The Liability of Linear Thinking

It dawned on me the other day, like most things do, that there is an issue with the way we are trained to think. Not that our thinking is the issue, though I know in my life I find a direct correlation between the number of thoughts running through my head and the level of happiness I feel, as in the fewer thoughts the happier I am. But, as we are all keenly aware, not thinking is not an option. We are thinking machines, it seems it is our inherited job to mull over every little thing that happens or more correctly that we perceive to happen. Our thoughts are as constant as the tides, ebbing and flowing, rising and falling, rushing and pooling into a muck that is damn near impossible to escape or make sense of.

"So? What is this big break through that you came up with for me to read about, mull over and ultimately find fault with and outright ridicule?" You ask, with a since of impatience because your time is precious and fleeting. ;-)

Well, to be honest it was more an awakening to a wider view point than an actual break through. I was having a conversation with my friends about consciousness, enlightenment and the trials and tribulations with both, when in a moment of solitude as I walked the short distance to the coffee shop we frequent, it hit me; Our problem is not with thinking or enlightening but with the parameters within which we classify our thoughts. The issue it seems is not what we think or where those thoughts take us, because as any student of "Enlightenment"  will tell you, it's all perfect no matter what your perception of it. The problem I realized was that the basis in which we think is too narrow. The scope cannot encompass that mass of thought that we have. The basis of our Linear Time Space Consciousness is the wall blocking the way for us to move forward.

We are not linear creatures, the world does not function linearly just as the universe does not follow a straight line through the Cosmos. We are cyclical creatures, living cyclical lives, on a cyclical world going around a cyclical universe. Nothing about us is linear accept our thinking. And, we wonder why we are so confused and in such disarray all the time. Which brings up another point; Time. Time is nothing. Time is No-Thing. Time is a mentally constructed concept predicated upon the electromagnetic heart beat of our mother Earth. Which, for those of you aware of the feeling that time is speeding up faster and faster these days can find a direct correlation between the feeling of time speeding up and the increasing of the Earth's electromagnetic pulse or 'heartbeat' if you prefer. In the last few decades the scientific community has become aware of this pulse and once believed it to be a constant 7.3 hertz. However, since the Cosmic Convergence in the late 80's, this pulse has been steadily increasing to upwards of 13 hertz. No wonder we feel as if time is speeding up!! (Do your research. You'll find this to be true. Unless of coarse you end up on the wrong website. And, In that case I'm sure you'll read that the Earth is only 12,000 years old anyway, so nothing to worry about.)

Anyway, where was I? Oh yes.. We believe that time flows in one direction, or at least that is how it feels and how we are taught. Yet, as Einstein proved, time is not Linear and does not flow in just one direction, but can flow in all directions. More recent studies of physics and quantum theory have described time as 'Vertical'.
Vertical time is a concept that states time really doesn't exist as we have previously perceived it, but that all things are happening "Now" and depending on our present focus we are either moving up or down on the vertical access of time. We are either focused forward / up into the future or backwards / down into the past. We are able to access both when we allow our believe in an grasp on linear time to relax and fall away. Shamans, medicine men and profits have been reading the future and accessing the past for centuries this way and showing us the validity of vertical time. Yet, we still beat the drum of Linear thinking and there by are hindering our access to the universe in the most prolific way.

Now, I'm not proposing that we all run to MIT to take night courses in Quantum mechanics and super string theory so that we might become experts and therefore grow such large brains that we begin to resemble our extraterrestrial neighbors. Or that we all become shamans and learn to access those trance like states that they use to access said information. This of course isn't necessary or warranted. That is just our ego's attempt to over complicate the situations and muddy the waters between the question and the answer. Because, if it is the truth then it should be easy to apply and not so difficult it takes a team of scientists to test and prove.

What I am proposing through far too many heavy handed words and lack luster prose is as simple a concept and breathing to most of us. I believe simply that all that is required for more peace and acceptance within your life is a minor correction in perception. Just move your belief associated with time and your life out side the confines of Linear Thinking and realize the simple truth of our Cyclical nature. Everything is a cycle in our lives. Nothing runs from here to there and stops. Everything runs a course and begins again at the end. Actually there really is no beginning or end, just phases that we pass through on our way to the next. All necessary and wonderful in their perfection. You cannot know or appreciate any one phase of life, growth or rebirth without the others. Just as you cannot know your likes without your dislikes, the night without the day or the winter without the spring.

All that we know and experience within our short little lives runs in cycles. Day to night, summer to winter, full moon to new moon, high tide to low tide, life to rebirth. And, yes, for those of you who have caught it, I do not like to use the term death when discussing our cycles. Mainly because of the overall misunderstandings concerning the concept of death. Most people believe that death is an end and are unaware of or maybe just afraid to hope that there is something after what we call death. I have always felt that this way of thinking was wrong for many reasons, but mainly for the simple fact that if you try to imagine not existing at all; as many suggest is what occurs at death, that we simply blink out of existence; you cannot imagine it. There is no way other than theoretically, or more correctly hypothetically, for any eternal consciousness to imagine not existing at all.

Try it. Try to imagine that you do not exist at all. That there is nothing but blackness and you are not there. The fundamental problem is that to imagine such a thing, there has to be something there to notice the nothingness of not existing. It's impossible for consciousness to experience not existing. Because the two are mutually exclusive. If you exist, then you exist. You cannot undo what is, just as you can not change what isn't into something. But, I digress and jump off my soapbox of existentialism to get back to the point of this blog as I intended it to be.

The Liability of Linear thinking is that there is nothing linear in life to measure with our straight edges. There is no A to B to C and so on. There is no this, then that which means X. These equations only exist in mathematical formulas based in two dimensions. Those two dimensions are contained within the four dimensions of our so called physical lives as we perceive them at this point. Therefore, we are trying to define something that is outside the scope of our measuring devise by a power of 2. It's akin to measuring the volume of water in a pool by taking the length and width measurements of the pool and calling it good. Doesn't compute. Yet that is the basis for this rant and what I believe to be the Liability in Linear Thinking. You cannot encompass even half of your experiences or thoughts about what you experiences in a single moment if you try to measure or quantify that moment in a linear fashion.

Now, let me say that I do not pretend to have the end all be all answer for this problem. I would not even try to delude myself into thinking that I have the answer for any other person, nor that I would tell you that if you do this then your life is fixed. That of course would defeat the purpose of you living your life for you. I am expressing my thoughts to you so that you will ask the questions and in the asking come up with your own answers.

The truth of it is, your brain is a hundred times more receptive when asking a question than when listening to someone else's answer. So, don't stop after reading this and think, 'OK, now I've got it all figured out because I've expanded out of Linear thinking and broadened my scope..." I assure you if you have this thought you will not be happy with the results there after. However, try a questioning approach. Ask the questions that come to you and be aware of what arises for you in that moment. You are the Captain of your personal ship sailing through a Universe of your own Creation. No one else there but you and several billion reflections of you in the waters surrounding your ship.

Your life is ruled by cycles. From birth through childhood to adulthood to maturity and then rebirth. From morning to noon to night and morning again. Apply this concept to your everyday life. View all things through an awareness of their cyclical nature and in so doing the old Master's saying, "This too shall pass." will have greater power and meaning in your life. Especially as we close the current galactic year cycle, the great year cycle and move from the age of Pisces into the age of Aquarius. As we move out of the old linear thinking paradigm into a broader more cyclical perspective, we continue our ever expanding evolution towards the next phase in our eternal cycle of existence.  

Expansion and change are the only current constants in our world and in the universe at large. I say current constants, because our current cycle is ever changing and evolving. Therefore, it is logical to expect that those two constants will also change at some point. Maybe in the 'Future", as we perceive it now, we will reach a point where the universe finishes expanding and begins to contract. Like the Hindu story that the expansion of the universe is the exhale of their God Brahma and at some point he will finish his exhale and start his inhale there by causing the universe to contract and time as we know it to flow in the opposite direction. But, that's a thought and blog for another time.

Namaste and Love to you all!

Transcendence Part 2 (Rant Continued)

Ok, well, if you made it through my last post then you are a good sport and apparently a glutten for punishment because you're back for more. I promise to try to keep myself under a tighter leash this time and not go off on such a tangent as last time. Now, where were we?

Transcendence by our old and newer definition is to: go beyond, be outside of, to move from one state to another, etc.. Some examples of this: "When I turned 13, I transcended from pre-teen to teenager." "When I got a job I transcended from unemployed to gainfully employed."

In the old definition the term was in reference to God, as in, God is beyond this world, God is outside of us, God is not a part of this world but beyond and greater than this world. "The infinite is transcendent.."

The more modern meaning refers mostly to the going beyond one state to the next. Moving passed something to get to the new thing or state of being.

I'd like to make a point about something before we move too much further. Because of our limited understanding of things in the past, we believed that we were not a part of the universe or God for that matter. We believed that everything was outside of us and that we were only these disconnected little bodies running around for a handful of decades. Theology, Dogma and theory had us all striving to be more like something out there. We had to strive to be God-like, who was so far beyond us He is incomprehensible to us, to ensure everlasting life.

These are all antiquated theories of Humanity and life on this planet. Much like the Earth being the center of the solar system and the world being flat was a thousand years ago. Things have come a long way since then.

Thanks to a resurgence of spiritual, metaphysical belief systems, quantum physics, noetic science and the resurgence of tribal histories we are beginning to remember that the old beliefs are outdated and no longer serve our highest good.

We now know that we are a part of the universe, we are connected to everyone and all things. We are not alone in these bodies, but a part of the greater whole of all things. Our thoughts have substance. Our emotions are more than we knew before. Our heart is far more than we previously assumed it was. We are more than we could have ever previously understood.

God is not without us or beyond us. We are not apart from God. We are God. We are the minuet particles that make up all that is God or the Source. Just like the atoms and molecules make up our bodies, so do we as people on planets in a solar system in a galaxy in this universe make up God.

The spark that animates your body and leaves it upon your, 'so-called', death is a piece of God. You are God Spark, you are infinite, you are one with the source. Now is the time to remember and to move past old theories, theologies and beliefs to embrace a more beneficial and in many ways more correct system of thought.

It is time to transcend the belief that we are alone and insignificant little specks of dust in the universe. We are so much more than we have been told, taught and lead to believe. We have all that we could ever need within each and every one of us. It is just a matter of knowing it, practicing it and in time believing it.

One way to understand this process of transcending old beliefs into new beliefs is to look at how you ended up with the beliefs you currently hold. I believe that it is safe to say that the majority of your current beliefs didn't com from you, but from an outside source that usually meant well, yet due to their beliefs coming from an even more antiquated system, didn't do you much good. The fact of the matter is, most of us only believe what we do because we heard it so many times and thereby thought it so many times that it became a belief. Beliefs are only thoughts we've thought over and over again. It is like muscle memory, once you've done an action so many times that you can now do it instictually without any thought, it becomes ingrained in your muscle memory. The same goes with beliefs.

Our brains work much like paths in the woods, the more we walk a certain path the more worn in it is and the easier it is to follow. The nueropathways in our brains work the same. When we think a thought it creates a connection and new nueropathway. The more we think that thought the more wore in that nueropathway becomes. And, once it's good and wore in it becomes a belief. We no longer have to consciously think the thought because it has become a habit.

This process is the same process we use to transcend old thought patterns and create new ones. It is harder in the beginning, but gets easier the more we do it. Until it becomes worn in and habitualized. Like retraining your body to perform a new series of movements, the more you practice it the easier it becomes until it is second nature and requires no more thought than raising your arm.

To transcend an old belief, however we don't want to go outside of ourselves. Going outside of ourselves does not solve the problem but masks it. The old definition of transcendence needs an update for our modern times. 

To connect to God and transcend our current situation we need to look within ourselves to our connection to source. Thereby, reconnecting to who and what we truly are instead of running from it is the only real way to transcend anything we wish to.

I propose a new definition of transcendence as; the going within to remove ourselves from the with-out. By going within during a situation we wish to change we reconnect and ground ourselves to our source. We are able to withstand any amount of outside influence and remain calm in the face of adversity simply by disconnecting from the outside and reconnecting within.

Transcendending the old ways is no longer a matter of going outside of ourselves to move through or past something, but a going within to our connection to source/God and remembering we are more than we have previously believed we were.

So, to tie this up in a neat little package, the new definition of transcending the old for the new is best accomplished by going within, reconnecting to our true selves and letting the outside no longer affect our inner being.

We are in for magical and wonderful changes in our world in the years to come. Not all will be easy or fun, but by keeping a strong inner connection and knowing that we are more than we appear to be or see on the outside we will transcend these events much more simply.

Change is our only constant. It flows like a mighty river and if we hang onto the shore trying to keep ahold of our old way and beliefs we will be thrashed and beaten against that shore. Let go and float out into the middle of the river. Let it take you were it will. Look around to see who else is in the middle with you and rejoice together.

Namaste my beloved friends. We are one!

Duality of The Human Condition

Welcome back! I'm so glad you decided to join me once again for another of my random rants about life.

Today I'm going to revisit a talk I recently gave at the Center for Spiritual Living in Huntsville Alabama, which also coincides with a chapter in my second book: The Human Condition. Which is really a discussion on the dualistic condition we live in as Spiritual Beings having a Human experience, or, if you prefer, Human Beings having a spiritual experience. Either way is fine because both are true.

That last sentence should be made into a motto, bumper stickers and murals to remind us all that in this ever-expanding multidimensional universe of unlimited-ness there is no "This or that", no matter what we've been taught and told all our life. There is "This AND That". Meaning, that the dualistic view of life as good or bad, black or white, them or us is a highly limited and naive perspective. But, we all have to start somewhere and every one of us is exactly where we need to be in our personal journey of evolution.

Let me explain a little and see if I can make this all clear as mud for you. ;-) I'll take a simplistic scientific approach for all of us to get a handle on this concept and then we can go from there.

The basic scientific principle I am speaking of resonates wholly with most spiritual and religious teachings in our world today. Which is this: There is only Light and an absence of light there is no "Light and Dark" or "Good and Evil" just Light. Scientist proved this a long time ago when they discovered absolute zero. The concept of absolute zero means that there is a point where it is impossible to get any colder or 'absolute zero'. Absolute zero proves that there is actually no such thing as cold, because if there was such a thing as cold it would continue on to infinity. Yet, it does not. So cold isn't actually 'cold' but is more appropriately described as an absence of heat or in other words an absence of light. And, if you're interested in proof consider the other side of the same absolute zero theory, which shows that there is no end to heat. The thermostat for heat just keeps on going up and up toward infinity.

Now let's change our terminology from heat to light. Just as there is absolute zero there is also absolute dark. Dark has a finality to it. Dark is not a 'thing' but the absence of a thing; Light. In no scenario can dark over take light. You never walk into a lit room and turn on the 'Dark' switch to swallow the light in darkness. No, you turn on the Light switch to repel the darkness or more correctly fill the empty space with light. Simply stated, there is only light. From zero to infinity there is light and light is the basis for heat. The more light you add the more heat you receive.

Think of it this way, we exist on a plane that begins at zero and goes to infinity. Since we are made up of vibrations of photons, which are the building blocks for light, we are basically light beings at a much slower vibration than that which we consider light. With quantum physics we know that all that we are and all that we perceive in this "Physical" reality is vibration. Everything in our world is vibration at varying levels from slow to fast. As well, vibration equates to heat; the higher the vibration the hotter the temperature. Rub your hands together and feel the heat building. This, of course, is a result of friction and friction is the resistance of the electrical fields of our atoms coming into contact of one another. Now stop and feel the tingling in your palms: the higher vibration of the electrons surrounding the atoms of your hands.

See! Isn't science fun?!

Now , let's look at the theory of Good and Bad or Good and Evil. Using the same theory of light we can summarize that there is no bad or evil but an absence of good. Or more correctly, an absence of Love. We as human beings are the physical expression of Love. As non-physical spiritual consciousness, or the state we exist in outside the body, we are pure love. Even as 'physical' humans we are mostly love. Look at the atom, which is 94.6% empty space and only 5.4% matter. We are made up completely of atoms, so therefore, we are only 5.4% matter and 94.6% empty space. What is that empty space that makes up our majority?

The scientist in France and Switzerland within the Large Hadron Collider are trying to answer just that question, by smashing photons together at close to the speed of light. In an attempt to identify 'Dark Matter' or the 'God Particle', which is what many of the scientists are calling the 'empty' space within atoms. But, I digress...

Since I'm no scientist and not the authority on these matters I'll keep this as simple as possible. Let's call this 'Empty' space within which we exist, 'Love'. A Course in Miraclesstates that there is only 'Love' and 'A Call for Love'. Just as we have discussed there is only Light and a lack of light, love can be described as light. There two terms are pretty much interchangeable in this way. Therefore, our lives are based on a plane or a scale of love. There is an absolute lack of love and then the infinity of love on the same scale. Good and Evil aren't what we were taught they were.

As human beings living within a dualistic societal model of this or that, us or them and good or bad are missing out on our whole nature due to this mindset. We are taught to demonize half of our nature as bad. Things such as anger and fear are natural components of our human make up and they have specific purposes within the natural world we live in. Yet, because of the dualistic mentality humans have been living in we have taken these natural traits and tools for survival and turned them into things to dismiss, ignore, overcome and label 'Bad'.

However, we are not good or bad, we are good and bad. We as humans are capable of every end of the spectrum and most of us will experience both ends of the spectrum and everything in between over and over again in our lives. This is because we are whole beings of love and light. Not a mish-mash of good and bad or usable and unusable.

Our emotions are all based in survival. Anger and fear are instinctual feelings related to fight or flight. They are very useful emotions that have a place in our lives. You know this to be true when someone is trying to wrong you or cheat you and you become angry to defend yourself and your rights. This is a very appropriate and healthy response to that sort of situation. If someone is trying to harm you and you become fearful and run away to save yourself from harm, this is appropriate and the intended use of fear.

You see, nothing that is within us is wrong or bad. Yet no matter what characteristics we possess all can be used appropriately and inappropriately. Just like something like water can be equally appropriate and inappropriate depending on the situation. Say your house in on fire and someone comes in with a hose to put out the flames. This is an appropriate use of water in your home. However, if your house wasn't on fire and someone came in spraying water around, you would consider this very inappropriate and probably become very angry. Which, is the appropriate response to another's inappropriate actions.

The thing is, there is no good or bad, light or dark, us or them, there are only people doing the best they can day in and day out. Everyone, you included, does the best they can in every moment of everyday. If they could do better they would. So the battle of good and evil really comes down to personal perspective of appropriateness. We don't argue over the legitimacy of what others do, but merely our perception of whether we consider it appropriate or not.

By understanding the purpose of our emotions and the appropriateness of our actions in each situation we can begin to stop judging ourselves so harshly and realize that we are children of God doing the best we can with what we have. We are the loving children of God having a human experience. We as Humans exist within an ocean of love and we are the droplets that make up that ocean. We are love. Remember who you are the next time you judge others or yourself. Everything that we are and possess is perfect as are we. It is all a matter of perspective. If your perspective isn't making you happy today, borrow God's for a min. She won't mind.

Much love to you all for coming here and co-creating with me today.