A Small Medium @ Large
Models of Consciousness- Part III – The interfaces that separate various thought forms, and the mobility of our felt sense of identity, is a fascinating area to explore. It reveals so much about how intelligence structures itself, shows us its true face, as it were.
A thought form, for instance, when taken at the simplest level, is an “event” unencumbered by any emotive or associative content. A number, we might say, is a label for a given space that has no other quality other than being named. Yet, as if by magic, it comes into being by the act of naming itself. In other words, the mind can create a representational space for which no external event is necessary.
“Telling the time,” to give another example, is inherent in creating the illusion of time in the first place. Training our eyes to see how humanity operates from this level of deep linguistic programming is a revelatory exercise. More important is recognizing the ability to initiate sound (or current) within the mind as a deeply primal power. This creation and divisioning of space is kind of godlike, actually.
At the mundane level, all information exchange depends upon this power, whether by computer, spoken language, or by telepathy. And if we want to exercise this latent capability we must take in account how the mind normally jumps all around, runs here and there. That’s its nature. When we try to fix the mind on one thing, within a fraction of a second we can see it go somewhere else. It’s not that easy to control the jumping-bean of our mind.
If we try to suppress impressions that normally arise in the mind, and make them disappear, we only create new mental modifications in turn. And the mind can flip from one category to another in an instant, or over the span of decades.
But if we doggedly persist with observing these moments of conjunction (of these modifications), we’ll gain an increasing quality of interiority. The repeated directing of the mind to control its own processes is what we call “concentration.” This can be done by binding the mind to one place, object or idea. When we want it to be quiet, it should be quiet. When we want it to perform, it performs.
Once we become observant of the internal spaceweb that our mental events occupy, it soon becomes obvious that there are vast differences between perceptual space, feeling space, emotional space and thought space. Recognizing the moment of conjunction of mind and new modifications is a type of process-recognition that is rather difficult to put into words, and wholly absent from mass education.
But we should persevere, and never think, “Oh, I am unfit for this. It’s all over my head.” It’s the biggest mistake many people make.
The easiest way to gain mind control is to pick an elevating or inspiring image, a favorite bit of scripture, or sound and bring it to mind again and again. Meditating on it must become a regular practice. Everything that divides our attention must be allowed to fall by the wayside. Ultimately, we’ll achieve a continuous flow of cognition towards anything we choose to fix upon.
After long practice, the flow gradually becomes longer and stronger until an energetic threshold is reached. A tipping point occurs and the divisioning of time, space and observer ceases, and these functions merge. Then we know that the intellect, and our spirit (as the undying Witness), are totally different.
Then the intellect is seen to exist for the sake of the soul, while the soul exists for its own sake. The default functioning of the time-bound ego – as a type of foreign installation – ceases as does a confusion of the ever-changing with the eternally unchanging. To not distinguish this difference is what causes the “personalizing” of all our experiences, and we miss the stillness that lies at the heart of everything.
But if we can in some way raise above the “me-not me” function, we will know the true meditative state as the remedy for everything that ails us. When the mind transcends body consciousness, it is similar to deep sleep – you don’t even know you have a body. Even though you still have it, you don’t know it. Through repeated experience of this shift (between states of consciousness), knowledge of the independence of the soul from the world of the senses becomes firmly grounded.
Once we control the egoic lens, they say, then the veil over the light of the Self is destroyed. At this point, various superphysical powers may arise through spontaneous intuition. Powers and accomplishments in worldly pursuits may follow more or less in stages, including mastery over the essential nature, correlations and purpose of the gross and subtle elements, is gained.
Some may know about the future exactly as it will unfold. The predictions of Nostradamus are a famous example. Or, like some demigod, may thereby acquire the power to achieve all one’s desires, to control nature by the complete mastery over the primary cause.
To such persons, the transformations of visible characteristics, time factors, and condition of all the elements through the senses are known- i.e., how nature goes through its latent, uprising and un-manifested phases. By knowing the succession of these different phases, as the underlying cause of change, one gains knowledge of the past and future. Mr. Peabody’s WABAC machine lives inside our heads.
Or, how about knowing the meaning of the sound produced by any creature? How else did St. Francis speak to the fishes, birds and the ravenous wolf of Gubbio? It is also said that by direct perception of another’s mental impressions, and not their Twitter posts, knowledge of past births is obtained. Personally, I’d have to see it.
By the practice of concentration, flow, and Unity (cosmic consciousness) upon the form of one’s own body, it becomes invisible. This means checking the power of perception by intercepting light reaching the eyes of the observer. Is this how Jesus disappeared from the midst of an angry crowd? Certainly, our politicians do this all the time and the military spends vast sums to create light-bending cloaking devices for soldiers and tanks.
The list of such powers is long and beautiful, but they are said to be obstacles to spiritual liberation. They will all bind us the temporal outcomes of mind. The graduated temptations of Jesus provide an insight into topic. The Buddha, also, they say, enjoyed a similar learning curve. All of the world’s regions, in fact, tell us that by practicing non-attachment, all these phenomena cease. Then the seed of bondage is destroyed, and Independence follows.
The interface that separates one thought form, or feeling, from another is ephemeral. In various ways, this column has introduced the idea that there is no action of mind, whether in imagery, sound, feeling, thought or belief, which is not first preceded by creating a dedicated space, in some interior dimension where the act can occur. There is a movement in non-dual attention, at the causal level, that precedes every creation in the mind’s perceptions of “reality.”
This insight challenges the common belief that words are merely symbols and do not have intrinsic meaning. The premise that spiritual experience has neurological correlates was introduced way back in episodes three-to-five (April 5,12, 19th in 2018 ). That is, there is a certain class of “pointing words” which involve the non-linguistic elements of speech found in any language, and they perpetuate the subject/object centering of private identity in a space beyond speech.
But understanding the unconscious sound-and-aspect shift of our sense of individual identity only marks the beginning of the complex magic that underlies the mutual trance of language, culture and the struggle for a sustainable future.
To be continued.
