. As an analogy, consider a planet. We can observe the planet in the sky and plot its position over time to get an understanding of how it moves relative to us. If we want to know more, we find that it's necessary to create models of the solar system and equations for planetary motions. From these equations we are able to plan the course of objects (satellites) that we design to perform specific functions. Now, we didn't consciously create the planets or the natural laws that govern them. However, by understanding something about the reality that resulted from that creation, we are then able to consciously create new things that utilize that understanding to result in a desired behavior for the satellite.
Science has shown us how to do this amazingly well. Technology progresses at rates that were undreamed of as a result. Unfortunately, we have not yet applied these same methods and laws to our inner reality as well to achieve the same kinds of results. The major reason for this is one of resources and attention. For 400 years, we've allowed science to dominate nearly everything. It has been an innate part of our world view for these four centuries, and has been the dominant part for nearly 100 years. In fact, technology moves so fast now that it is nearly impossible for society to keep up with it. Inherently, there is no reason why consciousness technology can't proceed at a similar pace to allow us to harness more of the power of our minds.
We've reached a state where information has become extremely valuable. Some say we are in the midst of the Information Age. To a large degree this is true. Processing of information occupies a large part of our lives. It did anyway, even when it was only sensory types of information. But now, we live in a conceptual world that we create in our heads. We use this conceptual world to store information about the real world and to assess or determine the meaning of particular events or combinations of circumstances. For some people, this is a relatively simple model. For others, it is much more complex. Generally, there may be many models that cover various aspects of the world where the detail is determined by interest. The bottom line, however, is that everyone builds models to simplify how they interpret the complexities of reality. We must be careful however, because the models we use act like glasses as well, only allowing particular information from the outside world to get through.
From the top level perspective, reality includes an outer world that provides a common background, and a bunch of individuals who have bodies in the outer world but who construct their own inner world. These individuals interact with the outer world and with other individuals but do so through a finite set of senses and with filters determined by the inner models they have of their world. One of the major tasks is for individuals to get their models of the world in agreement with their observation of the world. Note how much this sounds exactly like what science has done with the physical world. We observe and create models that account for what we see. From a consciousness standpoint, we need to do the same. We observe what we experience, then attempt to account for that experience. Personally, I've been in the midst of some major changes of consciousness. My motivation in writing this is to take a first cut at explaining what I've experienced. One side effect of writing this is that I activate one of the chief operating principles of life:
[B]You Teach Best What You Most Need to Learn.
I believe that came from the Messiah's Handbook in Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah by Richard Bach. Heaven knows, this is the most important thing for me to learn at this time! My belief is that further it is one of the most important things for all of humanity -- for it is the very key to the kingdom. It is the step that allows us to transition consciousness into the Aquarian Age.
As you can probably tell, I'm most concerned about reality creation at the individual level. That is the part that we have some control over. I'm also interested in reality creation at the mass level -- because I believe it is the joint individual creation that results in the outer reality. Also, much of our personal reality relates to how we interact with our world including all the other people we deal with. Individual and mass reality are merged in major ways so that it is nearly impossible to separate the them in practice. However, there is still some utility in doing so in theory. Primarily because it makes our models simpler to understand and use to create change.
We already create our reality. Yes, every one of us. The trick is to do so consciously rather than subconsciously or superconsciously. We want to be aware of what we are doing. Note: this doesn't mean that events and circumstances will change. It only means that we'll be more aware of how things are working and what is going on. Our reality however will be quite different, because our focus, interpretation, and understanding will be different.
We live in an elaborately constructed play where the scenes, events, and symbols make sense no matter what level of awareness we are at. One of the things that keeps the play interesting is that we never know what level other people are at. The bandwidth for communications channels is too short to convey anything but a minute part of what we are. We are simply too complex for that. In fact, part of what allows communication at all, is the assumption that the receiving party is like unto us, so that we don't have to convey much background. It's amazing that we're able to communicate at all. Further, the communications process itself provides limited opportunity for feedback to see whether our words convey the desired message. Overall, the process is very loose. The medium of words is a poor channel for conveying information, but it is one of the most flexible and useful ones that we have available to us as individuals. Images and expressions have great informational content as well because they map to greater levels of organization in the receiving individuals. Also, the bandwidth of images is higher allowing information content to be conveyed more quickly.
Part of reality creation involves how we interact with others in a variety of frameworks and settings. Overall, we believe that we consciously choose much of how this occurs. We believe that we have free choice at any points where decisions are made. There is no basis of fact to show that it truly works this way. Decision points appear to offer choices, but we have no way to return to the same point to see for certain whether an alternate choice could have been made. We would not be able to detect from the reality that we perceive whether the choice was executed according to a script or whether we truly have free choice. From my vantage point, we do have free choice in these matters, but we do not consciously execute the choice, we simply enact the result of what a higher part of ourselves has already scripted. This distinction is important. One of the highest goals is Self-awareness. We achieve this by understanding our true nature as spirit and as a creator of our own reality. So long as we continue to go through the play as if we consciously had choices about things, we delay the realization that there are other components of ourselves behind the scenes responsible for creating much of what we experience. It is only when we become aware of these other parts of ourselves that we grow in consciousness to understand whom that we are. One of the major lessons in life is that of my will vs Thy Will. However, it can't be learned until one understands my will to begin with. Further, one must understand that free will operates through it all.
Free will is an interesting aspect of reality creation. Yes, it always applies. However, it applies to our entire self. We have the freedom to create, but we are responsible for our creations as well. We know this at a soul level. We don't typically know this at the physical consciousness level. It is equally true at all levels, however. Part of how reality is created is in terms of action/counteraction pairs that show up as balancing events in our lives. As awareness, we are an observer of these events riding along for the show so that we can learn from what we observe. In drawing conclusions, constructing models, and creating beliefs we set up our apparatus for understanding ourselves and our world. Part of this apparatus is about the very nature of ourselves and of reality. This later part is the area where reality creation happens. The key mechanism at play is that we get what we focus on subject to the basic rule of:
As ye sow, so shall ye reap.
Personal responsibility is the first lesson. Closely aligned with this is the principle of right interaction with others:
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
Until these two basic lessons are learned, there is no firm basis on which fully conscious reality creation can begin to proceed. Once one has achieved these two, however, an instinctual yearning for something more begins. Then the directive:
KNOW THYSELF!
becomes operative and the adventure into understanding the nature of consciousness and the true nature of reality finally begins. At this point, one finds that as one's level of awareness changes, the reality that one experiences changes. The true reality is consciousness itself, not the experiences of consciousness. The experiences are but illusions passing on a screen, illusions with meaning, yes, but illusions none the same. The problem with this is that achieving and maintaining an awareness of one's nature as consciousness is difficult to do when one's beingness is couched in flesh. Yes, there is a purpose for this. We are learning to be creators of a higher order. Presently we create reality. And what an elaborate and beautiful reality it is. Overall, our consciousness is learning to create beings of its own order couched in its creations to as high as a degree as is possible. You could say we are attempting to create gods on Earth, beings truly able to create their own reality consciously. The key to it all is getting individuals to take the initiative to know thyself rather than be so immersed in the activity of the game. Looking around the country and the world today, clearly this is no easy task. Those of you who are on this path, congratulations, pursue it to whatever degree you are able. This is one of the areas where free choice truly reigns. At any time, anyone can choose to see things differently and embark on their personal quest for self- knowledge. They will find that the doors are opened at whatever pace they are willing to go in their quest -- subject only to what level of understanding they achieve and their willingness to follow the signs and take the gifts that their consciousness sends to them. Note, however, that some lessons take time to unfold. Why does it work this way? Simply because consciousness is elegant in how it creates the Play, and events and opportunities appear per the Play. An individual's free will determines what shift in awareness occurs as a result of the scene being played out. The new awareness then lines up further events and opportunities.
One of the first lessons in knowing thyself is learning that:
We create our reality through our beliefs.
Why is this so? Because beliefs represent our conscious understanding of ourselves and our world. They filter everything we percieve and govern how we interpret reality. Further, since this is such an important lesson, the law of like attracts like assure that we attract the appropriate events and circumstances to conform with our beliefs. Occasionally things will be brought to our attention to get us to question beliefs that may be in error in an attempt to spur our growth, but typically it is left to us to become interested in knowing ourselves.
The complexity of the physical instrument comes into play as well. It is not yet clear what process the brain must go through to accommodate increasing levels of consciousness and awareness. Because we are creating physical bodies, the organization of the brain is a major consideration. It is the seat of our physical consciousness and to some degree must be programmed to give it functionality. It's not that all of our intelligence must reside within the physical body, but enough of it must be there to allow our consciousness to drive the body from within the brain. Part of how reality is created is to partition specific functions out to smaller units of consciousness so that the greater part of consciousness can focus on higher level of functionality and awareness. To enflesh itself to a greater degree, consciousness must continually work on its creation in ways that result in increased ability to accommodate awareness. Consciousness itself is pure awareness without form. It seeks to express itself as awareness within form. All of evolution has been an elaborate experiment in expressing consciousness in form. Human evolution has been an experiment in creating fully self-aware life. Dolphins and whales have already achieved this. We still have a ways to go, but we're getting there rapidly.
We have complete control over our beliefs. Many may have been adopted during our childhood, but we are free to reexamine these and change them at any time. One of our key methods for controlling the reality we create is by taking control of our beliefs and adapting them so that they serve us rather than hinder us. In particular, we need to closely examine beliefs about who and what we are. These are core beliefs that define much that we will experience. A second area of core beliefs involves the basic nature of our world or our reality. These too need to be closely examined to determine their impact on our experience. A key belief that is useful is:
We are consciousness housed in a body.
We are not strictly confined to a body. First and foremost, we are consciousness. Secondly, we are enfleshed in a body. Yes, this body is important -- but only as the vehicle for allowing consciousness to be enfleshed. Consciousness can only be enfleshed to the degree of our awareness of our nature. The consciousness part of us is not created as the body is. It enters at some point to drive the biological machine. All the minute details of body creation are driven by consciousness in accord with the Plan and with spiritual laws. In addition, a conscious part of the brain is programmed to become aware of its identity as "I". The program is allowed to grow subject to appropriate spiritual laws. As it grows, some of its activities lead to increased awareness of itself. First this is reflected as an awareness of its abilities and talents and awareness of self as doer. As it becomes more aware, consciousness, as the programmer, nurtures it further by feeding it reality for it to digest and draw further conclusions from. At some point the entity becomes aware of itself observer, separate from the awareness that was immersed in physical reality. As it questions the very nature of itself, it grows ever more aware until it knows that it is consciousness. At this point it has truly realized that:
We are in this world, but not of this world.
This world is an illusion, an elaborate one, but an illusion none the less. That doesn't alter the fact that it is reality. It just means that reality is truly an illusion, just as a movie on a screen. Also there is great meaning in the illusion. After all, the actors are real even if the parts they play are not. In our world, not only are the actors real, but they don't even realize they are actors since they are only allowed to experience the play moment by moment. Further, in our play, the actors must start with a very limited understanding of who they are and why they are there at all. It makes for a very interesting challenge.
Because we are in this world, we accept particular rules for creating reality in accord with spiritual laws and the Play. Also, we must take care of maintaining basic functions in accord with the rules for reality creation within the dimensions in which we operate. Part of this is required because consciousness is co-creating reality and there must be an overall consistency in order for individual experiences to make sense in the context of the Play and the individuals understanding of reality. Activities involving multiple individuals must be coordinated for the Play to be enacted properly.
To make the overall framework for reality even more challenging we must realize that the lessons at each level are relative, not absolute. They are not meant to be carried to extremes and the context in which they operate may be limited. For instance, we create reality through our beliefs is only a partial truth. It does not mean necessarily that every belief will be manifest. Consistency in beliefs is also needed. Further, if beliefs are in error, reality specifically may not conform to the belief to point out the error. The strength of the belief is as important as well. Beliefs with more emotion and conviction are more likely to be manifest. Another basic law is:
Laws may change with the level of awareness.
As the level of awareness grows, the place at which conscious reality creation occurs changes and the interpretation of reality may be completely different. One could say that as awareness changes so does one's world. On a mass level, however, the world remains the same for the most part. We have not experienced individual attaining a mass awakening on a large enough scale to cause a significant world change, at least not instantly. Some of the historical disappearances of large groups such as the Mayans may have been due to consciousness shifts. Changes in technology, and in particular transportation have made the world a very different place in the past 100 years, dramatically affecting our personal understanding of the meaning of time and space.
The nature of the Play makes it appear that everything happens relatively smoothly over time. We need to make sure we don't confuse appearance with reality. We experience reality only in the moment. We may have memories of the past and expectations of the future, but the only time we ever experience reality is NOW. We exist here and now. We always have and always will. There can be no other time for awareness. Consciousness itself is beyond time and space. It is eternal, immortal, universal, and infinite. This is our heritage as sparks of consciousness. It is our true nature. Realizing that, however, is another matter. And we are here, now, to realize it as much as possible within this physical form. Since all is here and now, change can happen in a moment as well. At any moment, the current act could come to a close, and a new act in the Play could begin. This is what happens when consciousness shifts occur on a massive scale, or when consciousness has generated a new physical pattern capable of holding increased awareness. In time, this may take awhile to occur, especially if the background reality is to be maintained. After all, we can't have violations of natural laws appearing out of the blue to large numbers of people, can we? They just wouldn't know what to do. However, if we examine the Play, and look at what ideas the mass consciousness is being exposed to, we can start to see some of the overall directions in which reality is moving to allow change to happen at warp speeds compared to what has transpired in the past. I know, the past does not exist, but the rememberence in our minds is real whether the supposed events were real, illusion, or even imagined. Also, from a reality creation standpoint its useful to see whatever parts of the Play we are aware of from a more global perspective. This allows us to see how the whole mechanism was constructed. Yes, the place where reality happens is the moment. But, we're stepping back from that to try to understand how each moment was created to begin with. Also, it's useful to understand where our drama begins and ends, and what major themes are being carried out for our illumination. At some level we are a group consciousness as well, and the larger reality is being carried out for that group. Now that group recognizes itself as one entity composed of individuals, just as we are composed of individual cells.
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CHAPTER 3: ON MODELS AND PARADIGMS
My scientific/technical background has taught me the value of using models to describe how something works. In our case we want to develop models that are useful in explaining the nature of reality and the process of reality creation. Many of the models that I intend to elaborate on were introduced informally in the previous chapter. You'll see them again in much more detail in the chapters that follow. Before we get to those chapters I'd like to explain a few things about what models are, why we use them, and how we use them. In addition, an introduction to paradigms is in order as well. I suspect that many of you reading this will already have been exposed to the concept of paradigms, but, nonetheless, I'd like to provide some words on why and how I use them in the context of understanding reality creation.
What Models Are
Models are representations of things, processes, systems, behavior, or concepts. The ones of most value in our particular context are conceptual models that deal with the nature of reality and process or behavioral models that deal with how reality is created. Models have varying levels of complexity depending on the nature of what is being modeled and the fidelity that one wants in the output. Fidelity deals with how closely one wants the model to approximate reality. All models are representations of the real thing. As representations, they generally make simplifying assumptions about whatever is being modeled. Typically, models must be validated to assure that they behave appropriately in accord with what is being modeled.
Reality is an extremely complex entity involving a whole lot of stuff. In this book we deal with a high level of abstraction of reality that is primarily centered on the functions centered in the brain that experience and interpret reality and that are involved in self-realization. We also discuss the functions performed by consciousness itself and how these map to the functions that are physically expressed. Where possible, I'll attempt to validate the models that I discuss. However, in many cases the concepts are so new that the utility of the model must be judged based on experience in using it.
Why Models
We use models because they provide a simplified means for us to understand behavior of complex systems. At least, that's why I use them. Models also provide a framework for organizing our knowledge about a system. When the framework is structured properly it facilitates understanding and analysis, possibly allowing us to venture into unknown territory to generate new knowledge.
In our case, we are attempting to model the very nature of reality itself. In doing this, we're treading on some rarefied turf that traditionally has been the realm of religion, not science. The models will be somewhat simple and sketchy, but they are a place to start from. Also, different models will pertain to different aspects of reality or its creation. This is such a big area that I can only cover particular general areas that I feel are most important. Further, since I am creating the models, they can only cover areas for which I have sufficient awareness to generate the appropriate concepts, connections, and relationships.
How We Use Models
We use models primarily as analogies that help us understand behavior of complex things in terms of things that we are already familiar with. In using the analogies, however, we need to understand how far to carry them.
Overall, my higher purpose of using these models is to capture my knowledge about reality and reality creating in a manner that can elicit an awareness in you that results in a consciousness shift related to your understanding of reality and its creation. My shift will come when I build the model and relate the information in words.
What Paradigms Are
Paradigms are our habitual ways of looking at things. They are the glasses we use to filter things to simplify our lives. On a larger scale they are the way society or a group of people see things. Typically these are philosophical attitudes about life or its meaning. One problem with paradigms is that the filters may distort our view of reality so that we are not seeing things that may be important in a way that is empowering.
From another viewpoint, our paradigms are the models of reality that we use all the time in interpreting our experience. We don't see the real world, we see our paradigm of it.
Why Paradigms
Paradigms make life easier. We can decide on a rule for interpreting particular behavior and not have to think about it anymore. They allow us to automate our reality interpretation freeing us to focus on things of higher interest or value to us. It's useful to understand what our paradigms are and to make sure that they empower us.
Breakthroughs: The Value of Paradigm Shifts
Breakthroughs typically happen when paradigm shifts occur. Paradigms are such important parts of are lives that when they shift we experience a major change in our perception of reality. The outer reality may not change at all, but the inner one can change completely.
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REALITY CREATION 1010
FOREWORD
So, who am I to be audacious enough to begin to believe that I can write a book on a topic such as this? At first glance, I'm a 35 year old engineer diagnosed as bipolar with a bunch of bills and insufficient income to pay them. I live in Monterey, and commute over 80 miles each way to work in Sunnyvale, something I've been doing for over four years. Recently, I began sleeping 3 days per week in my van in the parking lot at work -- because I could no longer tolerate the commute yet still needed the weekly paycheck; but also, because I needed to free up some time for writing about the stuff inside of me that feels like it's about to explode.
I've spent 20 years involved in a personal spiritual search, primarily through metaphysics. I've probably read more books than most people read in a lifetime. Further, I've engaged my mind in thinking about various metaphysical principles often and deeply because such activity is one of the greatest pleasures of my life. As a result, my understanding is far superior to my years. No, I haven't used my understanding to eliminate problems in my life, especially monetary ones, mainly because I cannot do so and remain within my integrity. There are many techniques that can be used for the gain of one at the cost of others. These are not acceptable to my consciousness, hence I cannot use them. The only true key I've found to abundance, is that when you are doing work you truly love in line with your purpose, the universe will bestow its great abundance unto you. As yet, I have not been doing this long enough to see the results come forth. I believe that this work that I am now doing is the work of spirit. Much that comes through will be new to me as I write it. Yes, the work will incorporate all of my talents, training, and understanding; but, it will do so in a manner that is fresh -- that includes connections beyond any that I have previously made.
As I write this, I'm excited about what lies ahead. Books are trips for the mind. The ideas they convey provide us with internal revelations and experiences that can change us forever. They can point out new ways of seeing things that alter our very reality. As the writer, I get an even more intense experience than you the reader. For you see, my consciousness must experience the meaning of the words before it is allowed to express them. At least such has been my experience over the past year or so.
One of the main reasons my consciousness is being used for this task is that I have a balance between scientific and metaphysical backgrounds. It seems it is time to start looking at various metaphysical teachings regarding the nature of reality using more of the scientific method, yet at the same time being open to the nature of beliefs and allowing more subjective validation of the utility of the resulting models. It's as if both science and metaphysics have reached the limits of where they can truly go on their own. Their union is required to propel knowledge further by allowing the best and the brightest on the planet to use all of their resources in pursuit of knowledge and Truth. The power that can be unleashed is enormous. The inventions and the results that will come from the union will be beyond imagination.
To some degree, this marriage of science and metaphysics already exists within my mind. It has taken over 20 years for the gestation however, since it is only recently that concepts have started to be born within my mind that truly involve both parents. Science and metaphysics were both a part of my life. One was my occupation, the other my passion and preoccupation. Now, I'm starting to see that both are integral to my life, both will be required for me to progress further so that I can finally do the work I came to the planet to do. This work involves the communication of a vision of what the world will be in the Age of Aquarius, and to start to bring forth the ideas and methods necessary for the building the foundation for this new world.
Big task for someone who is only 35. Maybe, but someone's got to do it. One of my friend's once told me, "In the times ahead, if you see a task to be done, and you have the right abilities, then it's probably yours to do." Lately, I've taken an attitude that involves doing what I know to be my tasks. After all, what's there to lose. If I don't succeed, I'll have learned some tremendous lessons anyway. If I do succeed, I've given those who thought I wouldn't a whole lot to think about. Besides, the ultimate fate is in accord with the Plan. I can only do what I believe that it calls for me to do. From the flow of this writing, my sense is that this be it, at least for the moment. All we can do is let the moment extend to the Eternal NOW. All that happens will happen as it unfolds in that one moment.
This book is titled Reality Creation 1010. Even though it deals with basic principles, this is far beyond what mere introductions of the 101 variety bring to people. Also, we feel that this topic itself is definitely graduate material. Those reading this are preparing to graduate into the Age of Aquarius -- a level beyond your wildest imagining. In addition, 1010 is 10|10 = 22, 1|010 = 12, |1010 = 10. All three of these numbers have a hidden significance. Twenty-two is the completion of the cycle through the major arcana of the Tarot. Our hope is to attempt to impart knowledge corresponding to that level of awareness. Twelve is the completion number of the pyramid of man (physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual sides). Ten is another type of completion of man, one step beyond the enneagram. Further, reality creation is a topic for beings who are rediscovering their true nature as the gods/goddesses that they are.
The truth is we create our own reality. We do it all the time, both personally and en masse. This book attempts to explain how this is done, by proposing a series of models as conceptual frameworks that explain various aspects of what is created to various degrees. It does not prove that these models are valid, but it does provide criteria for evaluating utility of the various models in your own life. We are breaking new ground here, trying to talk in a scientific way about things that have been outside the realm of science. However, this attempt is necessary at this time so that appropriate energy can be applied to thinking in new ways about one of the most intimate and important topics around -- the very nature of how we create reality. CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO REALITY: A NEW LOOK
Before we get to reality creation, we had better take a look at reality itself and define exactly what we mean. And I don't mean pull out Websters. If you're reading this, you've existed long enough that you should have a resonable concept of what constitutes reality. Anyway, I'm going to assume this is true for myself and provide what comes to mind in this area as a basis for the discussion in this chapter.
The consensus belief is that reality is the world outside us, the world that we touch with our senses, an objective thing that is the same for all of us. Reality is the stuff that science can deal with. Occassionally, it stretches into our very bodies, but only on terms that science can understand objectively. Whenever we cross the objective/subjective boundary, we start leaving the realm where conventional reality dwells.
Part of reality lies in the organization and structures of the things that are within reality. Part of this includes the behavior and mores of the society. In addition, feelings and emotional states are allowed a place as well, but on fuzzier ground, and primarily as tied to specific physical conditions. Psychology and psychiatry are still relatively primative ways for dealing with the complexities of emotional and mental behavior.
The difference between fantasy and reality often resorts to looking at what is out there in the "real world". The external world is treated as the truth or the standard. The images in our minds are representations of this reality and may be distorted from the real thing.
I find it difficult to deal with a view of reality that separates itself from the consciousness that experiences this reality. From the point of view of an individual, there is an inner and an outer reality. The outer reality includes everything I sense with my senses, including others that appear to be as I am. The inner reality is one of thoughts, feelings, models about the world, and models about myself. The inner reality is the one that is the most prominent. It is where the majority of life is lived. Then again, this may be because I'm an introvert. I don't have the experience to know whether extroverts see life this way. Regardless, these two level of reality exist, and it is the experience of the individual that determines the ultimate nature of reality.
There is an argument against this. It would say that if one is perceiving reality incorrectly, then what one is seeing is not reality but a distortion. The idea being that the distortion of the instrument perceiving bears nothing on the nature of the object of perception. It's a nice little argument really, until one considers that all of our sensors are instruments as well -- instruments with biases and filters that allow us to see the world in the way we do. For instance, our eyes behave as bandpass filters that emphasize higher frequency components. This allow us to see edges and changes much more sharply, resulting in an image that is of greater utility to us in interacting with the world. Scientists can back off the impacts of this filtering to find out what the world "truly" looks like. When they do, the result is much more blurry -- literally, the world that we would see would be much different. From many standpoints, it would be different enough that we might call it a different world. What would be our reality then? Is it what we perceive or is there really an objective reality out there independent of a perceiver? Also, what about those who are blind? Clearly, their reality is different from those who are sighted. But, how different is it really? What happens when one cannot perceive things that the consensus humanity perceives? In the case of the blind person, suppose he develops his other senses to compensate for the lack of sight. He is developing his senses in a manner that any other might assuming that they had sufficient discipline. The result is being able to perceive different aspects of the world that many never sense. Yet, this is reality too. It is perceived. Sensors suitably calibrated could theoretically detect the subtle inputs. But it is the mind of the perceiver that translates this all into meaning.
This is an important question. To what does reality apply? We would argue that it applies to a being of intelligence experiencing its existence, period. Reality is what that being experiences. Our concepts of reality should thus include all that this encompasses. We might take this one step higher and also consider a group of intelligent beings experiencing their existence in a shared world. The Earth and Nature appear to be common components of reality that apply to everyone yet are outside of anything that we create in our heads. Many other components exist primary as constructs that we believe and use to explain things.
Maybe we should consider reality to occur at levels of existence. Rocks, minerals, and inanimate things occur at one level. Flora, fauna, and the abundance of nature occur at another level. Man occurs at still another -- where consciousness starts to abide more fully. That is, consciousness can potentially abide more fully.
All levels of reality exist, but only some are relevent to us in considering the nature of reality creation. Science has uncovered theories for how much of the basic stuff came into existence. These may or may not be correct. Focused HERE and NOW, much of it has little importance anyway. The bottom line is that there is a given amount of physical stuff from which to construct forms at any of these levels. Nature uses much of the stuff in ecosystems that provide an incredible diversity of plant and animal life. Further, nature sculpts the lands in incredible ways via a handful of basic operations used in a variety of ways. Here, too, science has its theories although even such basic things as weather show incredible complexity.
Personally, I believe in the power of simplicity. Truth should be expressed succinctly and easily when it has been rightly and fully understood. Where great complexity is required to explain something, the keys have not yet been found to unlock the complexity.
Everything comes down to meaning, the meaning of experiences in our lives. Our inner world thrives on such meaning. We constantly evaluate what the things, events, and experiences in our lives represent. What do they really mean? On the one hand reality involves what something is. On the other hand reality involves what something means. Yep, what it is and what it means. Those are the two main issues. Now we can ask a series of questions:
What are physical objects?
What do physical objects represent? .
What is life?
What meaning does life have? .
What is nature?
What meaning does nature have? .
What are emotions?
What meaning do emotions have? .
What are thoughts?
What meaning do thoughts have? .
What are humans?
What meaning do humans have? .
What is consciousness?
What meaning does consciousness have?
Thus far, science has addressed the first three sets in detail, and the next four only in limited areas from limited perspectives. However, science is typically very light when it comes to dealing with the issue of meaning. This is typically left as a matter for religion. The major reason for this is that answering the what question is usually sufficient to being able to use knowledge in ways that "benefit" mankind.
From another standpoint, reality is you and the worlds in which you exist. These worlds include the physical world, the emotional world, the mental world, and the spiritual world. The outer world is primarily the physical world though it also includes exchanges with other beings at the emotional, mental, and spiritual levels. From the world standpoint, it is useful to know what objects exist in each world and how those objects behave. In addition to know what interchanges happen between worlds, and what correspondences appear between objects and interactions in different worlds. For instance, particular emotions may always result in the same body conditions such as breating rate, blood pressure, heart rate. They may also be tied to the same types of thoughts as well. From that standpoint, there is truly one interrelated world -- though it is useful at times to talk about it as if it had separate component parts.
OK, so where does meaning come into the picture? Ultimately, reality for an individual is the meaning that one gets from one's experiences.
I'm a monk living in a dark cave. Reality has little to do with the physical senses and everything to do with emotions, thoughts, and spiritual experiences. For all practical purposes, the physical world is illusion -- possessing much less force within my awareness than the visions that may be played out in my mind.
I'm a person from a small town with a limited education who has never ventured outside of my own town. My world is relatively small, confined to a limited geographic area. It matters not that there is a large city 200 miles away. For all I truly know, that is mere fantasy. In fact, I may have a hard time believing that the world is other than flat. My experience is that I travel in straight lines, and I don't see far enough to force my reasoning to think in any other manner. I may know quite alot about the woods, farmland, streams, vegetation, and wildlife in my particular area but I haven't extended this to a concept of nature encompassing the entire planet.
I'm a rocket scientist. I know the laws of physics and many of the laws of chemistry. I know the Earth is a sphere and that there are other planetary bodies out there. I know that I can use the physical laws to calculate the orbit for any rocket I design. Much of my knowledge about the world is mental, not from direct experience, but from reading the results of the experiences of others. Most of these results have been confirmed by multiple sources adding to their credibility. I live and work in a primarily mental world, a world where concepts about the physical world are discussed. Occasionally we get an opportunity for a physical experiment to bring back new data.
I'm a psychic who sees auras, and makes my living doing readings for people. I see bands of color around my clients which over many years I learned to interpret. These color bands appear around other living things as well. To see these bands clearly, I have learned to alter my state of awareness slightly so that my eyes perceive differently. These energy bands convey information about health, abilities, significant occurances, and other history information about each person. People are dynamic information systems or energy systems that broadcast their energy to the world constantly.
These a just a few examples. Look how different reality is for these four individuals. Literally, the reality they experience is different. All would have a hard time really relating to any of the others. It's not a matter of which one of them is correct. They all are. The problem is the one of blind men and the elephant. Reality is the large and intricate thing. We are blind men with a few sensors and a brain in which we create the conceptual context to make sense of our experience. Because we only need enough of a context to explain the parts of the world that we personally interact with, each of us creates our own and refines it as we go through life. Part of this framework is created as models, and part as a belief system. We typically change the framework only when confronted by sufficient evidence which does not fit.
The bottom line from this is that reality is truly something beyond which we can completely describe. There are many parts to it, each of which various disciplines can describe and define. But our knowledge is insufficient to even attempt to describe the whole, yet. We have to be satisfied with that part we can describe. When we talk about reality creation in this book, we limit ourselves to that part of reality that is personal, the part we experience as individuals and as groups of human beings. Science has already explored much of the physical world and nature, so we'll stay away from those areas and focus more on the nature of personal reality, primarily those aspects that we experience in our head, though we may also get into our bodies a bit.
Personal reality primarily involves the meaning that we give to things and events in our lives and how we respond or react to this meaning. It deals with what we see and why we see it, what we feel and why we feel it, what we think and why we think it, what we know and why we know it, and what we do and why we do it. These are some pretty heavy topics, but at the same time this is everyday stuff, so it shouldn't take a Ph.D to figure it out. After all, each of us do these things (see, feel, think, know, do) in the course of each and every day.
This is the bulk of where reality lies. How do I know this? Simply because this is what we spend most of our time doing. It is only logical that reality would be found where the bulk of our existence is found. If not, we live most of our lives in unreality or illusion. That might make sense if you subscribe to eastern philosophy and religions or if you're committed to "A Course in Miracles", but for the masses in the west, this is a rough one to take. Personally, I'd prefer to believe that our current experience is real -- it is the reality we are experiencing. Whether this is the true reality is another matter that is left to spirituality. The reason for wanting to understand reality creation is twofold: first, to allow us to make this one better for ourselves and others; second, to allow us to understand more of what the true reality is like.
Some things about reality are common. They provide a common background environment in which we can allow experience our personal reality and interact with others. Other parts of reality are private -- the things in our heads or in the places that we keep closed and guarded from others. Both are important. For me, the private part has been the most important, however this is starting to shift. Overall, I believe the outer has been far more important than the inner for far too long. We embarked on the scientific adventure in the early 1600's and have been pursuing it relentlessly for 400 years. In that pursuit, we've focused strictly on explaining as much of the outer world as we could using the scientific method. The hope was that by understanding this world we would better understand ourselves. It is not clear that we've achieved this. One only has to go back to Socrates and Plato to find basic questions that could be asked by the Ancient Greeks yet still cannot be answered even with all of our science and technology. The problem is that these disciplines deal with entirely different parts of the elephant that we call reality. We have small disciplines in the social sciences that have attempted some work in the areas we are concerned with, but the successes have been relatively few, and the models relatively shallow. Much of this is due to lack of resources and funding. We get what we focus upon. If we want answers in particular areas, we need to get quality people and apply them to the task at hand for as long as it takes to get results.
One of the most complex machines on the planet is the human brain. Yet, we have very few people truly studying it to understand how it works. Don't get me wrong, there is much more research now than there has even been. Also, it is not an easy task. Essentially, we are asking a machine to understand itself -- but, this is what self-awareness is all about. And, self-awareness is one of the key behaviors that must be included within the definition of reality. The key reason for this is that shifts in the level of awareness change the very nature of reality that is experienced by the individual, and many times, change it permanently. Any concept of reality that does not encompass these kinds of reality shifts -- does not deal with the most important aspects of personal reality.
We experience reality every moment of every day, both while asleep and while awake. However, we have another reality as an observer who watches our activities as we perform them -- physical, mental, and emotional activities. When we experience ourselves as this observer, we are operating from a spiritual standpoint that is as much a part of our reality as any other. It's interesting, we can be doing, feeling, thinking, and watching simultaneously as if one point in all four of our bodies were merged together at once. This, too, is part of our experience -- at least for those of us who have achieved this level of awareness. It's almost like a game, with our state of consciousness determining the level we have achieved. I don't even begin to know how many levels there are. Further, I refuse to discuss levels beyond those I have experienced. I have read of others, but until I personally experience them, they are as fantasy to me. Actually, provided I have confidence in the author, they are treated as likely possibilities.
Regardless of the number of levels or their structure relative to one another, it is important to realize that there are several levels and that each of these levels is just as much a part of reality as any other. There is still one overall reality, but it is of such complexity that we are only familiar with the pieces that we experience regularly. Our growth involves learning about behavior on the various levels and doing what is required to achieve higher and higher levels of understanding and awareness. Awareness involves being able to perceive, interpret, feel, understand, and create reality. Yes, that's a lot of stuff. But, reality is that big of a subject. Our awareness is our primary tool for dealing with reality. Our ego is the conscious part of our awareness most intimately connected with reality.
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CHAPTER 2: SO, WHAT IS REALITY CREATION?
Reality creation is how reality is constructed. In particular, it includes how we create the reality we experience as individuals and en masse. Given the scope of reality discussed in chapter 1, this is a broad topic as well, containing many aspects and nuances. Here, we'll provide an introduction sufficient to establish an overall framework for further chapters.
Reality creation is what human life is all about. We are creators, learning of our own true nature. It is through our experience of reality that we discover that we are creators and start learning the basics of how we create the reality we experience. This is basic stuff, but it is not simple stuff. It takes achievement of a relatively rare level of awareness to even begin to understand this. Perhaps I should have mentioned this as a prerequisite for this book. Some things I just take for granted. Be forewarned, if you are already lost, maybe you should start somewhere else. I recommend my previous book, Beyond Imagination: Foundations for Creating a New World, as a place to start. It provides a recommended reading list that will provide a thorough introduction to much that is understood about reality creation.
As individuals, the general understanding is that reality is what happens to us. Many believe that they have no control over it, whatsoever. If you're in this camp I'm not sure you'll find this book of much use except in presenting alternatives that you might find sufficiently empowering to start believing in them. I'm assuming that most readers are coming in with a basic understanding that we create our own reality. The Nature of Personal Reality by Jane Roberts is a great place to start for gaining a background understanding.
Creation of the natural background to reality is done primarily by Nature. Further creation of physical reality is done via ideas which get translated into the resources and labor necessary to fabicate the objects required or change the natural state of the background. This work can be easy or difficult depending on how attuned it is to natural laws and principles. Everything that humans create comes first from the idea or mental picture.
Emotions and ideas are also creations in and of themselves. They, too, are part of reality -- hence the process for generating them or bringing them into this existence is reality creation as well. I would argue that this is one of the most important areas of reality creation because of it fluidity and the rapidity with which things can happen.
The bottom line is that reality creation is going on all the time and we are all participating in it in a most intimate manner whether we are aware of it or not. In fact, most of us are not aware of how we are creating reality even though we know or observe that we are doing so. For instance, few of us understand where our thoughts originate. They just appear in our heads. Similarly, we don't know where our words come from when we speak. We know they come through our mouths and that we speak them, but we don't know how this really happens. Similarly, we feel emotions. Typically, we sense that these surface or arise in reaction to things going on in our lives, but we don't know exactly how circumstances trigger emotional and mental states. We know the body is involved as well via hormones and other chemical and electrical mechanisms, but the physical effect is simultaneous with the emotional one.
So, it's obvious that much of reality creation happens at levels that are outside of our normal conscious awareness. However, we can become more aware of how this takes place even though we don't consciously control what is happening. As an analogy, consider a planet. We can observe the planet in the sky and plot its position over time to get an understanding of how it moves relative to us. If we want to know more, we find that it's necessary to create models of the solar system and equations for planetary motions. From these equations we are able to plan the course of objects (satellites) that we design to perform specific functions. Now, we didn't consciously create the planets or the natural laws that govern them. However, by understanding something about the reality that resulted from that creation, we are then able to consciously create new things that utilize that understanding to result in a desired behavior for the satellite.
Science has shown us how to do this amazingly well. Technology progresses at rates that were undreamed of as a result. Unfortunately, we have not yet applied these same methods and laws to our inner reality as well to achieve the same kinds of results. The major reason for this is one of resources and attention. For 400 years, we've allowed science to dominate nearly everything. It has been an innate part of our world view for these four centuries, and has been the dominant part for nearly 100 years. In fact, technology moves so fast now that it is nearly impossible for society to keep up with it. Inherently, there is no reason why consciousness technology can't proceed at a similar pace to allow us to harness more of the power of our minds.
We've reached a state where information has become extremely valuable. Some say we are in the midst of the Information Age. To a large degree this is true. Processing of information occupies a large part of our lives. It did anyway, even when it was only sensory types of information. But now, we live in a conceptual world that we create in our heads. We use this conceptual world to store information about the real world and to assess or determine the meaning of particular events or combinations of circumstances. For some people, this is a relatively simple model. For others, it is much more complex. Generally, there may be many models that cover various aspects of the world where the detail is determined by interest. The bottom line, however, is that everyone builds models to simplify how they interpret the complexities of reality. We must be careful however, because the models we use act like glasses as well, only allowing particular information from the outside world to get through.
From the top level perspective, reality includes an outer world that provides a common background, and a bunch of individuals who have bodies in the outer world but who construct their own inner world. These individuals interact with the outer world and with other individuals but do so through a finite set of senses and with filters determined by the inner models they have of their world. One of the major tasks is for individuals to get their models of the world in agreement with their observation of the world. Note how much this sounds exactly like what science has done with the physical world. We observe and create models that account for what we see. From a consciousness standpoint, we need to do the same. We observe what we experience, then attempt to account for that experience. Personally, I've been in the midst of some major changes of consciousness. My motivation in writing this is to take a first cut at explaining what I've experienced. One side effect of writing this is that I activate one of the chief operating principles of life:
[B]You Teach Best What You Most Need to Learn.
I believe that came from the Messiah's Handbook in Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah by Richard Bach. Heaven knows, this is the most important thing for me to learn at this time! My belief is that further it is one of the most important things for all of humanity -- for it is the very key to the kingdom. It is the step that allows us to transition consciousness into the Aquarian Age.
As you can probably tell, I'm most concerned about reality creation at the individual level. That is the part that we have some control over. I'm also interested in reality creation at the mass level -- because I believe it is the joint individual creation that results in the outer reality. Also, much of our personal reality relates to how we interact with our world including all the other people we deal with. Individual and mass reality are merged in major ways so that it is nearly impossible to separate the them in practice. However, there is still some utility in doing so in theory. Primarily because it makes our models simpler to understand and use to create change.
We already create our reality. Yes, every one of us. The trick is to do so consciously rather than subconsciously or superconsciously. We want to be aware of what we are doing. Note: this doesn't mean that events and circumstances will change. It only means that we'll be more aware of how things are working and what is going on. Our reality however will be quite different, because our focus, interpretation, and understanding will be different.
We live in an elaborately constructed play where the scenes, events, and symbols make sense no matter what level of awareness we are at. One of the things that keeps the play interesting is that we never know what level other people are at. The bandwidth for communications channels is too short to convey anything but a minute part of what we are. We are simply too complex for that. In fact, part of what allows communication at all, is the assumption that the receiving party is like unto us, so that we don't have to convey much background. It's amazing that we're able to communicate at all. Further, the communications process itself provides limited opportunity for feedback to see whether our words convey the desired message. Overall, the process is very loose. The medium of words is a poor channel for conveying information, but it is one of the most flexible and useful ones that we have available to us as individuals. Images and expressions have great informational content as well because they map to greater levels of organization in the receiving individuals. Also, the bandwidth of images is higher allowing information content to be conveyed more quickly.
Part of reality creation involves how we interact with others in a variety of frameworks and settings. Overall, we believe that we consciously choose much of how this occurs. We believe that we have free choice at any points where decisions are made. There is no basis of fact to show that it truly works this way. Decision points appear to offer choices, but we have no way to return to the same point to see for certain whether an alternate choice could have been made. We would not be able to detect from the reality that we perceive whether the choice was executed according to a script or whether we truly have free choice. From my vantage point, we do have free choice in these matters, but we do not consciously execute the choice, we simply enact the result of what a higher part of ourselves has already scripted. This distinction is important. One of the highest goals is Self-awareness. We achieve this by understanding our true nature as spirit and as a creator of our own reality. So long as we continue to go through the play as if we consciously had choices about things, we delay the realization that there are other components of ourselves behind the scenes responsible for creating much of what we experience. It is only when we become aware of these other parts of ourselves that we grow in consciousness to understand whom that we are. One of the major lessons in life is that of my will vs Thy Will. However, it can't be learned until one understands my will to begin with. Further, one must understand that free will operates through it all.
Free will is an interesting aspect of reality creation. Yes, it always applies. However, it applies to our entire self. We have the freedom to create, but we are responsible for our creations as well. We know this at a soul level. We don't typically know this at the physical consciousness level. It is equally true at all levels, however. Part of how reality is created is in terms of action/counteraction pairs that show up as balancing events in our lives. As awareness, we are an observer of these events riding along for the show so that we can learn from what we observe. In drawing conclusions, constructing models, and creating beliefs we set up our apparatus for understanding ourselves and our world. Part of this apparatus is about the very nature of ourselves and of reality. This later part is the area where reality creation happens. The key mechanism at play is that we get what we focus on subject to the basic rule of:
As ye sow, so shall ye reap.
Personal responsibility is the first lesson. Closely aligned with this is the principle of right interaction with others:
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
Until these two basic lessons are learned, there is no firm basis on which fully conscious reality creation can begin to proceed. Once one has achieved these two, however, an instinctual yearning for something more begins. Then the directive:
KNOW THYSELF!
becomes operative and the adventure into understanding the nature of consciousness and the true nature of reality finally begins. At this point, one finds that as one's level of awareness changes, the reality that one experiences changes. The true reality is consciousness itself, not the experiences of consciousness. The experiences are but illusions passing on a screen, illusions with meaning, yes, but illusions none the same. The problem with this is that achieving and maintaining an awareness of one's nature as consciousness is difficult to do when one's beingness is couched in flesh. Yes, there is a purpose for this. We are learning to be creators of a higher order. Presently we create reality. And what an elaborate and beautiful reality it is. Overall, our consciousness is learning to create beings of its own order couched in its creations to as high as a degree as is possible. You could say we are attempting to create gods on Earth, beings truly able to create their own reality consciously. The key to it all is getting individuals to take the initiative to know thyself rather than be so immersed in the activity of the game. Looking around the country and the world today, clearly this is no easy task. Those of you who are on this path, congratulations, pursue it to whatever degree you are able. This is one of the areas where free choice truly reigns. At any time, anyone can choose to see things differently and embark on their personal quest for self- knowledge. They will find that the doors are opened at whatever pace they are willing to go in their quest -- subject only to what level of understanding they achieve and their willingness to follow the signs and take the gifts that their consciousness sends to them. Note, however, that some lessons take time to unfold. Why does it work this way? Simply because consciousness is elegant in how it creates the Play, and events and opportunities appear per the Play. An individual's free will determines what shift in awareness occurs as a result of the scene being played out. The new awareness then lines up further events and opportunities.
One of the first lessons in knowing thyself is learning that:
We create our reality through our beliefs.
Why is this so? Because beliefs represent our conscious understanding of ourselves and our world. They filter everything we percieve and govern how we interpret reality. Further, since this is such an important lesson, the law of like attracts like assure that we attract the appropriate events and circumstances to conform with our beliefs. Occasionally things will be brought to our attention to get us to question beliefs that may be in error in an attempt to spur our growth, but typically it is left to us to become interested in knowing ourselves.
The complexity of the physical instrument comes into play as well. It is not yet clear what process the brain must go through to accommodate increasing levels of consciousness and awareness. Because we are creating physical bodies, the organization of the brain is a major consideration. It is the seat of our physical consciousness and to some degree must be programmed to give it functionality. It's not that all of our intelligence must reside within the physical body, but enough of it must be there to allow our consciousness to drive the body from within the brain. Part of how reality is created is to partition specific functions out to smaller units of consciousness so that the greater part of consciousness can focus on higher level of functionality and awareness. To enflesh itself to a greater degree, consciousness must continually work on its creation in ways that result in increased ability to accommodate awareness. Consciousness itself is pure awareness without form. It seeks to express itself as awareness within form. All of evolution has been an elaborate experiment in expressing consciousness in form. Human evolution has been an experiment in creating fully self-aware life. Dolphins and whales have already achieved this. We still have a ways to go, but we're getting there rapidly.
We have complete control over our beliefs. Many may have been adopted during our childhood, but we are free to reexamine these and change them at any time. One of our key methods for controlling the reality we create is by taking control of our beliefs and adapting them so that they serve us rather than hinder us. In particular, we need to closely examine beliefs about who and what we are. These are core beliefs that define much that we will experience. A second area of core beliefs involves the basic nature of our world or our reality. These too need to be closely examined to determine their impact on our experience. A key belief that is useful is:
We are consciousness housed in a body.
We are not strictly confined to a body. First and foremost, we are consciousness. Secondly, we are enfleshed in a body. Yes, this body is important -- but only as the vehicle for allowing consciousness to be enfleshed. Consciousness can only be enfleshed to the degree of our awareness of our nature. The consciousness part of us is not created as the body is. It enters at some point to drive the biological machine. All the minute details of body creation are driven by consciousness in accord with the Plan and with spiritual laws. In addition, a conscious part of the brain is programmed to become aware of its identity as "I". The program is allowed to grow subject to appropriate spiritual laws. As it grows, some of its activities lead to increased awareness of itself. First this is reflected as an awareness of its abilities and talents and awareness of self as doer. As it becomes more aware, consciousness, as the programmer, nurtures it further by feeding it reality for it to digest and draw further conclusions from. At some point the entity becomes aware of itself observer, separate from the awareness that was immersed in physical reality. As it questions the very nature of itself, it grows ever more aware until it knows that it is consciousness. At this point it has truly realized that:
We are in this world, but not of this world.
This world is an illusion, an elaborate one, but an illusion none the less. That doesn't alter the fact that it is reality. It just means that reality is truly an illusion, just as a movie on a screen. Also there is great meaning in the illusion. After all, the actors are real even if the parts they play are not. In our world, not only are the actors real, but they don't even realize they are actors since they are only allowed to experience the play moment by moment. Further, in our play, the actors must start with a very limited understanding of who they are and why they are there at all. It makes for a very interesting challenge.
Because we are in this world, we accept particular rules for creating reality in accord with spiritual laws and the Play. Also, we must take care of maintaining basic functions in accord with the rules for reality creation within the dimensions in which we operate. Part of this is required because consciousness is co-creating reality and there must be an overall consistency in order for individual experiences to make sense in the context of the Play and the individuals understanding of reality. Activities involving multiple individuals must be coordinated for the Play to be enacted properly.
To make the overall framework for reality even more challenging we must realize that the lessons at each level are relative, not absolute. They are not meant to be carried to extremes and the context in which they operate may be limited. For instance, we create reality through our beliefs is only a partial truth. It does not mean necessarily that every belief will be manifest. Consistency in beliefs is also needed. Further, if beliefs are in error, reality specifically may not conform to the belief to point out the error. The strength of the belief is as important as well. Beliefs with more emotion and conviction are more likely to be manifest. Another basic law is:
Laws may change with the level of awareness.
As the level of awareness grows, the place at which conscious reality creation occurs changes and the interpretation of reality may be completely different. One could say that as awareness changes so does one's world. On a mass level, however, the world remains the same for the most part. We have not experienced individual attaining a mass awakening on a large enough scale to cause a significant world change, at least not instantly. Some of the historical disappearances of large groups such as the Mayans may have been due to consciousness shifts. Changes in technology, and in particular transportation have made the world a very different place in the past 100 years, dramatically affecting our personal understanding of the meaning of time and space.
The nature of the Play makes it appear that everything happens relatively smoothly over time. We need to make sure we don't confuse appearance with reality. We experience reality only in the moment. We may have memories of the past and expectations of the future, but the only time we ever experience reality is NOW. We exist here and now. We always have and always will. There can be no other time for awareness. Consciousness itself is beyond time and space. It is eternal, immortal, universal, and infinite. This is our heritage as sparks of consciousness. It is our true nature. Realizing that, however, is another matter. And we are here, now, to realize it as much as possible within this physical form. Since all is here and now, change can happen in a moment as well. At any moment, the current act could come to a close, and a new act in the Play could begin. This is what happens when consciousness shifts occur on a massive scale, or when consciousness has generated a new physical pattern capable of holding increased awareness. In time, this may take awhile to occur, especially if the background reality is to be maintained. After all, we can't have violations of natural laws appearing out of the blue to large numbers of people, can we? They just wouldn't know what to do. However, if we examine the Play, and look at what ideas the mass consciousness is being exposed to, we can start to see some of the overall directions in which reality is moving to allow change to happen at warp speeds compared to what has transpired in the past. I know, the past does not exist, but the rememberence in our minds is real whether the supposed events were real, illusion, or even imagined. Also, from a reality creation standpoint its useful to see whatever parts of the Play we are aware of from a more global perspective. This allows us to see how the whole mechanism was constructed. Yes, the place where reality happens is the moment. But, we're stepping back from that to try to understand how each moment was created to begin with. Also, it's useful to understand where our drama begins and ends, and what major themes are being carried out for our illumination. At some level we are a group consciousness as well, and the larger reality is being carried out for that group. Now that group recognizes itself as one entity composed of individuals, just as we are composed of individual cells.
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CHAPTER 3: ON MODELS AND PARADIGMS
My scientific/technical background has taught me the value of using models to describe how something works. In our case we want to develop models that are useful in explaining the nature of reality and the process of reality creation. Many of the models that I intend to elaborate on were introduced informally in the previous chapter. You'll see them again in much more detail in the chapters that follow. Before we get to those chapters I'd like to explain a few things about what models are, why we use them, and how we use them. In addition, an introduction to paradigms is in order as well. I suspect that many of you reading this will already have been exposed to the concept of paradigms, but, nonetheless, I'd like to provide some words on why and how I use them in the context of understanding reality creation.
What Models Are
Models are representations of things, processes, systems, behavior, or concepts. The ones of most value in our particular context are conceptual models that deal with the nature of reality and process or behavioral models that deal with how reality is created. Models have varying levels of complexity depending on the nature of what is being modeled and the fidelity that one wants in the output. Fidelity deals with how closely one wants the model to approximate reality. All models are representations of the real thing. As representations, they generally make simplifying assumptions about whatever is being modeled. Typically, models must be validated to assure that they behave appropriately in accord with what is being modeled.
Reality is an extremely complex entity involving a whole lot of stuff. In this book we deal with a high level of abstraction of reality that is primarily centered on the functions centered in the brain that experience and interpret reality and that are involved in self-realization. We also discuss the functions performed by consciousness itself and how these map to the functions that are physically expressed. Where possible, I'll attempt to validate the models that I discuss. However, in many cases the concepts are so new that the utility of the model must be judged based on experience in using it.
Why Models
We use models because they provide a simplified means for us to understand behavior of complex systems. At least, that's why I use them. Models also provide a framework for organizing our knowledge about a system. When the framework is structured properly it facilitates understanding and analysis, possibly allowing us to venture into unknown territory to generate new knowledge.
In our case, we are attempting to model the very nature of reality itself. In doing this, we're treading on some rarefied turf that traditionally has been the realm of religion, not science. The models will be somewhat simple and sketchy, but they are a place to start from. Also, different models will pertain to different aspects of reality or its creation. This is such a big area that I can only cover particular general areas that I feel are most important. Further, since I am creating the models, they can only cover areas for which I have sufficient awareness to generate the appropriate concepts, connections, and relationships.
How We Use Models
We use models primarily as analogies that help us understand behavior of complex things in terms of things that we are already familiar with. In using the analogies, however, we need to understand how far to carry them.
Overall, my higher purpose of using these models is to capture my knowledge about reality and reality creating in a manner that can elicit an awareness in you that results in a consciousness shift related to your understanding of reality and its creation. My shift will come when I build the model and relate the information in words.
What Paradigms Are
Paradigms are our habitual ways of looking at things. They are the glasses we use to filter things to simplify our lives. On a larger scale they are the way society or a group of people see things. Typically these are philosophical attitudes about life or its meaning. One problem with paradigms is that the filters may distort our view of reality so that we are not seeing things that may be important in a way that is empowering.
From another viewpoint, our paradigms are the models of reality that we use all the time in interpreting our experience. We don't see the real world, we see our paradigm of it.
Why Paradigms
Paradigms make life easier. We can decide on a rule for interpreting particular behavior and not have to think about it anymore. They allow us to automate our reality interpretation freeing us to focus on things of higher interest or value to us. It's useful to understand what our paradigms are and to make sure that they empower us.
Breakthroughs: The Value of Paradigm Shifts
Breakthroughs typically happen when paradigm shifts occur. Paradigms are such important parts of are lives that when they shift we experience a major change in our perception of reality. The outer reality may not change at all, but the inner one can change completely.
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