Channeled sessions with the Transcendors (channeled by Rik Thurston www.rikthurston.com) have provided me with a valuable forum to discuss concepts and to learn new ideas. One of their themes has been the discouragement of any hierarchical structures based upon the premise that all is one and hierarchies create lower-archies. An example of that is how we view the Planetary Logos. In theosophy, our human consciousness is similar to cellular consciousness in the human body...that is, we live and die on planet Earth with no comprehension of what the Planetary Logos is up to. This is a bottom-up view which leads to assumptions of hierarchy. In the Lazaris material there is a similar bottom-up view of human evolution from the mineral kingdom to the plant kingdom to the animal kingdom to the souled being. Again, a hierarchy. Ken Wilber changes this a bit with holarchy (a hierarchy of holons) but there is still, of necessity, structure. It's natural for us to do this in a duality where increasing complexity arises by applying a didactic such as: thesis, antithesis then synthesis. The synthesis is more like a synergy of the thesis-antithesis pair which leads to something totally new.
Going back to the Transcendors and the Planetary Logos, the Transcendors have pointed out that Earth (the Planetary Logos of Earth) is actually a collective consciousness arising from 44 oversoul groupings that are engaged in creating this plane of expression (this plane happening to be plane-t Earth). From a chicken and egg perspective, it becomes souls first then Earth Logos, as opposed to the usual bottom-up perspective of Earth Logos first then souls. Even this top-down approach can be interpreted in a hierarchical context from a dualistic logical system.
So, when it comes to bottom-up or top-down the real answer is both and neither! Because the real us (soul, spirit) are in a timeless state of oneness beyond dualistic comprehension, all dualistic perceptions are both valid and invalid. This state of affairs is much like the zen koans which point to the shades of grey between true and false (and the unknowable). Lazaris calls this third logical state (the one where something is true, false and neither) as the liminal. Lazaris uses a doorway metaphor to describe the liminal...standing in a doorway you can be in a room, outside a room but yet you're neither.
The real barrier to our understanding of timeless oneness and to knowing our true state of being is that we use a simplistic true-false, dualistic logical system. Quantum mechanics shows us that a more realistic model could be a continuum-valued logical system where the usual probability interpretations would be replaced by logical values between 0 (false) and 1 (true). Even that is limiting, because there are things that are unknowable even in a continuum valued system...hence a four valued logical system (false, true, liminal and unknowable) could be more appropriate. Dimensional realities, like our physical reality, have some kind of metric or measure of quantity, quality, "separation" etc. so a numerical representation of a logical system makes sense in these dimensional realities. Non-dimensional realities also exist (since we can think of them, therefor God has also)and these would be fundamentally unknowable from the standpoint of a system of awareness representable by numbers (i.e. a logical system)...the real no-archy is non-dimensional!
By the way, Goedel's theorem proved that we cannot create a complete and consistent system of beliefs with a finite set of axioms within our dualistic logical system. Hence we seem compelled towards increasing complexity where new beliefs/postulates/axioms are continuously born to resolve inconsistencies or incompleteness...this is the logical counterpart to entropy! Following down this road of increasing complexity we dig ourselves deeper and deeper into the illusion thinking all the while that we are knowing more and more abut something real. As Goedel proved, this is an endless process that never leads to any real knowledge...something zen buddhists have said all along and something that A Course In Miracles says as well!
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Four Postulates Of Theosophy
I've just started reading Alice Bailey's "Treatise on White Magic" which is really about the spiritual journey. I was particularly struck by the simplicity of the four postulates that are stated in the introduction:
"This book will be based also upon four fundamental postulates which must be admitted by the student of the succeeding pages as providing an hypothesis worthy of his consideration and trial. No true investigator of the Ageless Wisdom is asked to give blind adherence to any presentation of truth; he is asked, however, to have an open mind and seriously to weigh and consider the theories and ideals, the laws and the truths which have guided so many out of darkness into the light of knowledge [8] and experience. The postulates might be enumerated as follows and are given in the order of their importance.
I. First, that there exists in our manifested universe the expression of an Energy or Life which is the responsible cause of the diverse forms and the vast hierarchy of sentient beings who compose the sum total of all that is. This is the so-called hylozoistic theory, though the term but serves to confuse. This great Life is the basis of Monism, and all enlightened men are Monists. "God is One" is the utterance of truth. One life pervades all forms and those forms are the expressions, in time and space, of the central universal energy. Life in manifestation produces existence and being. It is the root cause, therefore, of duality. This duality which is seen when objectivity is present and which disappears when the form aspect vanishes is covered by many terms, of which for the sake of clarity, the most usual might be here listed:
• Spirit - Matter
• Life - Form
• Father - Mother
• Positive - Negative
• Darkness - Light
Students must clearly have this essential unity in mind e'en when they talk (as they needs must) in finite terms of that duality which is everywhere, cyclically, apparent.
II. The second postulate grows out of the first and states that the one Life, manifesting through matter, produces a third factor which is consciousness. This consciousness, which is the result of the union of the two poles of spirit and matter is the soul of all things; it permeates all substance or objective energy; it underlies all forms, whether it be the form of that unit of energy which we call an atom, or the form of man, a planet, or a solar system. This is the Theory of Self-determination [9] or the teaching that all the lives of which the one life is formed, in their sphere and in their state of being, become, so to speak, grounded in matter and assume forms whereby their peculiar specific state of consciousness may be realized and their vibration stabilized; thus they may know themselves as existences. Thus again the one life becomes a stabilized and conscious entity through the medium of the solar system, and is essentially, therefore the sum total of energies, of all states of consciousness, and of all forms in existence. The homogeneous becomes the heterogeneous, and yet remains a unity; the one manifests in diversity and yet is unchanged; the central unity is known in time and space as composite and differentiated and yet, when time and space are not (being but states of consciousness), only the unity will remain, and only spirit will persist, plus an increased vibratory action, plus capacity for an intensification of the light when again the cycle of manifestation returns.
Within the vibratory pulsation of the one manifesting Life all the lesser lives repeat the process of being, - Gods, angels, men, and the myriad lives which express themselves through the forms of the kingdoms of nature and the activities of the evolutionary process. All become self-centered and self-determined.
III. The third basic postulate is that the object for which life takes form and the purpose of manifested being is the unfoldment of consciousness, or the revelation of the soul. This might be called the Theory of the Evolution of Light. When it is realized that even the modern scientist is saying that light and matter are synonymous terms, thus echoing the teaching of the East, it becomes apparent that through the interplay of the poles, and through the friction of the pairs of opposites light flashes forth. The goal of evolution is found to be a gradual series of light demonstrations. Veiled and [10] hidden by every form lies light. As evolution proceeds, matter becomes increasingly a better conductor of the light, thus demonstrating the accuracy of the statement of the Christ "I am the Light of the World".
IV. The fourth postulate consists of the statement that all lives manifest cyclically. This is the Theory of Rebirth or of reincarnation, the demonstration of the law of periodicity.
Such are the great underlying truths which form the foundation of the Ageless Wisdom - the existence of life, and the development of consciousness through the cyclic taking of form."
Variations of these postulates, I think, are also at the root of A Course In Miracles, Seth material, Lazaris material, Edgar Cayce material, and many other perspectives on the spiritual journey.
"This book will be based also upon four fundamental postulates which must be admitted by the student of the succeeding pages as providing an hypothesis worthy of his consideration and trial. No true investigator of the Ageless Wisdom is asked to give blind adherence to any presentation of truth; he is asked, however, to have an open mind and seriously to weigh and consider the theories and ideals, the laws and the truths which have guided so many out of darkness into the light of knowledge [8] and experience. The postulates might be enumerated as follows and are given in the order of their importance.
I. First, that there exists in our manifested universe the expression of an Energy or Life which is the responsible cause of the diverse forms and the vast hierarchy of sentient beings who compose the sum total of all that is. This is the so-called hylozoistic theory, though the term but serves to confuse. This great Life is the basis of Monism, and all enlightened men are Monists. "God is One" is the utterance of truth. One life pervades all forms and those forms are the expressions, in time and space, of the central universal energy. Life in manifestation produces existence and being. It is the root cause, therefore, of duality. This duality which is seen when objectivity is present and which disappears when the form aspect vanishes is covered by many terms, of which for the sake of clarity, the most usual might be here listed:
• Spirit - Matter
• Life - Form
• Father - Mother
• Positive - Negative
• Darkness - Light
Students must clearly have this essential unity in mind e'en when they talk (as they needs must) in finite terms of that duality which is everywhere, cyclically, apparent.
II. The second postulate grows out of the first and states that the one Life, manifesting through matter, produces a third factor which is consciousness. This consciousness, which is the result of the union of the two poles of spirit and matter is the soul of all things; it permeates all substance or objective energy; it underlies all forms, whether it be the form of that unit of energy which we call an atom, or the form of man, a planet, or a solar system. This is the Theory of Self-determination [9] or the teaching that all the lives of which the one life is formed, in their sphere and in their state of being, become, so to speak, grounded in matter and assume forms whereby their peculiar specific state of consciousness may be realized and their vibration stabilized; thus they may know themselves as existences. Thus again the one life becomes a stabilized and conscious entity through the medium of the solar system, and is essentially, therefore the sum total of energies, of all states of consciousness, and of all forms in existence. The homogeneous becomes the heterogeneous, and yet remains a unity; the one manifests in diversity and yet is unchanged; the central unity is known in time and space as composite and differentiated and yet, when time and space are not (being but states of consciousness), only the unity will remain, and only spirit will persist, plus an increased vibratory action, plus capacity for an intensification of the light when again the cycle of manifestation returns.
Within the vibratory pulsation of the one manifesting Life all the lesser lives repeat the process of being, - Gods, angels, men, and the myriad lives which express themselves through the forms of the kingdoms of nature and the activities of the evolutionary process. All become self-centered and self-determined.
III. The third basic postulate is that the object for which life takes form and the purpose of manifested being is the unfoldment of consciousness, or the revelation of the soul. This might be called the Theory of the Evolution of Light. When it is realized that even the modern scientist is saying that light and matter are synonymous terms, thus echoing the teaching of the East, it becomes apparent that through the interplay of the poles, and through the friction of the pairs of opposites light flashes forth. The goal of evolution is found to be a gradual series of light demonstrations. Veiled and [10] hidden by every form lies light. As evolution proceeds, matter becomes increasingly a better conductor of the light, thus demonstrating the accuracy of the statement of the Christ "I am the Light of the World".
IV. The fourth postulate consists of the statement that all lives manifest cyclically. This is the Theory of Rebirth or of reincarnation, the demonstration of the law of periodicity.
Such are the great underlying truths which form the foundation of the Ageless Wisdom - the existence of life, and the development of consciousness through the cyclic taking of form."
Variations of these postulates, I think, are also at the root of A Course In Miracles, Seth material, Lazaris material, Edgar Cayce material, and many other perspectives on the spiritual journey.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Seth Heaven and Hell and the Soul Fantasy
My plan for this blog is to post material at least once a week from reader's comments or from my own insights or quotes from things I read. Recently, I decided to start reading The Early Sessions of Seth Material by Jane Roberts and Robert Butts. I'm currently in the first book (Sessions 1-42) and its really fascinating to see how they started out channeling Seth and to see Seth's initial descriptions of concepts developed more fully later in the Seth books. I found this quote to be an interesting description of how we, as humanity, have developed concepts of Soul, Heaven and Hell:
"In prehistoric times mankind evolved the ego and self-consciousness to help him deal with the camouflage patterns that he had created. This is no contradiction, and will be explained later. He did the job so well that even when he had things under control he was not satisfied. He developed at a loposided level. He used himself as a tool to dissect himself. The inside senses led him to a reality he could not manipulate as easily as he could a camouflage world, and he feared what he thought of as a loss of mastery.
The soul fantasy, or spirit fantasy, arose at about this time, and has been a disadvantaqge to him because it gives a name and designation to one part of the whole self, setting it up against the other part. It is this basic conception, however that also forced him to face one truth despite himself - that of continued existence, to which he gave the word immortality.
This conception is to blame for the superstitious attitudes, however, concerning the inner world as a whole, and some of man's misconceptions have been ludicrous and pathetic. I think now mainly of his giving the immaterial inner self a dwelling place formed of physical camouflage patterns. In other words, a physical heaven and hell. ... The trouble is, you have to clear away so many misconceptions to get at some of the truths behind them. The spirit is no less real because man has clothed it in such foolishness."
This gives a very interesting perspective on things like "The Fall", guild, original sin, and etc. It also shows how ubiquitous control is in the human psyche and how it serves only to deepen and amplify the illusion of our camouflage reality of physical existence.
The other thing I find interesting is that this description, at first read, seems to imply a causal framework in linear time for the evolution of part of our current (cultural) belief set. Lazaris (as does Seth elsewhere, A Course In Miracles, and other sources) points out that, outside of this illusion of physical reality (our current "camouflage" reality), there is no time as we know it and thus no causality in the sense of what we perceive as past events necessarily having a causal relationship with the present. The real causality is from inner to outer: from inner parts of our being to our outer camouflage sensory perception of a Now moment in a time and space context. This Inner to Outer real causality appears to us symbolically represented as a camouflage past which is consistent with our current set of beliefs (each Now moment arises with a consistent and believable past because we hold a belief in continuity in linear time). Hence "prehistoric times" from our current vantage point represents choices made deeper in our unconscious mind (much like the description of "The Fall" in A Course in Miracles" and Gary Renard's book "The Disappearance of the Universe").
"In prehistoric times mankind evolved the ego and self-consciousness to help him deal with the camouflage patterns that he had created. This is no contradiction, and will be explained later. He did the job so well that even when he had things under control he was not satisfied. He developed at a loposided level. He used himself as a tool to dissect himself. The inside senses led him to a reality he could not manipulate as easily as he could a camouflage world, and he feared what he thought of as a loss of mastery.
The soul fantasy, or spirit fantasy, arose at about this time, and has been a disadvantaqge to him because it gives a name and designation to one part of the whole self, setting it up against the other part. It is this basic conception, however that also forced him to face one truth despite himself - that of continued existence, to which he gave the word immortality.
This conception is to blame for the superstitious attitudes, however, concerning the inner world as a whole, and some of man's misconceptions have been ludicrous and pathetic. I think now mainly of his giving the immaterial inner self a dwelling place formed of physical camouflage patterns. In other words, a physical heaven and hell. ... The trouble is, you have to clear away so many misconceptions to get at some of the truths behind them. The spirit is no less real because man has clothed it in such foolishness."
This gives a very interesting perspective on things like "The Fall", guild, original sin, and etc. It also shows how ubiquitous control is in the human psyche and how it serves only to deepen and amplify the illusion of our camouflage reality of physical existence.
The other thing I find interesting is that this description, at first read, seems to imply a causal framework in linear time for the evolution of part of our current (cultural) belief set. Lazaris (as does Seth elsewhere, A Course In Miracles, and other sources) points out that, outside of this illusion of physical reality (our current "camouflage" reality), there is no time as we know it and thus no causality in the sense of what we perceive as past events necessarily having a causal relationship with the present. The real causality is from inner to outer: from inner parts of our being to our outer camouflage sensory perception of a Now moment in a time and space context. This Inner to Outer real causality appears to us symbolically represented as a camouflage past which is consistent with our current set of beliefs (each Now moment arises with a consistent and believable past because we hold a belief in continuity in linear time). Hence "prehistoric times" from our current vantage point represents choices made deeper in our unconscious mind (much like the description of "The Fall" in A Course in Miracles" and Gary Renard's book "The Disappearance of the Universe").
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Welcome to Al World View
I have been giving workshops on metaphysics and spirituality at Edgar Cayce Canada events in Canada for several years. The workshop material has evolved over time and I thought that now was a great time to put together a website so that people who attended these workshops (and others) could better explore this material more fully. I also thought this blog would be a great way to complement the website by creating a forum for discussion and sharing insights.
The website can be found at http://web.me.com/allenconrad1/alworldview
Please have a look at the website and I look forward to the conversation. The website will be an ongoing process since I expect to be making some changes as a result of these blog conversations and as I add information on other topics in metaphysics and spirutality.
Enjoy!
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