Showing posts with label consciousness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label consciousness. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 18, 2020

Will COVID-9 Lead Us to a Better, more Sustainable World?

Following prompting by a friend, I wrote the following article on MEDIUM a couple of days ago:


How to Create a Better Post-COVID-19 World

Today, I added my two-bits to an email list discussion by tourism studies scholars on what tourism will be like in a post-COVID-19 world. A a couple of interesting points from the discussion, so far...

My point was that (1) it is too early to tell what and when a post-COVID-19 world will emerge, and (2) what it is like will depend on how deep the impacts are, and then how people respond to that depth, when it arrives. While I hate to be a doomsayer, I think the deeper the impacts, the bigger the more the world will be changed by it.

Some people think nothing will change, and that like other crises in the past, people will soon forget and travel and tourism will be back to the way it was before the COVID-19 pandemic. Other see things getting worse, even violent, as greed comes to the foreground during the pandemic, leaving lasting divisions and scars. Still others are like me, hoping that it will be a time of self-reflection and re-connection to our planet, leading to more Earth-friendly values and behaviors -- and thus greater Sustainability.

It is hard to find positive perspectives on the pandemic, as the popular news media are dishing up the scariest stories for their shock and advertisement value. Still, there are both opinion pieces and actual cases of places that are seeing remarkable changes in a very short period of time since the tourists have stopped coming. The best place that I have found for this is the Science and Nonduality (SAND) Conference page in Facebook.

My personal view is that there are multiple timelines that our consciousness, individually and collectively, can follow in the moment of global crisis for humankind (it is not a crisis for other beings on the planet). The timeline path that we end up experiencing, both individually and collectively. will be the one that we put our focus and attention on. So do what you can to ground your consciousness in love for the planet and for your fellow humans, so that the more positive world that we all really want can be made a reality.

Friday, December 27, 2019

Channeling #11, part 1 - How the Subconscious Mind Works


[Note: Below is the first part of my 11th channeling of my inner guides. This was the first one that I have done that was not by myself, but with my wife Mable as a witness and potential questioner. The entire channeling took 52 minutes. This is the first of a two part blog post.]

             ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hello Alan. And hello Mable. I am here. I am Joshua. And I'm very excited to be here in this first shared meeting that we're having, shared channeling of your higher, inner self – the self that's connected to the deeper reality of existence.

It's a little bit rough coming in right now because Alan's kind of nervous. But, we're confident that he'll be able to do this.

I guess, because this is a shared experience with someone else, we will start by being polite and asking if Mable has any questions for us. Mable?

Mable: Not yet.

Okay. Thank you.

Creating the Subconscious in Childhood

So, this is a different experience for Alan. Normally when we deliver a message, we are tapping into his self, his subconscious self, you could say. ‘Subconscious’ is an interesting idea. Basically, when we talk about subconscious, what's really going on is it is just that part of your mind, that part of your thoughts and beliefs, that you don't want to directly experience.

For something to be subconscious is actually an intentional decision by the person to make that belief, that thought, that knowledge, subconscious. Because, in reality, everything can be conscious to the individual in this third dimension reality that you have been born into and that you are experiencing in this life.

It is totally possible for any person to have total access to their subconscious. But they choose not to do that. And they choose not to do that for many reasons.




It starts in really early childhood, babyhood even, when the baby and the young child is taught by the parents -- and often this is totally unintentional, basically the parents are modeling this behavior -- that certain things are acceptable and certain things are not acceptable. Certain things are okay to acknowledge, certain experiences, certain aspects in this physical reality third-dimensional reality. It is socially okay to accept that those exist.

Whereas other things that are also very much a part of this third dimensional reality are suppressed and not allowed to be perceived. So, the young infant, the young child, learns what things are not allowed, what should not be acknowledged, and puts them into this this box of “subconscious” -- because that's the easiest way to deal with it.

We're reminded of that story you heard recently of a very young child seeing a man in her parent’s bedroom at night. Those kinds of experiences are very common with young children because they do see things that are really part of this third dimensional reality that most other people have suppressed and put into that subconscious box, thereby intentionally blinding themselves to those types of experiences.

And that's what the subconscious mostly is -- it's the blocking off of certain things because that's what those of you that have been born into this third dimensional reality have done. It's part of the entering process, the process of entering into and learning how to work in this third dimensional reality.

For the small child, this is all very intentional. They know that this is going to happen before they're born -- that they're going to go through this experience. In fact, they (and all beings in this third dimensional reality) choose to set themselves up when they're born because they want to learn something. They have a goal in mind in being born in this reality, and so they set up certain challenges for themselves.

They select the parents that they're going to have because they believe those parents are going to create a world for them, and even create a subconsciousness for them, that will align with what it is that they want to learn in this in this life experience, in this incarnation, we shall say. (For the time being, we shall assume that time is real. In fact, it is not real, but for this discussion, we'll just assume that time is something that really exists.)

Before the new person coming into this reality is born, they select their parents. And as part of that they're also selecting the context of the place and the challenges of that place, and the culture that they're going to come into -- all because they know this is going to create a possibility or probability for the kind of experience that they want to seek.

Now this all is probable because every entity in existence, whether part of the third dimensional reality or not, does have choice. They do have the freedom to choose the direction that they want to go in.

You're constantly given choices, given the option to choose one thing over another. This is something that that happens thousands of times a day. And that's true for everyone. So it is not possible to guarantee anything after one is born. You basically try to set it up as much as possible, to create the kinds of challenges that you want to experience in this particular life, and then you jump in and see how it goes.

And that whole period of coming into this existence basically starts with pre-birth and then lasts through early childhood. I know that some of the people that Alan listens to say it lasts about through ages seven or eight, or nine, and for some even ten, but somewhere in that range then, this subconsciousness, this boxing off of experiences, of what's allowed and what's not allowed, of taking in the attitudes, the genetic codes even, of the of the parents and of the place in which they're born [and raised], all of that coalesces. For some this happens earlier, for others later, but usually by ten one could say.

Maybe you could use the idea of puberty, perhaps, as the ultimate transition out of that particular phase of life. From then on, you're basically working with the issues that were set up at that time in one's life. The thought patterns that were created.

Now, it doesn't mean that you can't change those patterns. In fact, that's what most of life is about, is changing, is dealing with the particular issues that arose in those early years, and then seeking ways to address those issues. And that's what a lot of the exploration that begins in the teenage years, and then expands into the later years, and actually into the rest of your life, is all about.

But in those teenagers basically, it is a period of exploring one's individuality. Teenagers are known for taking risks and it's at time in which one is trying to feel out what are the limitations of what was created in the pre-teen years, in those years of very strong influences from parents. And also any other caregivers that are part of those years and who will also have that kind of an influence, as well as the place in which they grow up in.

That all comes together in those teenage years. And so, it is in those teenage years that they start feeling out what their boundaries are and how far can I go within those boundaries, within what they have set up for themselves in those earlier years.



Unfortunately, most of human culture, especially modern human culture, does not have a very good structure for doing that [for teenage explorations]. There's some awareness that something like that is going on, and there's some leeway for allowing those kinds of things, but in truly understanding how the subconscious and conscious divisions were created, that aspect is not understood at all.

And it's barely understood even in adulthood, as far as how psychologists and psychiatrists try to define and treat people for those hidden subconscious parts of their mind. There's an assumption in the psychological professions that these are inaccessible parts, that the subconscious is not something that the conscious mind can directly access.

We are here to say that's not true. It is accessible. And, in fact, [it is more accessible] as one progresses in expanding their energy levels, expanding their consciousness, expanding their self-awareness, through practices such as meditation (and yoga is a form of meditation), and through various types of spiritual practices, especially those practices that are geared towards opening up [and] that do not have a strong dogmatic preaching of what is right and what is wrong.

That is one of the problems with most organized religion. They are still defining what is right, what is wrong, what can be allowed into the mind on the conscious level, and what should be suppressed in the mind and pushed into that subconscious box.

Those kinds of traditions do have some value. There's no doubt that they can expand an individual's consciousness, especially if those individuals move beyond the dogma of the church religious hierarchy. There's quite a bit of potential in those in all religions for that. However, for the masses, they are kind of stuck in that model, although, again, that's not necessarily bad.

Developing consciousness by doing activities that open up the consciousness is actually opening up the subconscious mind and making those parts of the subconscious mind more accessible to the conscious mind. That gives a huge new level of personal power, personal empowerment, in this physical time-space third dimensional reality, to make this reality a better place for the individual person and for everyone around them, everyone who comes into contact with that person.

Now I want to step back. I mentioned earlier that it's not necessarily bad to not do this [to not expand one’s consciousness]. That is because the purpose of life is to experience diversity. It is for All That Is, or Source, to create diversity, and then to experience that diversity.

And so some people, in fact most people (especially in the past -- nowadays it is changing somewhat) do not have that particular drive to become more spiritually oriented, to move into greater integration with All That Is, with Source, with their soul. Most people are just living on that surface level of experiencing the good and the bad, and complaining about the bad and enjoying the good.

This is good. In fact, those extremes of emotion, those extremes of high enjoyment and high, or low, dis-enjoyment, of feeling bad and feeling good -- that's part of that diversity of life. Some people, when they're born into this life, into this existence, into this physical reality, that is their goal: to experience that difference to the max, to experience the highs and to experience the lows.

One of the ways to do that is actually to not engage in any kind of particular spiritual practice, or any kind of practice that's going to reveal the truth behind the highs and the lows, the truth from the perspective of Source or All That Is, the truth is that there really is no difference.

There is no difference between what is positive and what is negative. It is all just an experience. It is just an experience of the diversity of existence. But for some people that's the reason they came into this life -- to have that particular experience [or extremes]. And they'll go through this whole life with that. Maybe at the very end they might start thinking about some more spiritual things. But really, that [extreme experience] is fulfilling their dharma -- what their purpose is in this particular incarnation.

Now, usually that is something that a soul and its personality that is born into physical reality chooses for a particular purpose, for a particular incarnation. And most likely they're not going to do that with every incarnation that they have. In fact, when they've had something like that in one life, then it's very likely that the next incarnation that they have could be totally opposite -- it could be one that's highly focused on the spiritual and the reintegration of diversity with their inner oneness -- in order to balance things out.

Just as it's important to balance out being male and female across different lifetimes. Sometimes somebody will be will have a series of lifetimes (and again we're talking about time here as something that's real) in which they're male, in which case they then really need to have some female experiences, or vice versa. And so they will do that. Other people are more balanced as they go through these different incarnations.

When I started this [discussion], I was talking about how we are usually tapping into Alan's sort of subconscious and bringing this forward. In fact, most everything we've talked about so far is embedded somewhere within Alan's subconscious.

[See Part 2 for the rest of this channeling as it moved into other topics.]

Sunday, December 8, 2019

Seth on the Trans-Species Consciousness of Land, Plants, Animals and Humankind

"...it seems to you that no other consciousness has wrought what man’s has produced. Those “products” of your consciousness are indeed unique, creative, and form a characteristic mosaic that has its own beauty and elegance.

There are organizations of consciousness, however, that leapfrog the species, that produce no arts or sciences per se — yet these together form the living body of the earth and the physical creatures thereon. Their products are the seas upon which you sail your ships, the skies through which your airplanes fly, the land upon which your cities sprawl, and the very reality that makes your culture, or any culture, possible.


Man is a part of that trans-species consciousness also, as are the plants and animals. Also, part of man’s reality contributes to that trans-species organization, but he has not chosen to focus his practical daily consciousness in that direction, or to identify his individuality with it. As a result he does not understand the greater natural mobility he himself possesses, nor can he practically perceive the natural psychological gestalts of which he is a part, that form all of your natural — meaning physical — world.
Cathedral Rock, Sedona, Arizona
In dreams this relationship often is revealed. The truth behind such relationships is inherent in all God-Man, God-Woman, Animal-Man, or Animal-Woman legends and mythology. There are connections, then, between man and the animals and the so-called gods (in small letters), that hint at psychological and natural realities.
Any section of the land has an identity, so to speak, and I am not talking symbolically. Such identities represent the combined organizations of consciousness of land, man, and animal, within any given realm.
Simply enough put, there are as many kinds of consciousnesses as there are particles, and these are combined in infinite fashions. (Long pause.) In the dream state some of that experience, otherwise closed to you, forms the background of the dream drama (A one-minute pause.) Your consciousness is not one thing like a flashlight, that you possess. It is instead a literally endless conglomeration of points of consciousness, swarming together to form your validity — stamped, as it were, with your identity.
(Intently:) Whether dispersed, concentrated in a tight grouping, appearing “alone” or flying through other larger swarms, that particular organization represents your identity. Using an analogy, its “particles” could be dispersed throughout the universe, with galaxies between, yet the identity would be retained.
So unknowingly, now, portions of your consciousness mix and merge with those of other species without jarring your own sense of individuality one whit — yet forming other psychological realities upon which you do not concentrate. In the dream state, animals, men, and plants merge their realities to some extent so that information belonging to one species is transferred to others in an inner communication and perception otherwise unknown in your world."
- Jane Roberts (1979) - The Nature of the Psyche (A Seth Book) - Kindle 3013 - 3036

Sunday, July 30, 2017

Conscious Dreaming

My First Dream Manipulation

So probably I am more "eclectic" than I am Buddhist...

Background 

I read a few pages of Jane Robert's Seth material, from various sources, every night before going to sleep. Recently, I was reading comments by Seth about dreams, and how we can be (and are, without knowing it) as awake in our dreams as we are in our daily life, with one difference (among many) being that our desires are more instantaneous in our dream life. According to Seth, if we can consciously master this in our dream life, we can bring this skill into our waking life (at least that is what I think he is saying.) One of his suggestions was to ask or comment about being in a dream to people as we meet them in our dreams, and see how they respond.

We are all in a dream!

Early morning, Sunday, July 30th

I woke up about 1:00 am feeling quite fidgety and a little bit hungry, after having had a very light dinner (more like dessert) after a very aerobic Ashtanga Yoga class. I doubled my pillow height and tried meditating myself back to sleep using various mantras that I adopted for this over the years. At one point I felt half awake and half asleep -- I was actually thinking that I was still awake. But then I found myself eating a granola bar, and being accused by about four or five young Hispanic boys of taking their granola bar from the airport security belt -- which I was sure I had not done.

At that point, I said, "Hey, we are all in a dream!"  The boys all said "no we aren't", but a tall man who was behind them (either their teacher or other chaperone) laughed and said "yes we are." Then I thought, well in that case I can produce a new granola bar for the boys, and at the instant a granola bar came out of the scanner on the belt and the boys all cheered. I then thought, I should get enough bars so they can each have their own, and then a small pile of granola bars came out. They were happy, and so was I . I woke up shortly after that.

While this might not be my first conscious manipulation of reality while dreaming, it is the first that I remember so vividly ... enough to right it down, at least.

North Coast Redwood Forest, California


Saturday, February 4, 2017

The Life You Give Yourself




...you give yourself the life that is being lived through you.
You make your own reality.
There is no other rule.
Knowing this is the secret of creativity.

from The Nature of Personal Reality: A Seth Book, by Jane Roberts (1974, page 14)







I just finished reading The Nature of Personal Reality. When I was about 20 years old, I read a Seth book (not sure which one) that had a great influence on my perceptions of reality and views toward life. Now, some 40 years later, I have read this one, and again I find that it comes closest to my beliefs and experience of the world.

The top photo taken by me on 3 January 2017 along the Columbia River near Portland, Oregon.
The bottom photo take by my wife in front of our house at sunrise on 24 January 2017 in Flagstaff, Arizona. 

Saturday, January 16, 2016

The Un-Aging Witness

We see our bodies aging in the mirror, but we ourselves do not feel that we are older. 

That is because your body is aging and your body exists in time. But the one who witnesses the aging body is awareness itself, and that does not exist in time. 

As you sit in meditation, you become more and more the witness of experience (the one who knows, who is aware), and not the experiencer who is ever reacting to ever changing sensations. 

The wise one witnesses in awe as life renews itself in every moment. 



(1) These ideas are indirectly quoted from Jack Kornfield in a recent dharma talk - 
http://dharmaseed.org/teacher/85/talk/32110/20160104-Jack_Kornfield-SR-renewing_our_years_vows.mp3

(2) In TM, this "witness/awareness" is known as "transcendental consciousness", and the regular practice of TM is intended to awaken that consciousness so it is ever present, not only during meditation, but in our waking and sleeping states, as well.

Friday, January 1, 2016