Dualism and Reason

This information was downloaded using a pendulum.

Download Layout:

[01] Subject - Dualism

[02] External characteristics - I-Ching

[03] Internal characteristics - Peace

[2+3] Synthesis - Language

[04] Core - Illumination

[05] Consequence - Noosphere

[06] Responsibility - Liberation

[07] Probable outcome - Literalists

[08] Conditioning - 

[09] Attitude - Dionysus

[10] Right action - Helping

[11] Qty and Quality - Development

[12] Objective - Reason

[13] Outcome - Balance

Synopsis:

The subject matter calls for a new system of reasoning to engage higher mental faculties that our current binary system can do using natural language.

It expands on this with a description of what this unconscious thing looks like by giving us Jung’s explanation of the I-Ching, which is the greatest oracle of all time. Jung wrote that we need a method of inquiry with as few conditions as possible to force Nature to give us an answer that we can interpret with our intuition.

The internal characteristic rounds this off by linking this dowsing method to the interplay of Yin and Yang to the peace in Tao. Treating the unconscious as an equal partner will bring peace, and so will restoring the balance between the two brain hemispheres through whole-brain thinking.

The synthesis of these is quite obvious as it relates to this method as an oracle that speaks out from books. It forces one to think of the learning potential in being able to access this ancient knowledge base under the direction of a higher aspect of Self that supports personal growth.

To test this we need to look at what s4 introduces as the core issue to be raised here. It refers us to the creative thinking process that has stages of incubation and illumination, which is when we upload the problem into the unconscious and then wait to download the answer when ready. Another way of stating this is when we wait on the right-brain hemisphere to finish processing the problem and to relay the answer back to consciousness under mysterious circumstances. The core issue here is that this process is hardly ever acknowledged, even at creativity conferences, because of a fear of the unconscious. This fear stems from a prejudice against right-brain thinking that has been around for thousands of years, which the majority of people are not aware of. One must first become aware of this prejudice.

As a consequence (of s1-4) we get directed to Pierre de Chardin’s notion of the Noosphere as the collective consciousness of our planet that contains ‘super-vision and super-ideas’. It makes us aware of the fact that others have already given this collective database a name, and it is not the internet. This is about becoming aware of a parallel Net, a mental one, a supermind.

In s6 we get a look at our responsibility, which is to liberate ourselves from the conditioning that prevents us from seeing the truth of our interconnectedness and the true realization of this natural state.

The sad reality of the current paradigm is that the Literalists will continue hold sway over the masses (s7) as the probable outcome. To change this we need a breakthrough in how we communicate with the unconscious Mind.

The download offers a way to overcome the conditioning (in s8) and the attitude (in s9) to adopt to help bring this all about. Our belief systems reflect a conditioning that separates us from our pagan nature so it is fitting that we are advised to adopt a Dionysian attitude.

This leads us to the right action one should take, and here in s10 we get told that helping "typically involves learning, as in unlearning, relearning, new learning.

In terms of just how much helping is required we get insight in the paradox of modern life from Marx. There is a balance to strive for.

This is supported by the objective for taking this action, which is to develop the faculty of reason to arrive at objectivity. Fromm believed that if one's capacity for reason is restricted or damaged, its use in all other sectors will create illusionary perceptions.

In s13 the final outcome is about realizing one’s personal destiny. This fits with the ancient teachings that we are wiped clean of any knowledge of our destiny at birth. It is only by working with the unconscious mind that one can actively participate in following this path.

This download introduces a new method with which to engage one’s unconscious in a more transparent and meaningful way. It opens us up to Self-directed knowledge.

[01] Dualism

Subject s[01] is DUALISM: This is great start for using a pendulum. It suggests that the download will deal with the limitations of language and how this dowsing method offers raises unconscious knowledge.

Charles Hoy Fort … he is attacking the mental structure of civilized man. He is completely out of sympathy with the two-stroke motor which is the driving power of modern reasoning. Two strokes: Yes and No, Positive and Negative, Modern knowledge and modern intelligence are based on this binary system …

Where Fort is opposed to Descartes is in his insistence that we should envisage the general from an angle which would allow the particular to be defined in its relation thereto, in such a way that every object or thing would be seen as intermediaries between other things.

What he demands is a new mental structure, capable of recognizing as real the intermediate states between the yes and the no … In other words, a system of reasoning which is higher than binary and would be, as it were , a third eye for the intelligence. To express what this third eye perceives, language (which is a binary product, an organized conspiracy and limitation) is not sufficient.

[ & Bergier J. The Morning of the Magicians, 1979, Publishing]

[02] I Ching

The external characteristics is to be found in the symbol s[02] I CHING, which introduces the Chinese way of thinking to the problem raised in the subject s[01]:

The exact method of divining is explained … Jung's description of this process is reprinted here (Jung and Pauli,1955) … The I Ching, which we can well call the experimental basis of classical Chinese philosophy, is one of the oldest known methods for grasping a situation as a whole and thus placing the details against a cosmic background - the interplay of Yin and Yang. This grasping of the whole is obviously the aim of science as well, but it is a goal that necessarily lies very far off because science, whenever possible proceeds experimentally and in all cases statistically …

The workings of nature in her unrestricted wholeness are completely excluded. If we want to know what these workings are, we need a method of enquiry which imposes the fewest possible conditions, or if possible no conditions at all, and then leaves Nature to answer out of her fullness. …

Chinese sages … supposed that the same living reality was expressing itself in the psychic state as in the physical. But in order to verify such a hypothesis, some limiting condition was needed in this apparently limitless experiment, namely a definite form of physical procedure, a method or technique which forced Nature to answer in even and odd numbers … this naturally presupposes an intuitive knowledge of the meaning of each oracle figure …

The interpretations formulate the inner unconscious knowledge that corresponds to the state of unconsciousness at the moment, and this psychological situation coincides with the chance result of the method …

The method, like all divinatory or intuitive techniques, is based on an acausal or synchronistic connective principle. 

[Hook D.ff. The I-Ching and You, 1973, Routledge & Kegan Paul]

[03] Peace

Symbol s[03] is PEACE: it may refer to the dualistic relationship between the two brain hemispheres that is also male:female and how harmony is restored when communication respects the unconscious (read as also mute right brain) as an equal partner.

Peace. (Yang supporting Yin and going to meet each other …)

[Hook D.ff. The I-Ching and You, 1973, Routledge & Kegan Paul]

[02+03] Synthesis – Language

The SYNTHESIS s[2+3] relates to the limitations of language that must be addressed if we are to learn a language of symbols that can allow us to interpret unconscious knowledge. It relates to the harmony of thought generated by whole-brain thinking - Peace of Mind.

[04] Illumination

For the Core Issue in s[04] we are given the symbol ILLUMINATION. This stage of the creative process depends largely on invoking a meditative state of mind to receive this type of thought.

The Creative Process. All creativity means is the use of the imagination to produce some new thing … What makes high creativity so elusive is that, in general, we do not know how to evoke the state of mind in which we can easily make new, unique, and useful associations between ideas … creative expression is a process. Inspirations … in a flash of illumination …

Herman Helmholtz first described the stages … saturation, incubation, and illumination… Incubation begins when a problem solver gives up actively trying to solve the problem, handing it over to the realm of the unconscious … will then give birth to illumination …

Elmer and Alyce Green, biofeedback researchers … The entrance, or key, to all these inner processes [is] a particular state of consciousness in which the gap between conscious and unconscious processes is voluntarily narrowed, and temporarily eliminated when useful. When that self-regulated reverie is established, the body can apparently be programmed at will, and the instructions given will be carried out, emotional state can be dispassionately examined, accepted or rejected, or totally supplanted by others deemed more useful, and problems insoluble to the normal state of consciousness can be elegantly resolved.  

[LaBerge S. & Rheingold H. Exploring the world of Lucid Dreaming, 1990, Ballantine]

[05] Noosphere    

As a consequence s[05] we get the symbol NOOSPHERE. Teilhard stated that our biological evolution is giving rise to special forces that are a psychic phenomenon of hominisation; that this has created a dimension of 'thinking substance' that he called the Noosphere. This fits perfectly with the goal of Mx, which is to tap into this collective Brain.

The Formation of the Noosphere: c) The cerebral apparatus. Between the human brain, with its milliards of inter-connected nerve cells, and the apparatus of social thought, with its millions of individuals thinking collectively, there is an evident kinship … On the one hand we have a single brain, formed of nervous nuclei, and on the other a Brain of brains … the 'cerebroid' organ of the Noosphere … a synthesis … a vault above our heads, a sphere of mutually reinforced consciousness, the seat, support and instrument of super-vision and super-ideas … it is on a higher level than the individual that everything achieves its fulfillment.    
[de Chardin P.T. The Future of Man, 1969, Books]

[06] Liberation     

The responsibility in s[06] is to free oneself from the causes of suffering, and to work at understanding life from an awakened perspective using the unconscious knowledge that rises into awareness.

Liberation: Jamgon Kontrul: " … The cause for liberation is unconditioned insight, the true realization of the natural state that is free of ego-clinging, which has the capacity to eliminate all negative emotional states. The cause of this true insight is one pointed samadhi … the cause of samadhi, which is the utterly pure discipline of renunciation. Thus, right now, in order to free myself from samsara, I will stick to the discipline, train in samadhi, and generate true insight in the sense of understanding the meaning of impermanence, suffering, emptiness and egolessness." …

In other words, we want to be free of samsara, of all samsaric states, the causes of which are the three poisons of ignorance, attachment and aggression.

[Edited by Schmidt M.B. Skillful Grace, Tara Practice for our Times, 2007, Rangjung Yeshe Publications]

[07] Literalists

The probable outcome s[07] is that humankind will continue down the bloody path that LITERALISTS have carved out over the centuries unless we start to push back against intolerant religions and try to reclaim what was lost. To do this we need a breakthrough in how we communicate with the unconscious Mind.

The Destruction of Gnosticism: In response to the continuing popularity of Gnosticism the Roman Church set out to unify Christianity by force … In 381 Theodosius finally made heresy a crime against the state. Gnostics writings were condemned as a 'hotbed of manifold perversity" which 'should not only be forbidden, but entirely destroyed and burned with fire'.  All philosophical debate was entirely suppressed …

Inherent Intolerance: Although modern Christianity is made up of countless diverse sects with opposing approaches … are fundamentally shaped by the triumph of Literalism in the fourth century …

The wanton destruction of our Pagan heritage is the greatest tragedy in the history of the Western world. The scale of what was lost is hard to comprehend. Pagan mysticism and scientific enquiry were replaced by dogmatic authoritarianism. The Roman Church imposed its creed with threats and violence, denying generations of human beings the right to think their own thoughts and find their personal route to spiritual salvation … (we ask) why was Pagan civilization replaced by the 1,000 years we appropriately call the 'Dark Ages'?  

[Freke T. & Gandy P. The Jesus Mysteries, 2000, Thorsons]

[08]

The conditioning in s[8] relates to and brings up an interesting problem that the collective unconscious which controls human behaviour, remains unchanged by civilization. The conditioning that I believe we need to overcome involves changing that which we can, the belief systems that prevent us from allowing for our pagan nature.

The crystal is a fascinating phenomenon in physical nature. Its structure, like that of an archetype, is transcendental, a noumenon: the eternally existing pattern of any class of things, of which the individual things in that class are imperfect copies, and from which they derive their existence. (Plato's Primordial Idea) …

In the same way that the structure of a crystal can be imagined and derived from an actual crystal, the psychology of an archetype can be derived from psychic utterances llike dreams and visions …   

[Edited by Mason & Stanely. Quest, 1975, Analytical Psychology Club]

[09] Dionysus

The attitude in s[09] is that of DIONYSUS, which supports the preceding point in offering a fresh perspective on Nietzsche's work.

What I Owe to the Ancients … the still rich and even overflowing Hellenic instinct, that wonderful phenomenon which bears the name of Dionysus: … For it is only in the Dionysian mysteries, in the psychology of the Dionysian state, that the basic fact of the Hellenic instinct finds expression—its “will to life.” …

I know no higher symbolism than this Greek symbolism of the Dionysian festivals. Here the most profound instinct of life, that directed toward the future of life, the eternity of life, is experienced religiously—and the way to life, procreation, as the holy way. It was Christianity, with its ressentiment against life at the bottom of its heart, which first made something unclean of sexuality: it threw filth on the origin, on the presupposition of our life …

Saying Yes to life even in its strangest and hardest problems, the will to life rejoicing over its own inexhaustibility even in the very sacrifice of its highest types—that is what I called Dionysian.    

[Nietzsche F. Twilight of the Idols, 1972, Penguin Books]

[10] Helping

When faced with overcoming conditioning and the right attitude to adopt, it is fitting that we get HELPING as the right-action to take in s[10]:

Helping as an Education Process: Another way of looking at the goal of helping is client learning. As Strupp (1986) puts it, helping "typically involves learning (unlearning, relearning, new learning), which may take many different forms …

 The outcomes may manifest themselves as changes in cognitions, feeling, or behaviour (or some combination of these)" (p. 124).

Helping is thus an education process whose goal is learning. An excellent definition of learning is this: Learning takes place when options are increased. If the collaboration between helpers and clients is successful, clients learn in very practical ways. They have more "degrees of freedom" in their lives as they open up options and take advantage of them. … Every helping interview can be seen as an opportunity to help clients develop more options in their lives.

A poet once described the lot of people to be "cabined, cribbed, and confined."

At its best, helping enables clients to learn to open doors, to throw off chains, to stretch.

[Egan G. The Skilled Helper, 1990, Brooks/Cole Publishers]

[11] Development

For the quantity and quality aspects in position s[11] we get DEVELOPMENT. Note the references to archetypes and Dionysus as covered in s[8 & 9], and the paradox.

Marcuse's criticism of Marx … where Marx's favorite is attacked … : Prometheus is the culture-hero of toil, productivity, and progress through repression … the trickster and (suffering) rebel against the gods, who creates culture at the price of perpetual pain. He symbolizes productiveness, the unceasing effort to master life. … Prometheus is the archetypal hero of the performance principle.

Marcuse proceeds to nominate alternate mythological figures, whom he considers more worthy of idealization: Orpheus, Narcissus, and Dionysus … [They] stand for a very different reality. … Theirs is the image of joy and fulfillment, the voice that does not command but sings, the deed which is peace and ends the labor of conquest …

If Marx is fetishistic about anything, it is not work and production but rather the far more complex and comprehensive ideal of development - "the free development of physical and spiritual energies" (1844 manuscripts); "development of a totality of capacities in the individuals themselves" (German Ideology); … "the universality of individual needs, capacities, pleasures, productive forces, etc." (Grundrisse); "the fully developed individual" (Capital). … Marx wants to embrace Prometheus and Orpheus …

The great gift he can give us today, it seems to me, is not a way out of the contradictions of modern life but a surer and deeper way into these contradictions. He knew that the way beyond the contradictions would have to lead through modernity, not out of it. He knew that we must start where we are: psychically naked, stripped of all religious, aesthetic, moral haloes and sentimental veils, thrown back on our individual will and energy, forced to exploit each other and ourselves in order to survive; and yet, in spite of all, thrown together by the same forces that pull us apart, dimly aware of all we might be together, ready to stretch ourselves to grasp new human possibilities, to develop identities and mutual bonds that can help us hold together as the fierce modern air blows hot and cold through us all.   

[Berman M. All that is solid melts into air, 1987, Verso]

[12] Reason

In s[12] we get insight into the desired objective for the right-action, which is to develop the human faculty of REASON. There is an important distinction between reasoning and intelligence that fits brilliantly with the rest.

But even if man's frame of orientation is utterly illusory, it satisfies his need for some picture which is meaningful to him … the picture of the world which he has depends on the development of his reason and of his knowledge … it takes a long evolutionary process to arrive at objectivity … Reason is man's faculty for grasping the world by thought, in contradiction to intelligence, which is man's ability to manipulate the world with the help of thought. Reason is man's instrument for arriving at the truth, intelligence is man's instrument for manipulating the world successfully; the former is essentially human, the latter belongs to the animal part of man. Reason is a faculty which must be practiced, in order to develop, and it is indivisible … If one lives in illusions about one sector of life, one's capacity for reason is restricted or damaged, and thus the use of reason is inhibited with regard to all other sectors. Reason in this respect is like love.

[Fromm E. The Sane Society, 1991, Routledge]

[13] Balance

The symbol for the final outcome s[13] is BALANCE, which relates perfectly to the download as a whole. I think this reads well for a first attempt using the pendulum, I'm happy :)

Finding balance is key to the success of any karmic journey. Grappling with the challenges of life often means that we have to reconcile conflicting energies. Each of the karmic paths seems to require finding the middle between two concepts that often appear to be unrelated or mutually exclusive.  Resolving this paradox is part of the journey … Working with a paradox causes one to move outside the framework of ordinary perceptions or notions of logic and can bring the student to new levels of awareness …

It is important to develop the objectivity to gather the fruits of the lessons as you encounter them. Otherwise life may seem meaningless or, worse, hopeless.   

[Goldschneider G. & Elffers J. The Secret Language of Destiny]