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Chapter 10 Waking Up Freedom Within our mind we have complete freedom. We can believe anything we want to. Most people do not take advantage of their freedom. Freedom must be modulated by goodness from source or nothing makes sense. Most people are asleep, they do not create. "People live in sleep, do everything in sleep, and do not know that they are asleep" -P.D. Ouspensky, The Psychology of Man's Possible Evolution O.33. They are asleep, enculturated, unaware of the greater possibilities that could be theirs. Most people are like fish in water. Water surrounds the fish, and is always there. So the fish do not notice the water or think about it. We too are in our water that we do not think about. We not only have air pressure on every part of our body, but the pressure of our culture to go along with everyone else. Can we break out of the pond and see what is really there? The Great Middle Way - Jonang Buddhism 1. Rely on the message, not on the messenger. 2. Rely on the meaning, not on the words. 3. Rely on the intention of the teacher, not on your self-interested speculation. 4. Rely on the entirety of the Dharma, not on partial understanding. Mipham Rinpoche says in The Sword of Wisdom: Dharma refers to the teachings of the Buddha. It also means the way things are, or the truth. It can mean a thing or an object of the mind, or everything that is. See Mapping the Dharma, A Concise Guide to the Middle Way of the Buddha by Paul Gerhards for futher information. The information above regarding The Great Middle
Way is taken from the website:
https://greatmiddleway.wordpress.com/ Bible The words in the Bible were written in the context of the day. They have been copied by hand many times. There are translation errors. In some original Bible languages such as Aramaic, a dot over a word can greatly changes its meaning. Small dots can fade away, or a new dot can appear due to contamination problems. See George Lamsa's book titled Holy Bible from the Ancient Eastern Text for more information. Thus the Bible must be taken as a whole. There are many passages which do not reflect the original meaning. The original writers of the Bible were inspired by God, but the messages from God were interpreted by the writer's mind and may or may not reflect the truth from God. It is best to pass over some of the text, to find that which expresses peace, love and freedom. If you want to know directly about God, study Nature. God created Nature and it is a reflection on His nature. God is extremely, extremely smart, and has set up the universe so that on Earth we can continue in His creation. We are part of God. The bad places in the Bible can be found by doing an Internet search for Atheism and problems in the Bible. It is surprising how unscientific and just plain nasty it can be. By realizing that the Bible is not perfect, we are free to seek our own truth guided by our spiritual self. Waking Up Now is the time to awake out of sleep. -Bible Rom 13:11 Consider how all the people are asleep, and ye are awake. They are dead, and ye are alive through the breaths of the Holy Spirit. They are blind while ye are endowed with perceptive sight. -- `Abdu'l-Bahá, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 237 "Awake thou that sleepiest and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light." -Jesus Christ -Ephesians 5:14 The Bible, KJV. The Islamic and Baha'i Faith and Their Books There are other holy books aside from the Bible. The Baha'i Faith is a separate religion that grew out of the Islamic Faith. Both the Quran and Baha'i Faith Holy books do not have nasty words in them. The Baha'i writings actively support science. But both these faiths are religions based on the Book and thus are dogmatic. The Invisible Exists Many things in the physical world are invisible to us such as radio waves, and air. But more importantly, the higher emotions of love, peace, and deep understanding are invisible. The scientific laws exist, but are invisible. What is invisible is actually more important than the visible, except of course, those things we need on the material level. The materialist and the animal are both blind to the invisible aspects the spirit. "...for the animal is absolutely ignorant of the realm of spirit and out of touch with the inner world of conscious realization. The animal would agree with the materialist in denying the existence of that which transcends the senses." -- Compilation, Baha'i World Faith, p. 235 Nothingness is Also Mapped If we think about nothing, what happens is that nothing becomes an object in our mind and in our brain becomes a real thing. "Nothing" can kill. A person who believes in nothing, can do something to hurt themselves or someone else. I will say this in different words. In the mind we have an inner map. We recreate the perception of the outer world in our brain, in our mind. This is the inner map. This is our model of what we think is real. The model can contain "nothing" as something. This something is mistaken belief, darkness,, and apathy. Thus nothing is a force to consider. Our Two Basic Natures In general, we humans have two natures, a subconscious animal nature and our spiritual nature. What is thought of sin, is actually our animal nature.
Brain Cells Organization The brain is made up of the trillions of brain cells. Knowing that each cell is a semi-independent unit, it is amazing that all the cells work so well together for the greater good. Apparently, many cells are managers, limited the worker cells to certain tasks. If this is true, we consider that like a large nation or company, there are fewer managers as one approaches the top. In the brain, the top cell or cells must interface with the soul. The city of confusion is broken down: every house is shut up, that no man may come in. Isaiah 24:10 In the simplest way of arranging the brain, we can assume that the brain in the overall scheme of things, is made up of pyramids within pyramids with control at the top. If a pyramid breaks down, the mind can become its own a monster. A person might experience rapid thought, jumping from one thing to another, or he might make other error involved in cognitive thought. If a thought path loops on itself, the person may show repeated movements, stuttering, or compulsive behavior. Thus it is important to keep the hierarchy on track with real information, but medication may interrupt the path so that oscillation or other detrimental pathway are interrupted. Culture and Programming the Subconscious Mind We learn throughout our lives, but when we are young we absorb everything without thinking about it. Some call this programming. We were given a name, taught a language and religious views without our permission. Most people stick to these teachings and remain programmed though out their lives. , never considering that they have been molded by outside forces. This is mass hypnosis, or perhaps hypnosis is too strong a word and the "domesticated" might be a better word. One has to rebel against this programming. Some people have to visit another country before they see the light. In this way they have something to hold their culture up to. For example, between the East and Western cultures, what areas of belief clash? Where both cultures have the same beliefs (going beyond language barriers) there is a much better probability of something being true. A common area might be isometric exercise and yoga. Many of the techniques are the same. There are many techniques, but basically one concentrates on a sound, a tone, or perhaps a chant. Here the brain cells that do the chanting, turn off the other brain cells and help form the internal pyramid of peace. Hypnosis If certain cells are in control of the brain, an outside entity can also control the brain. Another brain can provide the same control through hearing suggestions. By listening to another and letting another control our thoughts we become into a trance. This trance state is called Hypnosis. We all go into a trace or alpha state of consciousness before we sleep. We drift into another world of the dream. So hypnosis in the larger sense of the word is very common. Hypnosis also is possible by listening to the radio or watching TV. This is why billions of dollars are spent on advertising. Even surfing the web or driving down a long straight road can put one in a hypnotic trance. Is Our Belief System Really Ours? Succinctly stated, every decision is determined by habitual beliefs. Even habits are formed by what we believe. The first time we did something; that is now a habit, we made a conscious decision to do it or to go along with someone. Our strongest beliefs are only habits unless we take the time to investigate for ourselves. We cannot say just because everyone believes this or that it is true. Note that not too many years ago, tomatoes were considered poison. Hypnosis as a Tool Religion uses hypnosis as a tool to guide one into a purer state. Hypnosis like an automobile can travel to the worse or best places. We do not become willing puppets, but try out a service and become entranced by the rhythms and words of the clergy. As we get closer to God (or to the teachings of the church) the feelings of goodness and purpose arise, but with the direction and will of the clergy. The sermon, the ceremony continues and we find ourselves floating to a new level of being and we are culturally imprinted. Most Everyone is Hypnotized By Their Culture As we follow others we fill our minds with somebody's ideas. Most people are like fish-- blind to their own water. Our friends live in the same water. In the water we do not know we are wet. Our beliefs are constantly being reinforced. Why do we wear certain clothes? Why is something funny? Why do we have to have a green lawn that does not grow food? Why do we eat pigs and not make pets of them? Why do we not eat dogs and make pets of them. Pigs can be smarter than dogs. Why do we eat shrimp and not insects? Is there a lot of difference? Yes, we are all "enculturated" by sneaky processes working below the threshold of our awareness. These sneaky processes I call Molding, Forces and include light hypnosis, heavy suggestion making and behavior modification. The MF forces constantly mold us, more so in our childhood, but they continue to work to our last days. MF's change our belief systems without our direct knowledge. This is why we all have different belief systems. We will talk more about MFs on the next page at this web site. One Truth, Many Vantage Points Like birds flying over a city, people tend to view the world from their particular vantage point. The vantage point changes with one's interest, experiences, training, keenness of eyesight, and whom one is with. Every structure such as a building is a people filter. If there is music, people who like music will be there. If the structure is a bus, they will not like cars as much as people at the racetrack do. People who like to search for new answers will take certain courses and be found in certain areas of a bookstore. The lazy minded would not be in college. Changing Vantage Points through Propaganda Every book, poster, radio and television stations try to affect your mind. What makes news important, why is your country the best and most important? Why should we conform? If the effect is sneaky then it is called propaganda. Some of the hidden agendas of propaganda scan be identified as such as it always has hidden agendas as shown on the right.
What is interesting is that for every truth there are an infinite number of possible lies. For example, if we count three objects, we could lie pick any number except three. Truths Merge Truth over time usually wins. As the world is gets smaller more information is available and this helps civilization advance. Older religions are giving away to science, and science is becoming more religious. Copyright © 2013-2016 George Norwood |