Archive for March, 2010

Part One: How To Admit You Are Wrong

by Andrew Gubb

To start off this post, I want to draw your attention to a few truisms. I like truisms. The human race isn’t very intelligent, so sometimes we still need to learn from truisms before we move on to less obvious truths.

What I wanted you to consider was this:

Principle 1.

Everyone thinks they know how the world really is.

And they have to! If they didn’t think that their beliefs were true then they wouldn’t be able to get a start on anything.

Principle 2.

Everyone has a different idea of how the world really is.

You get where I’m going here?…

Principle 3.

If everyone thinks differently, what makes your idea of how the world really is so special that you KNOW that it is correct?

In this series of articles I’m going to be challenging your way of viewing the world and showing you how to find the truth in a world of lies.

How to realize you don’t know it all

I was a pretty smart-assed kid. I found classes too easy and had an idea of myself as some super-genius, and even then I had a bone to pick with the establishment, so I used to spend assembly times sniggering at anything religious as if to make a point. I loved to be right. To be fair on myself, I was eight years old.

At that time I thought I had the universe figured out at a basic level. We are machines made out of atoms and molecules. Consciousness is a sort of illusion. When we die, consciousness ends. Science can understand everything. If we had a big enough computer, we could simulate a human being just by understanding the mechanics of atoms.

But round about then I had a strange epiphany. It struck me so hard that I still remember vaguely the actual moment. I realized, “If I want to keep being right, I will have to admit I am wrong to be able to improve my ideas. Otherwise I’ll just mire myself in self-delusion while everyone else overtakes me.”

Being a super-genius is hard work.

Nowadays I wonder, if I could go back in time and meet my past self, whether he’d like me or if I’d even like him. Now I firmly believe in life after death, a higher power that guides and protects us, psychic abilities, astrology and telekinesis. I’m vegan, earn money doing energy healing, and consider prayer to be a helpful tool in getting things done. I think he would think I went nuts somewhere along the way. Astrology???

Eventually I started out in earnest in my struggle to find out how to be healthy and happy and fulfill my yearning for life to be something more than the pathetic package that seemed to have been assigned to me. Despite how everyone seemed to suggest that life was fine as it is, I knew at least not to believe them. I’m a super-genius, OK? So I got into psychology and psychotherapy. I quickly gravitated to the more alternative areas such as NLP and hypnosis, but I tended to get uncomfortable when they expressed unscientific ideas such as Universal Intelligence. Still, I knew they had something at least. So I kept reading.

The next encounter with “fringe” science was in Quantum Mechanics. I read a book on it and came out with the strange feeling that Quantum was something profoundly important for some reason I couldn’t quite grasp. For the moment it went to the back of my mind, but I kept coming back to a fascination in it. I know why now. It just didn’t fit with my fundamental beliefs in a robotic reality. In Quantum Mechanics, there is some crazy, crazy pattern that seems to suggest that consciousness affects the way reality behaves! Anything but that! (Many scientists are in denial about the ramifications of Quantum Mechanics).

I kept studying and questioning. But it took a long time and a lot of bravery to come to question the most basic foundations of my reality.

Building and destroying

I see honing a belief system as something like building a house. It’s quite easy to place one brick on top of another. But what if the first bricks you laid were in the wrong place? You’d have to stop putting more bricks on top of them. It’s uncomfortable to do, but you’ll have to undo your own hard work in order to start building a wall in a better place. Otherwise, no matter how much effort you spend on making a perfect wall, you’ll still have a bad job on your hands.

My error was to keep building when I should have been destroying my belief systems. I accumulated knowledge without challenging what knowledge I thought I already had. Eventually I got to the point where I went virtually mad. (It didn’t help that I was the stay-at-home type at that time). My ideas about reality were so out of sync that practically anyone would have been able to see it except me.

There’s the trouble: letting go of beliefs can be scary. Eckhart Tolle would tell you that you have identified with your beliefs… which means, according to the word’s latin roots, to make yourself the same as your beliefs. I = belief. So destroying a belief can feel like dying. It’s much more comfortable to accumulate beliefs. (Especially when you feel like you need to be a super-genius to be loved).

This is what we call humility (or earthliness as the word literally means). Humility might not seem like a really great quality to cultivate, but that’s only when you see humility as trying to do a favour for others. Humility isn’t about others, it’s about you. It’s refusing to build a tower that sooner or later will have to fall down. I’m not overly fond of self-abasement myself, but I use humility where it’s practical.

Socrates was famous for saying “all I know is that I know nothing”. That’s a good mantra to have. In fact, the more I’ve explored reality from different points of view the better I’ve become at admitting that what I believe could be wrong.

On the other hand, you always will think you know what you know. It’s just how we work: we need to have a map of reality to use, and we can’t doubt it, or we’ll never take a step. But learn to get comfortable using the word “belief” for what you think you know, as a concession to the possibility that what other people think they know could be right, and be welcoming of challenges to your belief systems. The more your belief systems are challenged the better they become. Challenges destroy the useless while crystallizing what is closer to the real truth.

Going against the grain

I needed bravery to destroy my own beliefs. But I also needed bravery to go against the social group I identified with. In fact I’m still learning this bravery, as I’m sometimes still uncomfortable in talking about what I believe in, in case a scientific bogeyman jumps out of the closet and eats me for being too new-agey.

In case anyone is where I was I want to say this: whenever you have a belief system that is part of a social group, you have censorship. Yes, even in Science. The social group draws boundaries and says “this is where we start and end; if you step outside the line you don’t have a right to be a part of our group.” It’s a very tribal thing. Possessed by the primal fear of not being accepted by your tribe, you choose to conform your reality to the group reality.

So this was my second error. When I was exploring psychology and trying to find myself, I kept on thinking that Science was infallible and held the last word on truth in this world. Nowadays I think that you can know anything, seriously anything, if you take responsibility and make the effort to find the truth for yourself. No authority is good enough to save you from responsibility, grasshopper.

So I came to a point where I started finding some really great insights and got excited. I was making a grand discovery! I was going to change the world and push back the frontiers of science!

The joke was on me, of course. I was discovering spirituality, and the reason science didn’t take into account the insights I was getting was because of social censorship.

Rewriting my reality

So one day not too long ago I noticed I still felt uncomfortable in my beliefs. So I sat down and wrote in my journal, “What is the most basic truth of my reality?” I wanted to get right down to the foundations again.

I came up with this. And until the next post in the series, this is how I’ll wrap up the article. I’d love to hear what you think about anything discussed here.

• I am consciousness.
• I am exploring myself.
• I am the avatar.
• I affect myself.
• There is joy and there is suffering.
• I want joy, and I have the power to create it.
• Things matter; those which I choose to make matter.
• Joy matters.

Next week, Part Two: “How To Use The Mind”.

Thank you Andrew!
You can check out Andrew’s site at: http://www.andrewgubb.com/

The Truth About Mars by Ernest L. Norman. © 1956 (1988, 4th Edition), Unarius Educational Foundation. ISBN 0-932642-12-8.

A small but interesting book.

Norman wrote about his out-of-body experiences visiting underground cities on Mars.

Keeping in mind that this was published in 1956, Normal wrote about pre-fab (using a type of plastic) homes; a process similar to test-tube babies; transportation similar to mono-rails; etc. In other words, he was describing what he saw back then in Mars underground cities that, some of the concepts/items, are seen here today.

He recounted the story told to him of how the surface of Mars became desolate and dry; he discussed some of the customs on Mars, such as using a barter system, a wedding ceremony, education, and more.

This was a light and enjoyable read.

My husband and I took advantage of spring break and headed to California. He and I had not been on a trip, alone, since our honeymoon many years ago.

We stopped off in Santa Ysabel to partake of the tourmaline dig offered by the Himalaya Tourmaline Mine.

We had a blast! We got dirty and wet; met some neat people…oh, and uncovered a few “sparklies” as well.

Our trip took us through some winding roads and beautiful landscape – we continuously spotted ‘awe’ moments shared throughout the drive.

Our trip brought us to the ocean. The ocean takes my breath away; I don’t need to be in the water, but do love to hear the waves and feel the immense power generated by the ocean, which in turn energizes me.

We also visited a rather unique used bookstore (and of course came home with some wonderful books!); another shared passion of ours.

This wasn’t just a road trip; it was a chance for my husband and me to reconnect, away from work and home, and to share moments together.

We often get caught up in work and home ‘realities’ and sometimes forget anything beyond that. I highly recommend to everyone to reconnect with their life partners – take a day trip if a longer one is not an option; enjoy the scenery and each others company.

Reconnecting with a loved one, and with the beauty of our country, can offer you the opportunity to remind you what is really important in your life.

by Peter Perkins

After the ARE meeting (in the article “Unusual Experience”) several people stayed behind to watch part of an interview with Terry and Esther Hicks and Abraham.

I watched the movie and though I have manifested things in my life, I was enthralled to hear of the manifestations that Esther was able to create in such a short time. It usually takes me a month or so.

Esther, while channeling Abraham, mentioned an exercise that Abraham had given her about manifesting. It was simple things and she tried it and Abraham went onto say how she had missed all the times these things had manifested until the last thing she had tried to manifest came up; she was suddenly aware of it.

I felt inspired and set an intention of manifesting a hummingbird. I haven’t seen one this year so far but I focused on my memories and feelings about the cute little birds.

Though I didn’t see one that day I played a YouTube video with hummingbirds.

The following day I visited my mother’s house and my eyes were fixed on the hummingbird feeder she had outside. She saw me looking and said, “They haven’t come yet, it’s too cold and today is incredibly windy.” I told her almost without thinking that I had seen one. My mind was dwelling on my wishes.

Not twenty seconds later a hummingbird flew up and I grabbed my mom and said, “Look!” It darted around and fed from the feeder. Even though the winds were incredible today it had become a manifestation in less then twenty-four hours.

When do the elderly have the right to die?

My husband and I were off to California and visited someone dear to me; she is 96 years old, and due to a tired and worn out body, confined to a wheelchair or bed.

She told me that she just wanted to be done, and then brought up a very good point: we force our elderly humans to live beyond quality years, but allow our pets the luxury to cross over…why can’t we do that for our elderly? Especially when their life consists of never ending medical tests, eating and sleeping; waking hours are given over to TV since hands and eyes no longer work comfortably.

Quality or Quantity?

For pets, we go by quality of life, not quantity; for humans, we go by quantity, not quality. What kind of life is that?

Many years ago, I was told that one old Native American custom had been: when an elder felt they could no longer contribute, or felt that they had become a burden, they would go out to the wilderness, lie down and release their soul, vacating their physical shell.

A lot of us had lost that connection with self to do that…perhaps it’s time for humans to relearn this, and honor the right for our elders to go when they are ready…

by Peter Perkins

First I want to state that I have been on a rollercoaster of emotions over the new health care reform recently made law here in America. It has so divided our country that it’s almost as if there are two countries. It is not new, I saw the amount of hate vented at George Bush when he was president; most of the media was on that bandwagon. Now with Obama as president it is the same thing except the media is not on the bandwagon – but mainstream media is not the source a lot of Americans go to anymore.

The amount of discontent is incredible; death threats and anger is at a point where it seems like the country is ripping itself apart at the seams. We have legislation passed with lightning speed and without the checks and balances that are in place for a reason. Instead of working together to overcome problems facing our nation it seems like congress is more like bullies on a playground. I don’t even think any of them read the legislation they vote on.

With the attack on an IRS building in Texas involving the pilot Mr. Stack, I only see tensions becoming more and more, you would think the politicians would try and calm the anger and division down. Sadly you have both sides saying, “Bring it on!” and planning to use the unrest to further political goals of either party.

I felt strongly like this is all a big distraction. Look at the political tension and infighting and don’t pay attention to what’s going on behind the screen, like in the Wizard of Oz. Even though I know this is a distraction and know that there are things going on behind the screen, I still found myself disheartened over it all.

My thoughts turned very negative. I try and maintain a positive outlook but it was very hard for me to do. I attended a meeting of the local ARE and when asked how I was doing I was tempted to vent and talk about all the things that have been on my mind and bothering me. I didn’t and I am glad that I did not do so; it would have been easy to simply dwell on the negative.

I decided to clear the slate and take the moment right then for what it was; a chance for me to gather together with other members of the metaphysical community and to mutually work together so that we could all benefit.

I shielded, wanting to remove my negative energies and bring myself into a more positive energy state. It worked it worked so well that my vibrational shift was something that I find hard to describe. To put it into terms hopefully others will understand it would be like going from reverse to fourth gear all at once.

That day at the meeting we had a teleconference with Dorothy Slemmer who wrote “Sunrise, Day One.” As she spoke to us I got so many verifications for things that I had experienced in out of body states. Indeed while I was listening I felt like I was floating, as if I was a balloon only loosely tethered to my body.

I have felt this way in the past and grounding helps out but I tend to ground hard and will lose my abilities for a few days to a week; so I didn’t want to ground hard. While I was listening and aware of the meeting and certainly listening to Dorothy speak, I was also out of body and out there exploring. Eventually Linda who heads the ARE group mentioned I had been silent the whole time and it took me some time to actually formulate my thoughts.

It was funny because another member mentioned that I wasn’t there with them at the moment and it was partially true. I loved listening to Dorothy speaking about her book, I had never read it but I had visions very similar to the things she had described. In fact when I described some of the things I had experienced to my friend Jan, she mentioned those things were in the book.

So here I am at the ARE meeting trying to formulate thoughts and bring myself back to my body so I could communicate with everyone. Even though I succeeded and was able to express how much I liked hearing Dorothy talk as well as sharing some of my own experiences which synced up with the book I was still in that state of being only partially in my body my spirit wanted to go out there.

I talked with Daniel who helped me ground but not in a hard way. I am thankful for that. As I became more aware and focused on the here and now I found one of my other lives had come to visit and was sharing my consciousness. I, myself in the past, have leapt into my other lives and experienced life through their eyes so what was happening was the same exact thing in reverse. This too had happened to me over the years; still, it has been a very long time since this has occurred.

My other life knew my emotions were all topsy-turvy and they had come to help me as well as to enjoy a moment of my life and what I was experiencing. He stayed for almost twenty four hours before he thanked me and went back to living his life.

Later that day I tried and was able to visit him and see through his eyes. We talked a bit and I thanked him for his visit. We both looked out over a beautiful pristine forest. Something we both share is a like for such vistas.

Both this visit and a discussion at the ARE meeting, focused on the here and now instead of worrying about the future or dwelling on the past was just what I needed to clear my head.