Chapter 2
Introduction to Deepermind
Overall Structure of a Human Being
In the diagram below, there are three items. On the bottom the brown rectangle represents the countless brain processes that are going on all the time. Above these processes is our real self, the Experiencer, that which as awareness, that some people call the soul.
At the top is our reference, what we really believe in. Some call it "God" and others their personal convections.
Brain Processes
In diagram below there are two brain processes. One is an Inspection Process, and the other is the Goal Process. The brain has a huge number of these processes.
To accomplish a goal, a Goal Process is started by creating enough motivation. The goal is defined and the process of reaching the goal is performed by different types of reasoning and exploration. When the goal is reached, brain hormones are released which provides pleasure and sometimes joy.
The Goal Process is monitored by the Inspection Process. Is the goal in keeping with the person's overall goals? Is the process making progress? If the Goal Process is not working very well, the Goal Process can be terminated. During the period between birth and the early twenties, the brain is pruned in terms of brain cells perhaps as high as 80%.
Reversed Processes
If the inspector is entered backwards, it main mission is to control, not monitoring. Entering backwards it takes the goal of the main process and reverses it.
For example, if one was thirsty, and the goal was some cool water, the motive is clear, the process starts and the water faucet and glass is the clarified goal.
But if some bullies comes along, they might knock the glass to the floor. Thus they control first. They do not monitor the process and help the person to drink the water.
Just as evil is life spelled backwards, evil is the undoing of a good main process.
Fractals and Processes
Fractals are self replicating images. If you zoom down on a fractal, you will see another fractal similar to the first one.
Ons are similar to fractals. Each component is made up of smaller ons.
Processes and Life
At the top of the brain's hierarchy, the top brain cells have goals. These goals are communicated the lower processes. If the brain is not tied together it works against itself. Some parts of the brain will be at ware with other parts of the brain producing psychological conflicts.
If the top brain cells are weak, a coup can depose the current government. For example, the brain cells that crave a certain substance can take over.
Finding a More Optimized Life
To have an optimized life, the real person, the experiencer, most understand they are not a product of the busy mind. You, the real person can control your mind and thought patterns.
Cultural Bias Can Make Us Crazy
Most people are a victim of cultural pressures they are not aware of starting early in their lives. Most people's religion and politics originated by indoctrination.
Christianity teaches love and that is a good thing. But it also teaches the world is flat, that slavery is not such a bad thing, that words themselves are real things. Atheist web sites can point out many problems, such as contradictions in the Bible.
Science can be like a religion, when one believes that science knows everything or will one day know everything. Real science is not based in faith, but in ideas tested by experiment. It is always changing. Real science works well with the physical world, but things like consciousness are still a mystery to science.
We are Not Just Brain Tissue
Brains are made from atoms and atomic particles. There is no consciousness in atomic particles. I don't think the brain is a consciousness making machine. Consciousness, spirituality, experiencing the world is not based on some attribute of atomic particles as far as we know. Matter and consciousness are probably connected in some mysterious way, but we never greet people saying "hi there brain tissue."
We Can Control the Brain
If we do not control our brain, the brain chatters to us. When the brain is uncontrolled, the Goal Processes are processing weak goals or no goals at all.
The uncontrolled or non-directed brain is called the "the monkey mind". It produces an unfiltered stream of consciousness.
A monkey mind is unpleasant and many treat the problem with alcohol and drugs. Many people take psychoactive drugs which can be effective, but there is a method of stopping the monkey mind that has been known in the East for thousands of years. This is meditation.
Meditation
Meditation is a primary method of controlling the brain. Why? Meditation allows us to be in charge of our mind.
The monkey-mind can destroy our best goals. It takes away our purpose and tranquility.
The monkey-mind is often the result of our animal urges. Daydreaming about food and sex are examples. Worry about someone who doesn't seem to love us, or someone who is sick are other examples. Living in the past, or future all the time is highly distracting. Worry about bad things happening to ourselves can keep us up at night.
You cannot fight the monkey-mind straight on. If you tell your mind to stop thinking about something, you are stimulating your mind to think even more about it.
Lina Grace has a wonderful video on meditation and sleep.
How Meditation Works
Basically there are two ways to get control over the mind. First, because our conscious mind can only think one thought at a time, we can think about something we choose and keep thinking about it. Since we cannot think about more than one thing at a time, the money-mind chatter is turned off.
Secondly, we can deflect a money-mind thought. If we are worried about something we can use the rule, do what ever we can to solve the problem. But then after we tried out best, and have done everything we can do, allow to problem not to exist.
Deflection examples include chanting one word over and over again, picturing yourself on a perfect beach, concentrating on the breath and going to each part of the body and telling it to relax.
Monkey-Mind Metamorphose
If we use these techniques long enough the money-mind force changes. It matures. It has to jump high hurtles. It now cooks up a truly wonderful thought, perhaps with what we might believe as perfect insight, something wonderfully creative, instead of some useless chatter.
Witnessing
What has been said about the money-mind can be said about our personal melodrama. We can name our circumstances and the thoughts about these things can be just witnessed, like watching a cloud let it pass by.
Wrong Technique
If we are trying to stop thinking about something directly we are making the problem worse.
Do not think about a big pink elephant with a huge smile. Hey you are thinking about it, right?
Use distraction instead. Think about something you want to think about. The pink elephant went away, right?
More About Witnessing
Meditation is a tool, and being a mind tool it is not a end in itself. There is more. What we are dealing with is our awareness, our being, our personal goals and beliefs. Using meditation we can understand ourselves, and stand back and see how we can sort out who we are and all though thoughts. This is a tall order.
Most of our own personal beliefs and not shared by others unless we are in a group that attracts people of similar beliefs. For example, if we visit a particular house of religion, we will find that they are followers of some authority.
Who Are We?
Most neuroscientists maintain that we mechanical and have no soul, nothing that experiences life. The mind, brain and awareness are part of the same thing. Are we just 80 billion neurons, and 100 trillion synapses hooked together?
No. We have a name, we experience life and we are not some mechanical machine. Proof: atomic structure has no awareness, just electrical charge, weight, spin, color and some other characteristics.
My Background
I was trained early in life about electronics and computers. I repaired main frame computers for about ten years. Then spent about 35 years as a technical writer. I wrote about hard things, computers, telephone switching systems, radio telescopes, microwaves and robots. Late in life I received a degree in psychology.
My task here is to interrogate, science, philosophy and religion. To find a common thread. Some things do not connect to the thread.
Signal Flow
In electronics and computers, circuits and programs are recorded as processes. Signals move on diagrams (called schematics) left to right and down the page. Programs are written left to right and down the page too.
So, in order to understand complex processes within us I visualize a signal, or groups of signals flowing across a page.
Our Body
Our body is designed on a molecular level. The chemicals, levers and electrical impulses. Our brain is part of our body, and it is a computer like calculating machine. If we have a problem, the brain will try to find the answer. But we are not our brain any more than we are our little finger.
We are, our should be the master of our brain. The commanding force at the controls. We have beliefs, interests and goals. We send these idealized directions to our brain, something like a computer programmer instructs a computer by writing code.
The code we send our brains are not ones and zeros, but concepts such has I want to be healthy, happy and find meaning in life.
The brain is built as hierarchy, with concepts at the time, and the mechanisms to solve problems at the bottom. Without this setup there were no controls and organization. A person with conflicts, does not have a strong leader at the top of their brain.
Each department in our brain has a task, and has autonomy to figure out how to do the task and how important certain things may be. If a department takes over the person, the person becomes obsessed with one aspect in life, and is no longer in balance and harmony with life.
One could visualize that the brain requires a internal set of rules so that different parts of the brain work together. If a certain department fails to find a solution, a supervisor sees what is happening and can take strong measures to fix the problem.
A large number of brain cells die between birth and our early twenties. The brain cell circuits that do not work are weeded out. Memories that are not useful and erased.
Brain scientists have speculated that people without the ability to cull out brain cells may become autistic.
Why the Four Agreements Work
Don Miguel Ruiz passed on Toltec wisdom in his book "The Four Agreements."
These are the Four Agreements:
1) Be Impeccable with Your Word
2) Don't Take Anything Personally
3) Don't Make Assumptions
4) Always Do Your Best
If Number 1 is followed (truth) the on is not cluttered with misleading, confusing, and labor intensive deceptions.
If Number 2 is followed (not taking things personally) the ego area of the mind does not interfere with the on's processing, allowing the on to be unencumbered with extraneous information.
If Number 3 is followed (not making assumptions) the processing of the main on is not over simplified and thus making the processing thin and weak.
If Number 4 is followed (always do your best) the processing performed by the main on is as good as can be. As we go through life more problems are solved and goals are reached, building on each other.
Our Brain is Not Our Self
The brain is a huge computer made up of ons. Every thought, every idea, emotion and sensation is reflected in the brain. But it is no who we are. We use our brain (our computer) to manage everything we do. If we think of a box, the box thought is a pattern of ons in the brain. If the ons are located in the conscious area of the brain, then we are aware of the box.
The other component of ourselves is the soul. I use this word in a non-religious sense here, but our soul is mysterious.
We can define the word soul as that property that allows consciousness. The soul experiences life.
Where do I get this idea?
We just don't say "Hi brain tissue. Your atomic particles are looking good"
Without consciousness, there world be no words, no mathematics and no civilization or science.
Consciousness comes first. It is primary. There is no proof of this, because you need consciousness to think about proof.
Motive
Everything we do starts with a motive. Every movement, every thought, every conversation starts with a feeling of wanting to do it.
Pure motive is all emotional. We may use logic to create a motive to solve a problem, but it is an urge.
Thoughts are created with the energy of a motive. If you control your thoughts, you can control your motivations.
It is a vast circle. Emotions generate logic and logic generates emotions. Motives are emotional based and inspire a process which is logical. If the process is successful, then a goal is reached. The goal is has two aspects, the actual goal and the feelings associated in reaching the goal.
The process is monitored by the investigative layer. This layer checks if the motive to see if it is worthwhile. It also checks the process to see if process is working and important that watches the
Facts and Love
Many people believe that truth is the most important thing. But if someone was hiding from someone that wanted to do harm, telling the bad person about where the victim was hiding would be wrong. Facts are like points, and love is a vector. Love has direction. Mere facts are isolated.
Beliefs are principles we use to support higher functions of the brain. Different people with different convictions have different upper brain structures.
When the upper brain structures direct the lower brain structures to believe as they do, things go badly. For example, the Bible talks about a flat Earth, and the upper brain structures forces the lower brain structures to believe that way. But this goes against science and can be shown wrong by experiments.
The bottom line that beliefs have to work with science where science can supply proofs. In areas that go beyond science such as life after death, science has nothing to say, as there is no way to prove life after death is true or not.
But our reality is our special dream. Reality is based the nature of things and conformation from others.
A regular dream when have at night can break the laws of nature and is not shared with others.
The Baha'i Faith
One religion that has been created more recently is the Baha'i Faith. Based on Islam, the Bahá'í Faith has rejected and changed the dogma found in Islamic tradition.
But first let's look at what it believes. It teaches that God has sent a series of divine Educators known as Manifestations of God that provided the basis for advancement of civilization. These Manifestations have included Abraham, Krishna, Zoroaster, Moses, Buddha, Jesus, and Muhammad. Bahá’u’lláh, the latest of these Messengers, explained that the religions of the world come from the same Source and are in essence successive chapters of one religion from God.
It also believes:
Some of the ideas expressed on Deepermind are based on Baha'i teachings. One of the books I love is Guy Murchie's book The Seven Mysteries of Life. Murchie really knows science, and writes likes a poet and is a visionary.
The Baha'i Faith is Not Perfect
The Baha'i Faith has reputation for tolerance and liberal social teachings but it sadly shares a trait of almost all world's religion and that is fundamentalism. By fundamentalism is the simple faith that all truth lies in certain books and this information can never be challenged by anyone.
One of the teachings of the Baha'i Faith is a private search for truth. But many Baha'is place great emphasis on the authoritarian and legalistic aspects of the teachings of its founders and the rulings of the House of Justice which are considered as infallible. If one strays from the fundamentalism, the person is labeled a Convent Breaker.
So the search for truth is limited by forcing every idea to see if its one the Holy Baha'i Books. Many Baha'is have left the Baha'i Faith because this limitation.
If one could combine the Baha'i Faith with freedom,
what a powerful religion there would be.
The Unitarian Bahá'í Association
The Unitarian Baha'i Association is an attempt to combine freedom with the teachings of the Baha'i Faith. Thus this association is considered as a liberal Bahá'í community. It is composed as network of individuals, local groups, initiatives and resources, independent from the Haifa-based Baha'i Faith denomination. We teach and practice Unitarian Baha'ism, an understanding of the Bahá'í message that emphasizes the oneness and transcendence of God, the humanity and limitations of all religious leaders, the importance of inclusiveness and tolerance among Baha'is and people of all faiths, and the responsibility of Baha'is to engage with society to help build a better world. The UBA is a U.S.-based nonprofit organization founded in March 2010.
Unlike most other Bahá'í organizations and traditions, the Unitarian Bahá'í Association welcomes openly gay and lesbian people, politically active people, all residents of Israel, all descendants of Bahaullah (including those who are shunned by other Baha'is), and people in Muslim countries who need to hide their Bahá'í faith and publicly practice Islam. Ex-Baha'is who have left the faith because of disillusionment with the authoritarian Haifan Bahá'í organization will find a welcoming home in the UBA. Unitarian Universalists who are interested in the Bahá'í religion will find the UBA to be a key resource and community for exploring Baha'ism from a progressive and freethinking perspective, within the UU church.
The Temple within You
We all have our motivations. Our highest sources, our ideals, our beliefs define what we do, and how we inspire others. Imagine that we all have a temple in our hearts. This temple is where we go when we need courage, direction and idealism.
Some inner temples are small. An atheistic might have a simple shack of skepticism, a materialist scientist an inner laboratory, and the non-idealist are devoid of a temple.
Our inner temple is simply what motivates us. Some use money as their prime objective, and then there are people who idealize love.
People with temples within their hearts, can feel the resonance of truth in their bones. Some have called these people "true believers", but to themselves they feel that they have the love of God and Truth filling their hearts deeply.
So Where is the Truth?
If we believe that God made the world (universe), then the world is a direct reflection of God.
The pursuit of truth via science, gives us so might insight into the nature of God. Nature seems to follow certain laws. The study of physics allows us to calculate the motion of bodies very precisely.
Human biology shows how incredible and wonderful how our bodies work to stay healthy. For example motor proteins walk down microtubules within the human cell. Look at the movies here and here. There are many other stories about how the cell works, how proteins are created and how the cells reproduce. The immune defense system is something to marvel over.
In astronomy we can look back in time billions of years ago. We can study stars. There are stars that hundreds of times the mass of our sun. There are stars that are thousands of times larger than our sun.
Everywhere you look God has engineered an incredible universe. If you want to study God, start with science. Then you can understand that God is so far above us. God has to be so loving and smart that we are only beginning to understand. The old religions present God as some rejected parent who gets mad, and can be upset by the smallest things. God is much better and larger than we could ever know.
The Principle of Evolution
Say you had millions of bacteria and they kept mutating. But most mutations would not be beneficial, but some every once in a while mutated in such a way that they were more successful. For example, one flu bacteria might mutate and become immune to eradication by flu shot vaccines.
It's a number game. In higher animals, a slight color change, improvement in vision, a little smarter brain and bingo, these animals become successful and other species die off.
Evolution is a process by which different kinds of living organisms diversify from earlier forms during the history of the earth.
Darwin gave us a theory of gradual evolution over a long period by the natural selection of those varieties of an organism slightly better adapted to the environment and hence more likely to produce descendants. Combined with the later discoveries of the cellular and molecular basis of genetics, Darwin’s theory of evolution has, with some modification, become the dominant unifying concept of modern biology.
Man also promotes evolution. When a person selects only the best plant or animal we get nicer fruit, and fatter cows. Nasty wolves are changed into loving dogs by taking the most friendly and smart puppies and allowing them to grow up and breed. In around 10 generations you change a nasty wolf into sweet and intelligent dogs.
In science the word "theory" means that what it says has been proven right. The theory passes experimental tests over and over again. We can use the theory to predict what will happen. Put vinegar and baking soda in a glass and it will fizz every time.
In common usage, "theory" can mean an untested idea. I have a theory that there are little green men that push the earth and makes it spin. This is not a "theory" in the scientific language. This is just a hypothesis or a guess as to how things work. Newton's scientific theory says "A body in motion tends to stay in motion." This is why the earth continues to turn. But because of the tides, the earth's rotation is slowly slowing down. That is why we add leap seconds to our clock every few years.
The Second Evolution, Evolution of Deep Spiritual Insight
The difference between animals and humans is that humans have the capacity for insight. Insight means deep inner vision. Animals and humans have outer vision and can, of course, see the world. Animals such as cat and dogs dream, so they have imagination and this is a primitive form of inner vision.
New age and yoga people often see inner vision as imagination that can work magic. Imagine a new car, and soon or later you will have one. Of course if this imagination leads to action, and perhaps a job, then the magic works. Everything we do starts with imagination and desire.
Deep inner vision we can define as the vision of understanding. Here the vision builds constructs and insight into how everything works, most importantly how we work.
Deep inner vision is divine as it comes from God. Deep inner vision results through connection with God allowing God to provide answers. Prayer produces a path to God, and once we get a connection, we can ask for understanding and guidance.
Thus God creates within us understanding and guidance and this is the true basis for the Deep Creationism. People who believe in Religious Creationism mix together the physical creation with the stories in Genesis. In Deep Creationism, we gain insight directly from God.
Just because you ask God for the answers, the answers you get are always tempered through your current understanding and although they feel wonderful, as you mature, you will continue to get deeper and deeper understanding if you work at it. So by asking God for answers does not make you a instant sage.
During the course of one's life, inner vision matures. Our first understandings are simple. They are concrete. As we mature, we start to understand things through principles. As we get greater insight we get a handle on unifying principles that connect and underlay our beliefs.
Thus Deeper Insight grows deeper over time, if one works on it.
In summary, we have two evolutions, one based on material science and the other based on what makes us human.
The Soul
The word "soul" has many definitions. Here we will use the word in connection with growth towards Deeper Insight.
1) At the most primitive level, we just feel the need for insight. This become truly apparent when things go wrong, and we are desperately looking for answers. We want to feel peaceful and whole again.
2) The next level is where we find what we think are the answers. We blindly follow the insights of others, instead of working out our own insights. At this stage, a person can be so convinced of what they believe, that they become judgmental and prejudicial. Dogma, punishment and rules may be forced on themselves and others.
3) At the third level, one breaks free from merely following other's insight. Here they find complete freedom. They can do anything they want and they can believe whatever they want. The soul enjoys its freedom and happiness. Life becomes an adventure and personal achievement is its own reward.
4) At the fourth level, the freedom is not enough. One wants answers. This is the stage of the seeker, and life becomes more exploratory. Questions are formed and pathways of understanding open up.
5) At the fifth level, understanding begins to take effect. One begins to find ways of achieving happiness and pleasure that are long lasting. This involves considering empathy and understanding of how others feel. We notice that people change and grow, and we find ways to teach, love and encourage others. This results great improvement in relationships and intimacy.
6) The last stage is difficult to understand. It carries with in a profound understanding and knowing. Few people reach this stage. Developed souls are often called sages. Even fewer are what the Baha'i call Manisfications such as Moses, Jesus and Bahaullah. The Manisfications start religions and give civilizations spiritual substance.
It is apparent that the soul needs the guidance of more advanced souls. Often a person at a lower level, will only benefit from souls on the same level.
Prayers and Magic
No one has prayed and has had God change his laws of nature. Try it. Mountains do not move.
Saying words out loud or to one's self to fix a broken appliance does not work. You cannot fix a television or computer through prayer. Try it.
Saying words asking God for things like having a Jennie, just does not work.
So what does work?
Pray can transform the heart of the person praying to more closely resemble the heart of God. It is not so much about getting tangible results from God, but rather an opportunity to get guidance from God. To understand what God wants of us and to establish a lifelong relationship. Pray humbles us, allows us to respect our very nature and to establish a lifetime relationship to our most idealize knowing, namely God.
Prays can open doors. If you are bored, having no purpose, prayer can allow you to see the doors that are there ready to be opened and once entered you and your life are transformed.
Without breaking scientific law, prayers can produce miracles of the heart. Prayers can fix broken relationships, give hope in seemingly hopeless situations.
Words
We have be careful of words. Words are not things in themselves, but they are labels that point to meaning. Only when defined do words have a single meaning.
As taught by General Semantics, your meaning of a word may not be mine. In order to communicate, we must agree on the meanings of the words we use. If not we run into trouble. For example, my God is better than your God. Here we are talking with God1 and God2 and these words have their own meanings. We have to find what is in common with God1 and God2 in order to have a conversation. Then as talk we can modify the definitions or agree that we have two different words. But our words, define anyway we want, only point to the actual meaning. Words are labels. We do not eat the menu.
The definition of "Allah" and "God" are very close to being the same. Look up the word in Arabic and English. Allah is the greatest name for God according to the Quran. In the Bible, God is known by many names including: Elohim, YHWH-I Am, Adonai, El Shaddia, Jehovah Shalom, and Jehovah Rohi.
Magical Words Mean Nothing
Just because one has a fancy name for something does not make it real or important. The Catholic Church impresses its believers using Latin words such has "Summa Theological". It would be better just to be simple and call "Summa Theological" by what it means, the teaching of Thomas Aquinas, and let it go at that.
Impressive language tends to use long words that tend to be pompous. Some of these words can be in Latin or Sanskrit.
What is important here is meaning. Instead of hearing the words, hear the meaning behind the words. Ask yourself, is it loving, logical and inspiring, or based on fear, hate and stupidity?
Just because someone calls themselves "Christian" or "Spiritual" does not mean anything. Look beyond the words to meaning. If there is no meaning, then the words mean nothing at all. This is the basic law of communications. Words without meaning are referred to in computer jargon as garbage.
So What is Deepermind?
Deepermind is one of the middle ways. It is in the gray area, but is a nice balance between the intellectual and the practical. It is based on Christian love, but not punishment. Sin is missing the mark, not something that God sends you to hell forever. It is based on contemporize Buddhism in that it tries to eliminate suffering, but instead of giving up, promotes making things better. It is scientific and based on evidence whenever possible. It is the best of all worlds.
Walking Around Truth
If we assume that everyone has at least some truth in what they see and believe, we can walk around the subject and see it from many aspects. Consider the blind men and the elephant. One blind man touches the elephant's tail and says the elephant is like a snake.
Once we see something from another's viewpoint we can see what is truly right or wrong, or what is middle ground.
The Word "Meta"
The word "metaphysics" means beyond physics. Now many metaphysics people do not know anything about real physics, but they think they understand physics and now think they can go beyond it. In a way, this is possible. There are spiritual laws. If you hurt someone, you will probably get hurt yourself. You will pick on someone who turns out is more powerful than your are.
Meta religious means that you can see the best of many religions, be it Christianity, Buddhism and Judaism or some other combination.
Here one looks for the best, the most beautiful, the most loving, the most logical, and the most heartfelt, from all religions, philosophies, psychologies, and artistic expression. Exactly how you do it is up to you. But with this attitude and motivation, many good things will happen for you.
Hard Questions
In science there are hard questions to be answered:
What is consciousness? This is the big question. We don't know.
What is the nature of God? I like to see God as a perfect being.
Is there a spiritual dimension? Yes, it is the realm of the soul.
What is the basis of right and wrong? God.
General Semantics
General Semantics is the study of words and how words are maps of meaning. Meaning is like a physical territory described by the map. Words can be wrong or out of date.
A map is a model of a territory. Words model meaning. Words are not the territory.
So we must go under the words and think of the meaning being expressed by the author. Saying a chair is just a chair, has little meaning. But saying "This blue chair I am sitting, seems to me comfortable." as much more meaning.
Words exist in our brains, and meaning seems to exist in our soul. Meaning has emotional value. Words can be empty.
Somewhere in our brains (exactly where does not matter for now) we have a vast network of words and meaning that connect to our soul. Everything we know and believe is in this network.
When we use the word "is", like in the sentence "This is a chair." it seems simple enough, but is a bean bag chair really a chair. The word "chair" just needs a definition or perhaps needs some explanation when we go off the basic meaning of the word "chair."
So the word "is" can lead us in arguments which are really about definitions of words. Is this a real chair? That is not the question. Do we want to define a bean bag chair as a chair or not. We just need a definition of the word "chair" and its boundaries.
Science in the Material World or Distal World
Without science we are lost in a world of confusion. Anything might be true. One person's notions are as good as another.
Science comes to our rescue. Science looks for evidence. It verifies through experiment.
But science works best in the material universe, where a mass can be weighed, where voltages can be measured, where things can be accurately measured.
The distal world is the physical world outside our bodies. It is "seen" though our nervous system and not directly. Our brain receives impulses from our senses such as our eyes, noise and ears.
Spirituality in the World of the Heart or Proximal World
Spirituality uses evidence from the heart. The best evidence here is the pure heart.
The pure heart senses God and love with awe and wonder. The pure heart sees God in nature. The power and beauty of nature is everywhere.
The Proximal world is the world that we experience. It is the visual field we see and the emotions we feel.
Distal and Proximal Worlds
I coined these terms as there were no solid terms for these worlds. The inner and outer worlds might work, but these terms are more precise. They are based on medical terms with similar meanings:
Proximal means close. The ear is proximal to the head.
Distal means far away. The head is distal to the feet.
Using these words solves the mystery of the tree that falls in the woods and but nobody hears it fall. Using these words we can simply say
it makes a distal sound but not a proximal sound.
The 39th Idea: There are two worlds, the distal (material world far from us) and the proximal world that we take for real. The proximal world is a dream.
How Can We Tell if We are Awake and Not Dreaming?
There are two proximal worlds, that of the experience when we are awake and that of dreams we dream when we are asleep.
While we are awake we have a dream that has these characteristics:
- Consistency: if we leave a dish in the sink at night, it is always there in the morning.
- Cause and Effect: if we see a broken glass on the kitchen floor we can assume that someone dropped it.
- Consensusness: If we see something with someone else, we can assume that both people see the same thing.
- Collaboration: If we ask for some help and someone helps, both of us work together on the same task.
Types of Night Time Dreams.
There are three types of night dreams:
- Regular dreams are subconscious, illogical, limited sensory input, with little memory and imagination at work.
- Lucid dreams seem more conscious, often logical, can incorporate some sensory information, and also use little memory and imagination.
- The reality dream (ordinary reality) is conscious, logical, uses the senses, the memory, and also the imagination and abstract thought. Ordinary reality can be considered as a special type of dream that has consistency and collaboration.
We Dream We Have Emotions
In the proximal world, we have emotions. Emotions are described at length in this chapter. In general, most emotions can be classified as positive or negative. The may also be classified as lower (more animal like) or higher (more spiritual).
Our higher emotions let us know if we are in love, fulfilled by the Spirit, at peace.
We Dream We Have Self Talk
Within in the mind there is a little voice that keeps talking to us. It is our calculator-mind or monkey-mind that many of us wish we could control. Through chanting and other practices we can learn to control it.
We Dream About Things That Do Not Exist
Science tries to give us a good model of the distal world. But there are people who do not believe in science.
Superstitious people might believe in astrology and numerology for example.
We Can Dream Two Dreams and Both Are True
If we have on polarizing sun glasses, we see things that others do not see. With the polarizing glasses if we look at a car window we might see colors that we do not see without the polarizing glasses.
The observer's dream is dependent on their senses. We can argument our senses and see with different types of instruments. We can use electrons, or different wavelengths of light.
So the observer and the object cannot be separated. Reality is part dream and part true. It has to be true enough, or we can get into trouble.
For example, if we are simply not looking we can have a car accident.
The Gestalt View
The Gestalt View is concerned more with proximal world rather than the distal world.
In the gestalt view, concern in placed with goodness, morals, and common sense. Things are seen as wholes. Historically the gestalt view was founded by Max Wertheimer as a rebellion against Wundt's molecularism.
Updated
November 7, 2015
© George Norwood 2011-2015. This web site is in copyright. No reproduction can take place without written permission.
Revision 26
