Get Happy, Be Happy, Stay Happy

I’ve been rereading the book Integral Consciousness and the Future of Evolution. The first time through, I found myself having some heavy-duty reactions and resistances to the spiritual underpinnings of this worldview. I put the book away and went about my business (which means, I continued reading more books, Web sites and blogs concerning the Big Issues of Life.)

I pulled the book out again to remind myself why intelligent people are attracted to the increasingly popular ideas of Eckart Tolle, as well as to the notion that people are now “waking up” and recognizing their “mission” to shift the consciousness of the world in order to save the world.

Sometimes I’m inconsolable after spending time surveying the state of the world and discovering the various and conflicting ways people think, believe and act. The problems seem insurmountable; the dialog among holders of different worldviews a grand waste of time. I often feel this way after visiting certain blogs and reading all the comments

I want the world to start over. I’ve always wanted that — during the time I was a Christian and now as an agnostic.

I took philosophy classes in college, but most of what I read went in one eye and out the other. I didn’t have the capacity to understand much of anything at age 18. I have a lot of catching up to do now that I’m, um, a bit older and wiser.

So this morning I’m reading about several of the great philosophers, including Hegel and Habermas. In my travels I came across this blog post, which I think is priceless.

Dialectic of Secularization
April 1, 2008 — Alexei

Habermas’ article, “Die Dialektik der Sekulärisierung” has recently appeared in Blätter für Deutsche und Internationale Politik. And its worth checking out. He ends his piece with the following,

Säkulare Bürger, die ihren Mitbürgern mit dem Vorbehalt begegnen würden, dass diese aufgrund ihrer religiösen Geisteshaltung nicht als moderne Zeitgenossen ernst genommen werden können, fielen auf die Ebene eines bloßen Modus Vivendi zurück und verließen damit die Anerkennungsbasis der gemeinsamen Staatsbürgerschaft. Sie dürfen nicht a fortiori ausschließen, auch in religiösen Äußerungen semantische Gehalte, vielleicht sogar verschwiegene eigene Intuitionen zu entdecken, die sich übersetzen und in eine öffentliche Argumentation einbringen lassen. Wenn alles gut gehen soll, müssen sich also beide Seiten, jeweils aus ihrer Sicht, auf eine Interpretation des Verhältnisses von Glauben und Wissen einlassen, die ihnen ein selbstreflexiv aufgeklärtes Miteinander möglich macht.

Here’s a quick English translation:

Secular citizens who would engage their fellow citizens conditionally, so that the latter cannot be earnestly considered as modern contemporaries [perhaps equals] in light of their religious convictions, descend to the level of a bare modus vivendi, and thereby forsake the recognitive basis of common citizenship. They must not exclude, a fortiori, religious expression of semantic matters, which might even uncover one’s own concealed intuitions, and which translate into civil reasoning. If everything should go well, it must do so for for both sides. Each one must engage in an interpretation of the conditions of faith and knowledge from their respective points of view, which makes a self-reflexive, enlightened cooperation between them possible.

And I like this amazing quote from Habermas (found in the Wikipedia entry). Habermas is an atheist.

Christianity has functioned for the normative self-understanding of modernity as more than a mere precursor or a catalyst. Egalitarian universalism, from which sprang the ideas of freedom and social solidarity, of an autonomous conduct of life and emancipation, of the individual morality of conscience, human rights, and democracy, is the direct heir to the Judaic ethic of justice and the Christian ethic of love. This legacy, substantially unchanged, has been the object of continual critical appropriation and reinterpretation. To this day, there is no alternative to it. And in the light of the current challenges of a postnational constellation, we continue to draw on the substance of this heritage. Everything else is just idle postmodern talk. – “Conversation about God and the World.” Time of transitions. Cambridge: Polity Press 2006, p. 150-151

That’s it for now. Just needed to get some stuff out to relieve my constipation.

I’m always thinking about the human condition, life on Earth and where we’re headed. Many believe we’re in a global crisis, with the health of the entire planet hanging in the balance. This may be true. I don’t know.

We now hear the call, from many quarters, for a great shift in human consciousness. Some groups are more than willing to lead this great shift, and they offer up a stellar slate of so-called leading-edge visionaries to serve as the pioneers. I do understand that a shift or change of consciousness is not possible without a new vision, leaders and participants. But I find myself resisting these group efforts.

For starters, some of the “visionaries” are highly questionable. I don’t get why people will simply believe what an author claims is true. You know, like having a conversation with God. Or that “Jesus” beamed a revelation into a psychiatrist’s brain for transcription. And while we’re on the subject of credible sources, it’s beyond my comprehension how people can believe that beings from other dimensions or universes are contacting Earthlings with important messages. Anyway…

I just don’t trust subjective experiences as truth. I want to know the facts, as much as we can know and understand them. I want stuff to be objectively proven. Or at least seem reasonable based on what we know. So I’m drawn to understanding the human condition through scientific study and research. Here’s a comment I wrote under Neuroanatomist Finds Nirvana, which prompted today’s post:

If you’re interested in human development and understanding the context for the varying levels of human thought and behavior (especially those we have now), I highly recommend studying Spiral Dynamics.

http://spiraldynamics.org

If you’re interested in learning about a fairly new, systematic approach to understanding and solving psychological problems, check out the Human Givens approach.

http://www.hgi.org.uk

Both of these are grounded in scientific study and research. I’ve found these systems and approaches extremely helpful for getting my arms around some of the biggest issues of our time. Not that I understand everything, of course, but now I have a basic framework for hanging the millions of pieces of the puzzle (to me).

I started this blog post several weeks ago after reading “Consciousness is Nothing But a Word,” an article by Henry D. Schlinger in Skeptic Magazine. I enjoy reading about consciousness, which remains a mystery. I absolutely loved the article and Schlinger’s ideas about what consciousness is. To my delight, the article is now available online in the latest e-skeptic.

I believe we do have the ability to create the wonderful world we want.

I invite you to read the article and comment.

I learned from Steven Sashen’s blog that the Oprah show is looking for people who have questions about the Laws of Attraction.

Are you familiar with The Secret, (or the “Laws of Attraction”), but are unsure how to use them in your life? Are you struggling with how to implement The Secret in your life? Which part are you struggling with? Do you set-out with a positive thought but come to roadblock when it comes time to manifest this attraction? Are you wondering how you can make the law of attraction work in your life? Have you heard family or friends talk about how The Secret has worked in their own lives, but you still just don’t “get it”?

Source

If they can admit that this is indeed the case, the show should be flooded with people who are supremely manifrustrated.

I’ve said it many times on my blog and I’ll say it again: The so-called Law of Attraction as taught by the The Secret film and book is nonsense — and attempting to live by this law is harmful. I hope that Oprah will come to see the folly of promoting this garbage.

After a lull of a few months, people are googling again for information about The Secret and the Law of Attraction, and they’re finding my blog. I’ll continue to post about this topic because I believe in doing my part to make this world a better place. If you don’t know how living La Vida LOAca (hey, Connie, add that to our lexicon) is destructive, read this and this and this for starters.

I’ll also continue to point to other blog posts that reflect my views, such as this one from Chief Happiness Officer Alexander Kjerulf (an oldie but goodie).

To all who stumble upon my blog while searching for answers to why your life is now a royal mess after faithfully following the laws to obtaining health, wealth and happiness promoted in The Secret film or book:

Steven Sashen over at The Anti-Guru Blog has coined a new term, manifrustration.

1) The unhappiness associated with not getting what you want after attempting to influence the universe with your thoughts

2) The displeasure that occurs when the manifestation “master” says you haven’t gotten what you want because there’s something wrong with you

2a) The added confusion when this alleged imperfection is some unprovable or vague theory, such as: the level of your intention or “vibration”; unconscious “resistance”; or the type and/or number of certain thoughts that spontaneously arise in your mind

3) The depression that follows the times when, if you do somehow manage to get what you want, you find that you’re not actually any happier

4) The sadness arising when, after not getting what you want through the use of a particular manifestation technique, you go into debt to take another manifestation course that promises better results — but only delivers one or more of the 3 states listed above

Thanks, Steven!

“When thinking changes your mind, that’s philosophy.
When God changes your mind, that’s faith.
When facts change your mind, that’s science.

WHAT HAVE YOU CHANGED YOUR MIND ABOUT? WHY?

Science is based on evidence. What happens when the data change? How have scientific findings or arguments changed your mind?” (The Edge Annual Question — 2008)

Find out what 164 leading scientists and thinkers said.

For example, Todd Feinberg, Professor of Psychiatry and Neurology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, writes:

For most of my life I viewed any notion of the “soul” a fanciful religious invention… I have come to believe that an individual consciousness represents an entity that is so personal and ontologically unique that it qualifies as something that we might as well call ‘a soul’.

And from neuroscience researcher Sam Harris:

Like many people, I once trusted in the wisdom of Nature. I imagined that there were real boundaries between the natural and the artificial, between one species and another, and thought that, with the advent of genetic engineering, we would be tinkering with life at our peril. I now believe that this romantic view of Nature is a stultifying and dangerous mythology.

Every 100 million years or so, an asteroid or comet the size of a mountain smashes into the earth, killing nearly everything that lives. If ever we needed proof of Nature’s indifference to the welfare of complex organisms such as ourselves, there it is. The history of life on this planet has been one of merciless destruction and blind, lurching renewal.

Care to comment about YOUR change of mind based on science?

People often find my blog through google searches. Today two people came across my blog using the search terms “Course in Miracles + President 2008.” I was curious about what they might be looking for, so I checked out other search results for the query. Well, what an adventure it’s been!

For instance, on a message board at IsraelForum.com, I learned that beginning January 1, Oprah’s satellite radio program “Oprah & Friends” will offer year-long lessons from the Course in Miracles Workbook. Read the message board post, which presents former New-Ager and ACIM follower Warren Smith’s article, “Oprah and Friends To Teach Course on New Age Christ.” The article is also available here.

As a former Christian, I can understand Smith’s dismay over the Course’s infiltration into Christian churches. The teachings are, as he says, “the truth of the Bible turned upside down.” Even when I was a believer I couldn’t understand why so many Christians played fast and loose with their sacred scriptures. Apparently a la carte Christianity is an easier sell.

But aside from debating whether Christians should embrace the Course, what about the teachings themselves? On a practical level, are they helpful, or harmful? Do they present the truth about the nature of reality and consciousness? Is the Course’s guidance a key to changing the world, as Marianne Williamson claims? Is it the New Age Peace Plan that’s going to transform humanity? I guess it remains to be seen. (But I’m not holding my breath.)

I believe that human consciousness is at a crucial point in its development. We may indeed be ready to make a leap in order to deal with our current existential problems, as psychology professor Clare W. Graves theorized. Graves’ work serves as the foundation for Spiral Dynamics, a way for viewing human nature and how it changes.

Learn about Spiral Dynamics here.

Read chapter 1 of Spiral Dynamics by Don Beck and Chris Cowen.

Learn about Dr. Graves here and here.

“The psychology of the mature human being is an unfolding, emergent, oscillating, spiraling process marked by progressive subordination of older, lower-order behavior systems to newer, higher-order systems as man’s existential problems change.” –Dr. Clare W. Graves

I get very excited and filled with hope when I contemplate an evolving human consciousness. But then I start reading discussions like this one, A Report On Nazism in the New Age Movement, on IsraelForum and my hopes get dashed. It seems we have a long way to go.

If you decide to visit this forum, you might want to take some Dramamine before jumping on the dizzying ride.

Oh great Spiral Dynamics, please save us.

In today’s e-newsletter from LifeTrek Coaching International, Bob Tschannen-Moran shares 12 shifts we can practice to create happiness: “from control to freedom, from cynicism to possibility, from manipulation to mindfulness, from pessimism to responsibility, from distraction to silence, from exclusivity to diversity, from anxiety to mystery, from aimlessness to hope, from superiority to humility, from inferiority to beauty, from scarcity to justice, and from selfishness to love. These are the things that make life worth living. The more we incorporate them into our daily living the more we will contribute and the closer we will be to the Great Spirit of life.”

I was particularly drawn to shift number 7: Avoid Anxiety/Embrace Mystery.

We live in an age of anxiety. Troubles and terrors, both of natural and human origin, are real. But that does not mean we can afford to live from that anxiety. Not only is anxiety unproductive, it undermines creativity, obscures possibility, and negates temerity. It brings us up short in the game of life.

Which is especially unfortunate given the mysterious way things have of working out. What may, at first, seem to be a catastrophe often appears, in hindsight, to be a blessing. Indeed, the very nature of our quantum universe argues against anxiety, which is itself a remnant of the Newtonian principles of cause and effect. If that’s the only way things happen, then we have reason for anxiety. But if the universe can jump natural barriers, respond to subtle energies, and generate synchronicities then we can embrace mystery as our way of being in the world.

This point goes right to the heart of my ongoing questioning about cosmology and the meaning of life. I don’t know if Bob is right, but it gives me something to think about. All I know is that the quantum world is extremely bizarre and almost beyond our comprehension. Quantum physicists still don’t know how it all works, yet lots of people who are not physicists, especially gurus and teachers who want to make a living teaching how the universe works (think The Secret and all the Law of Attraction teachers), claim to have it figured out.

Embrace mystery… I’ll try.

Read LifeTrek Provision #542

(If you like keeping up on quantum theory, read Quantum untanglement: Is spookiness under threat?)

No, no, no. I’m not anti-energy. (Ha ha! Get it?) I just think that it’s jumping the gun to vigorously claim that energy psychology techniques work by effecting so-called subtle energy. This claim scares a lot of people away from these marvelous methods, and I think that’s a shame.

To illustrate my point, check out these interesting responses to an article about Emotional Freedom Techniques. One of the respondents is the happy beneficiary of EFT treatments who was featured in the article — he doesn’t care a fig about how it works.

I am the Gary Williams in the article. I don’t care what anybody says about mumbo-jumbo and all that. All I know is that, after almost 30 years of suffering, I am now leading a healthy, nightmare, flashback and depression free life.

All I would say to the sceptics is: Try it…EFT WORKS!!

For the short-term, I don’t care how it works either. But for the long-term, I do care. I want to know the nature of the universe, what consciousness is and how it works, the role of human intention in healing, and so forth. I think the real question goes far beyond the concept of subtle energy.

So with that little introduction, I am happy to announce The International Society for the Study of Subtle Energies & Energy Medicine (ISSSEEM) 18th Annual Conference, to be held June 19-26, 2008, in Boulder, Colorado. The conference theme is Energy, Intent, and Healing.

The not-surprising-presenters include Larry Dossey, Dean Radin, Luisah Teish, Donna Eden, and Gary Craig. The big-surprise (to me, at least) presenter is Brian Greene, a leading string theorist. I can see why ISSSEEM would invite him, though. Greene studies things such as nonlocal particle entanglement, which is a key component of the theories to explain energy healing and intention. (If you’re interested in cosmology and string theory, I highly recommend Greene’s book The Fabric of the Cosmos.)

May we soon find the answers.

You’ve probably read about the recent call to investigate what the government ain’t tellin’ us about ET visitations. If you’ve been worrying about a coverup or that you may be next on the list for a very special visit, you can rest easy. Dr. David Morrison, Senior Scientist of the NASA Astrobiology Institute, provides reassuring answers here.

My two cents:

Is alien life possible? Sure. Is there evidence that ETs have entered Earth’s atmosphere? No. Is there evidence that ETs or nonphysical beings from another place or dimension communicate with Earthlings? No.

While we’re on the subject:

Does the channeling craze drive me nuts? Yes. Do we know what channeling really is? No. Should we dismiss it? No, because studying the phenomena will provide more insight into what it means to be human, ironically enough.

Does the stuff about the so-called Galactic Federation drive me nuts? Yes. And it scares the tar out of me to know that people believe it.

Enlightenment. It sounds so lofty, so full of promise. Who wouldn’t want to be full of light, wisdom and love? Who wouldn’t give their eye teeth to walk around in a perpetual state of bliss, no longer shackled by fear, anger, worry, and other unpleasant feelings?

Sign me up! As long as you don’t call that peaceful state Enlightenment. Or hook it up with a religious or spiritual system that I need to buy into.

The other day I read Bill Harris’ comments about human development (e.g., Integral theory), religion and spiritual states on his new blog. Bill is the director of Centerpointe Research Institute and developer of Holosync audio technology, which helps you to create deep states of meditation. (Bill appeared in The Secret, but don’t let that scare you. He’s one of the few who actually has the facts straight about how to create the life you want. It’s not magic.)

Here’s what he writes (in part) about human development:

Human development takes many forms–humans undergo moral, cognitive, ego (or self), interpersonal, emotional, values, and spiritual development–just to name a few areas of development. A thread running through all these streams of development is our ongoing attempts to discover meaning in our existence, to find some sort of significance.

I suspect that you’ve probably thought about this. Here we are: vulnerable, alone but also part of a larger whole. We’re here for a finite amount of time, and then we’re gone. On one hand, we have a certain amount of control over our existence, while in other ways we’re subject to forces we can’t predict or control. So we ask questions such as, Who am I? Why am I here? What it all about? Why do we die? Why is this happening? How do I know what to do next? How do I relate to the rest of the world, and to other people? What is Truth? How do I know what is right and what is wrong? Can I be happy? How? And so on.

In the beginning, of course, we aren’t asking such existentially complex questions. But from the moment we’re born we do start trying to make sense of our existence. How we do this changes and develops over and over as our environmental situation changes–hence the idea of developmental levels. These are levels of meaning-making, of understanding. You might even say that they are levels of wisdom. …

There are many ways to slice these developmental steps. One broad way would be to talk about four basic divisions: preconventional, conventional, postconventional, and transcendent. Let’s look at these. … <snip>

This fourth stage, or perspective, could be termed transcendent, or unitive. Those at this stage come to realize that all objects–including abstract ideas such as the self, the ego, and even the idea of three-dimensional space and time–are human-made constructs, based on layers upon layers of symbolic abstraction. There is an awareness that language presupposes many things that may not be true about reality, and traps us in a view that may not always serve us.

For instance, the whole idea of subject and object as separate things–one of the main premises in language–is seen by those at the unitive stage as constructed rather than actual and real. Subject and object, a unitive thinker would say, “go together.” They are actually one thing, not two. In fact, all polarities created by the mind (and language) arise together: up makes no sense without down, good makes no sense without bad, me makes no sense without not-me. All of these polarities, say unitive thinkers, are arbitrarily constructed.

At this transcendent stage what I and many others have called a witness perspective allows the person to stand aside and observe what is without adding meaning, without creating a mental map of what is being observed, or at least view things with a realization that all meaning being added is just something made-up. A person at this level realizes that the mental map we make of reality isn’t reality itself, that the map is not the territory it represents.

At this level the existential questions I’ve posed are seen from a very cosmic perspective, where the typical separate self-identity is no longer seen as the essence of the person. Instead, everything is seen from a universal or cosmic perspective–you might say, from an experience of being “one with” everything. Consciousness or rational awareness assumes either background or foreground status depending on one’s momentary attention. This stage is often spoken of as “enlightenment” or “self-realization.” It is estimated that less than 1% of people are at this level of development.

http://www.centerpointe.com/blog/?p=7#more-7

I liked most of his comments. But I found myself wanting to object to the Transcendent, or enlightenment, stage. For instance, I have no desire to be one with, say, my pencil or computer mouse. (I’ll make an exception for chocolate.)

Why are less than 1 percent of humanity at this level? Is this a good thing or a bad thing? (Oops, I’m giving away my stage of development.) What exactly is enlightenment, and is it something every person should strive to attain? Is it even possible for every single person?

Sometimes the striving to reach “enlightenment” can be a terrible waste of time at best; tragic at worst.

From my perspective, enlightenment has nothing to do with being filled with light or gaining special insight or wisdom. It has nothing to do with being “spiritual” or “religious.” “Enlightenment” is simply a brain state — and it can be easily explained by neuroscience.

Today while googling “brain science AND enlightenment” I found these remarkable articles by Todd Murphy, a behavorial neuroscientist and psychologist.

Forgetting About Enlightenment
Enlightenment as a Neural process. A forensic look at the Buddha’s transformation

(Murphy does support meditation because it trains the mind to be aware of positive and negative emotions. Then you can choose which to cultivate and which to prune.)

The Spiritual Personality
The personalities of people who are involved with spiritual practices like prayer, meditation and ceremony are shaped by the altered-state experiences their spirituality creates. The part of the brain that manages our states of consciousness, the temporal lobes, is a little busier in these people than most, producing personality traits that appear over and over among spiritually oriented people.

This article is especially interesting to me. Not too long ago I encountered two lovely people who are on a spiritual path. Unfortunately, they lost touch with reality — big time. They divorced their mates and moved in together, causing their family and friends much pain and suffering. They had trouble carrying on a normal conversation with others, used spiritual lingo that their families couldn’t understand, and seemed spaced out. Their thinking was illogical. “Intuition” and “guidance” became the new rule. Personal hygiene went out the window.

Murphy may provide an explanation:

Another personality trait that spiritual practitioners almost always seem to show is a fascination with spirituality. It may seem to be too obvious to say, but what it less obvious is that spirituality dominates over other kinds of concerns more than other pursuits do. What seems to be happening is that the repeated experience of altered states is so novel, and infused with such a sense of meaningfulness that things which lack meaning in them lose their impact.

Another personality trait that can emerge after enough time in an altered state has two names. In medical terms, its called hyperemotionality. In spiritual terms, its called open-heartedness or more simply ‘being filled with love’. A psychologist might call it ‘extreme vulnerability.’

Most of the time, unusual states of consciousness invoke intense emotional states. TL seizures most often involve fear, terror or a sense of ‘impending doom.’ (Interestingly, there are also dissasociative seizures that seem to have no emotion at all.) Spiritual states are usually pleasant. Everything from simple calm or freedom from fear to bliss or ecstasy.

This extra input to the amygdala has an impact beyond just making for intense moments. It makes the person more emotionally sensitive at all other times as well. Among TL epileptics, it commonly makes for extra irritability. For spiritual practitioners, it seems to be more a matter of an extra need to feel safe. After a certain point in spiritual development or ‘growth’, the aspirant begins to be more careful about the ‘energies’ they connect with. Their own way of seeing it is a bit monastic. Monks and nuns withdraw from the world, avoiding socially intense situations. In more modern times, we hear of meditators ‘withdrawing into their own space’. The need to defend one’s self from verbal assaults, and to avoid those who aren’t like-minded gets more intense. Practitioners become more ‘open-hearted’, and along with it, more vulnerable. Few romantic relationships escape unscathed. If one partner begins spiritual practice, and the other doesn’t, they may soon find that the level of intimacy that’s comfortable for each is now different. Of course, the now-spiritual partner has a new set of interests, and that tends to divide two partners. The practitioner can feel that they’ve ‘outgrown’ the relationship, while the one who’s not doing practice might tend to blame the group their partner joined, or to feel that their partner has taken religion ‘too far’. In fact, one study of TL epileptics found that they were more likely than others to undergo multiple religious conversions. …

In order to go further with this topic, we need to talk about the amygdala again. What seems to be happening is that as the two amygdala get more active, the chances of their falling out of phase with one another increases. Normally, the left amygdala (remember language is on the left) is the dominant one. Normally people process their experiences by thinking about them; thinking in words.

Humans seem to have two senses of self. Left hemispheric, and right hemispheric. The pathways of the human sense of self on each side have been found to include the amygdala. When the two amygdala fall out of phase with one another, the ’self’ on the left can become aware of the activities on the right. The right-sided sense of self is experienced as an outer (ego-alien) ‘presence’. All of this is fairly well established. What I want to add to it, as an hypothesis, is that the two amygdala are out of phase whenever we’re relating to another. (I’ve designed a study that should put it to the test, but lack of funding at present makes it difficult to carry out.) As a person experiences altered states more often, they find that the way they relate to ‘the other’ is changed.

Another obvious effect is that as the left ’self’ begins to lose its mastery over the individual, the person is more and more likely to ‘feel’ their way through situations, rather than thinking about them. One study found that people who experienced altered states frequently were unable to follow scientific, ‘linear’ reasoning.

Still another effect is that, because each time the right-self intrudes on the left, the left-self loses a bit of its control, and because the left is normally dominant, the effect is that the person’s self esteem (while they are in normal states) goes down. As near as I can tell, it stays that way until the person’s normal states are adjusted so that they then have a permanent ‘baseline’ state that allows their right-sided ’self’ to emerge in all circumstances.

Until this happens the person can suffer from ‘the dark night of the soul’, which can come as moments when they doubt their self-worth, or as long periods of melancholy. More often in my experience, such people respond with a specific coping strategy. They become ‘holier than thou.’ In these cases, spiritual practitioners will respond to comments from others with ’spiritual’ interpretations.

You missed your bus? You weren’t ‘meant’ to be on it. How have you been lately? There is no lately: there is only this moment. The person you were attracted to isn’t interested in you? Give your love to Jesus. I seem insensitive? I’m only sharing my truth in this moment. You’re angry about something? It just shows how are attached you are. You’re offended by something? That’s just your ego coming out.

In extreme cases, such people have an answer for everything they don’t care to hear, and each answer shows how ’spiritual’ they are, and subtly ‘puts down’ the other. Its just not possible, for one who is ‘holier than thou’, to feel beneath others. This type of person won’t be free of the inner turbulence that an extra-active amygdala creates, they just won’t feel that they are lower than others. Because we are such linguistic beings, we are very sensitive to words that we don’t like. An easy way to cope is to have a stock of things to say that invalidates whatever the ‘other’ has to say, and to do so in a spiritual-seeming way. If they are successful, they can become gurus or teachers in their own right.

Now, gurus (or masters or satgurus, sufus, tzaddiks, roshis, growth group or workshop leaders, priests, or a ministers) often don’t like to be ‘defined’ or ‘labeled’ or ‘categorized’, but there a category that seems to invite them in. Its a term from primatology, the study of our closest living evolutionary cousins, the primates. You know. Monkeys and chimpanzees. Gurus are dominant or alpha individuals. Within their community, the guru is the boss. He (forgive the sexist pronoun) usually calls the shots. He disperses the donated resources, and if the tradition doesn’t include celibacy, to be his romantic partner is a ‘position’ of some prestige. All other conditions being equal, the guru will be more successful at passing on his genetic material than the disciple. If you become a guru, your self-esteem will automatically rise. You’ve become the alpha person.

In one study of seratonin levels in monkeys, it was found that the seratonin level of the alpha male in the troupe was higher than that of the betas. When he was removed from the group, one of the betas took his place. When his seratonin levels were taken again, it was found that they had risen to the level of the previous alpha. Becoming a guru works against low self-esteem, just as becoming a leader of any kind will bring a person ‘up’.

We’ve been talking about gurus and ‘wannabe’ gurus. Another type we need to look at is the ‘perfect disciple’.

Another way of responding to low-self esteem is to lower your self. The perfect disciple will always see the guru as being higher. Devotion to the guru allows a context where low-self esteem can be acted out in a constructive way. Being subordinate is rewarded in communities gathered around a spiritual master. The Buddhist and Hindu practice of prostrations or pranam allows a person to behave submissively without actually taking on a position of inferiority for those around them. Only the master (and the ‘inner circle’ of senior disciples) is worthy of these gestures. For day-to-day living in the ashram, the slogan seems to be ‘we’re all bozos on this bus’. Outside of their community, their having found the path allows them to discount what others say. They don’t know the truth. Such a believer need not pay any heed to slights or challenging remarks from others.

Source: www.spiritualbrain.com. Reproduced by permission.

Fascinating, isn’t it?

A child of the sixties, I loved Lost in Space. Robot was pretty cool. I felt sorry for them, though, being lost in space and all. To this day I hate feeling lost, whether in a car or in a conversation.

And I really feel lost trying to understand the complexities of this world. I want to get to the bottom line of everything, which isn’t always possible. Much of the time I look around, echoing Robot, “That does not compute.”

Maybe I’ll find what I’m looking for in space. Civilian space travel is no longer pie in the sky — it’s less than two years away — and it may offer the experience that the Lost Generation (Generation Jones) is seeking:

The telephone, personal computers, the Internet. Each of these technological innovations deeply altered our culture. Civilian space travel, which is less than two years away, has the potential to trigger even broader changes, and a leading group of scientists, experts in space flight, and visionary leaders will meet in Washington D.C. on July 18 at the First Annual Conference on the Overview Effect to discuss the impact this phenomenon will soon have on the way we think, live, work and interact, both here in the United States and globally.

The conference, which will be held at the Doubletree Hotel in Crystal City, in Arlington, Virginia, (adjacent to National Airport), has been organized by the World Space Center in collaboration with the Space Frontier Foundation to examine the potential psychological, social and economic impact of mass space travel.

Of primary concern is the impact of the Overview Effect — a profoundly transformative phenomenon experienced by several of the astronauts during space flight.

According to author Frank White, The Overview Effect, “is the experience of seeing the earth from a distance…and realizing the inherent unity and oneness of everything on the planet. The Effect represents a shift in perception…from identification with parts of the Earth to identification with the whole system.”

The conference will include White, a Rhodes Scholar and author of “The Overview Effect, Space Exploration and Human Evolution” and astronaut Edgar Mitchell, sixth man on the moon and founder of The Institute of Noetic Sciences. …

“We hope to engage the energies of people around the world in preserving our planet and exploring the universe by extending understanding of The Overview Effect,” said White. “We would like to see ‘overview thinking’ permeate every aspect of our society.”

The astronauts have often spoken of how profoundly they have been affected on emotional, intellectual, philosophical and spiritual levels while in space and White coined this experience as The Overview Effect in his book of the same name. Many astronauts have predicted powerful effects on every aspect of earth life when The Overview Effect begins reaching the masses through civilian space flight. (Source)

Cool. Sign me up. Beam me up. Something.

See also: The Overview Effect Goes Viral

This morning on my Internet travels, I learned about Fire The Grid, which allegedly takes place July 17 at 11:11 Greenwich Mean Time. According to the Fire The Grid site,

“The light beings use the term ‘fire the grid’ when they speak of the energizing of humanity with divine power, on July 17, 2007. They say firing the grid will accomplish two things. First, it will pulse healing energy into the center of the earth and regenerate the core, or the heart of the planet. Just as we poured our energy into my dying son, we will individually give the gift of our true intention, the gift of our individuality and the gift of our healing energy. As they explained, my son’s energy field was badly deteriorated, as is the Earths. We must pour some of our living energy into the Earth, and the accumulation of our combined energy will regenerate the Earth. They told me humans are like little lightening rods, channelling God’s energy to the planet. Because we have separated ourselves from our complete connection to The Source, by not having a fully functioning human grid, God’s energy has not been able to easily flow into the Earth. If we choose to come together to rebuild our grid, then the natural flow of energy between us and God, God and the Earth, and from person to person, will be restored. Do you see what a wonderful gift you will give? This energy will live on eternally with the earth and its inhabitants; the splendour of the creator’s intention for us realised in the creation of this new energy field for our planet.

How do we do this you ask? The time has been set for July 17, 2007 at 11:11 Greenwich Mean Time. I have been given no indication about why this date and time have been chosen, but this date has been told to me over and over again. I have been asked to bring together as many humans as possible, throughout the world from every corner of the globe, to simply sit and pray or meditate for one hour during that time. Hopefully, with your help, we will amass a union of humans, such as the world has never seen. Loving humans with one intention - to heal our planet and awaken our souls to our true purpose… to become one with our Source of Light.

This planned sitting of the people of earth will demonstrate the love and faith we feel for the goodness of our world and her inhabitants. We are the catalyst to the healing of earth. A true believer has the power of ten fold, so if you only think you may believe, know that the faith of the others will boost your own faith and the power will be intensified. That is why we must all sit at the same time. We will feed each others power, strengthening the force of delivery and compounding the energy we send into the core of our home. Each and every one of us is important alone, but together we are a very powerful source of creative energy. Remember we are all a piece of God, and that energy of creation lives in all of us.”

Okey dokey.

Millions of people around the world are preparing for the momentous event. And this makes me extremely sad and disheartened. I believe July 17, 11:11 will only serve to reveal to millions of desperate people that they’ve been duped.

But hey, I could be wrong. Eleven is my special number. Born 9/11, husband born 8/11, married 3/11.

It’s easy to look at our crazy world, shake our heads and say, “There’s nothing new under the sun.” People are people. Human nature is human nature. Nothing has changed.

Or has it?

Obviously we frame what we see based on what we know and have experienced. But that can give us tunnel vision.

The world today is dramatically different than it was just 100 hundred years ago. Technology and science have catapulted us into a far different reality, with far-reaching consequences. For example, industrialized nations are cradled in unimaginable comforts and conveniences. We have personal freedoms and choices that don’t exist in other countries. Yet, for the most part, we aren’t happy.

A few years ago the book The Power of Now captured a lot of attention. It seemed everyone was reading it and going ga-ga. So I bought a copy. A few pages in I realized that I couldn’t relate. Number one, I wasn’t into so-called enlightenment. And number two, I wasn’t all that interested in learning from someone who’d had a psychotic break.

Not long after that, I ran across The Ancestral Mind, by Gregg D. Jacobs, Ph.D. “A revolutionary, scientifically validated program for reactivating the deepest part of the mind,” the book cover read. “Access life-enhancing positive emotions, Achieve a closer harmony of intellect and emotion, Connect with a more intuitive intelligence, Reawaken ancient sources of wisdom and well-being.” I was hooked.

Jacobs explains how modern life and the dominance of our Thinking Mind lead us to be disconnected from ourselves, from others, and from our world. “The consequence is an emotional malaise that has undermined our capacity for health and happiness and left us feeling drained as well as confused about how to find meaning. Prozac has become today’s vitamin; television today’s tranquilizer; and loss of simple joy in life an all-too-common predicament.”

His prescription is to reconnect with our ancient Ancestral Mind and reclaim its power. I highly recommend the book. It says some of the same things as The Power of Now, such as the critical need to live in the present, but from a scientific viewpoint.

That’s just one example of how our world is vastly different. Add in globalization, the unprecedented scope and threat of terrorism, the huge shifts in religious thinking, and you end up with a rapidly changing world that we can’t deal with. Our minds and bodies haven’t had time to catch up. Our systems and organizations haven’t had time to catch up. I believe our world is in crisis, but not for the reasons I often hear.

Over the past several months I’ve become painfully aware of a variety of beliefs and philosophies being promoted that appear to be extremely self-serving and narcissistic. I’ve blogged here and elsewhere about what I’ve seen happen with people who embrace these philosophies. I’ve also been following a series of stories about the fallout of second-hand self-help at Steve Salerno’s blog (which has been put on hold).

As I read the stories, Steve’s comments and reader comments, I find myself getting frustrated. And I’ve been asking myself, What is really going on here? Is it as simple as we think? Are we looking at the right things and asking the right questions? I’m beginning to think we’re not. Thus my recent desire to step back and get a broader perspective.

My intention is to get to the root, the cause, the reason for these current mindsets. Labeling and jumping to conclusions (usually based on old ways of thinking) can only get us so far.

Several years ago I thought I knew the truth about life. I lived and breathed my beliefs. But something happened that challenged my beliefs. After a long and extremely painful process of trying to determine truth, I gave up. I discovered that no matter where I looked, no one knew it. No one. Not even the greatest minds on earth.

Well-meaning people wanted to help me see what they saw, know what they knew, believe what they believed, feel what they felt. But it didn’t happen. For a long time I was too shell-shocked to care about religion, philosophy or cosmology. Now I’m back in the saddle and exploring again. I never cease to be amazed, that’s for sure.

I refer to myself as a truthist. I simply want the truth, whatever it is. That’s why I love articles like “Why This Universe?” (see related posts). Kuhn believes that answering this big question is a work in process, and I agree. Nothing annoys me more than the avalanche of books that are coming out in which people make claims and spout off their brand of truth, without a wisp of evidence. Ignorance is part of the problem. Greed, it seems, is another.

What has triggered this latest string of philosophical posts? Find out tomorrow!

I ended yesterday’s post with a poke at the juvenile, magical view of the Universe promoted by The Secret. It seems amazing that people believe this particular explanation of reality. But there are plenty of other views that seem equally as implausible to me, yet have millions of believers.

In “Why This Universe? Toward a Taxonomy of Possible Explanations,” which I referenced yesterday, Robert Lawrence Kuhn lays out 27 possible explanations in four overarching categories:

• One Universe Models
• Multiple Universe Models
• Nonphysical Causes
• Illusions

His short overview can serve as a great reference point for making sense of the philosophies and beliefs that are growing in popularity — everything from Consciousness as Cause to Solipsism. He notes that these 27 ultimate reality generators “are based on criteria that are logically permissible, a logic that for some may seem lenient. I do not, however, confuse speculation with science.” Good, cuz the speculation train has jumped track lately.

Here’s the list of 27 to pique your interest. And here’s the article (PDF).

One Universe Models

1. Meaningless Question

2. Brute Fact

3. Necessary/Only Way

4. Almost Necessary/Limited Ways

5. Temporal Selection

6. Self Explaining

Multiple Universe (Multiverse) Models

7. Multiverse by Disconnected Regions (Spatial)

8. Multiverse by Cycles (Temporal)

9. Multiverse by Sequential Selection (Temporal)

10. Multiverse by String Theory (with Minuscule Extra Dimensions)

11. Multiverse by Large Extra Dimensions

12. Multiverse by Quantum Branching or Selection

13. Multiverse by Mathematics

14. Multiverse by All Possibilities

Nonphysical Causes

15. Theistic Person

16. Ultimate Mind

17. Deistic First Cause

18. Pantheistic Substance

19. Spirit Realms

20. Consciousness as Cause

21. Being and Non-Being as Cause

22. Abstract Objects / Platonic Forms as Cause

23. Principle or Feature of Sufficient Power

Illusions

24. Idealism

25. Simulation in Actual Reality

26. Simulation in Virtual Reality

27. Solipsism

Kuhn concludes the article by reminding us of what has happened in an extremely short period:

If it seems improbable that human thought can make distinguishing progress among these categories and explanations, consider the formulating progress already made. Two centuries ago the available options were largely Nonphysical Causes (Category 3) structured simplistically. A century ago scientists assumed that our own galaxy, the Milky Way, was the entire universe. Today we grasp the monumental immensity of the cosmos. …

Cosmological visions are overwhelming, but I am oddly preoccupied with something else. How is it that we humans have such farsighted understanding after only a few thousand years of historical consciousness, only a few hundred years of effective science, and only a few decades of cosmological observations? Maybe it’s still too early in the game. Maybe answers have been with us all along. This is a work in process and diverse contributions are needed.”

I wholeheartedly agree with that last sentence. I believe we are still asking the million dollar question because we don’t have the answer.

Unfortunately — and this is one of the reasons for the lengthy post — lots of people are claiming they’re offering truth about the universe. Hidden-up-until-now truth, channeled truth, objective truth about subjective truth. All yours for $29.95! And that’s not all — if you act now, you’ll receive extra-special truth at our life-changing 3-day seminar for only $3995! Remember, you owe it to yourself (and we get the million dollars).

In “Why This Universe?” Robert Lawrence Kuhn writes, “In recent years, the search for scientific explanations of reality has been energized by increasing recognition that the laws of physics and the constants that are embedded in these laws all seem exquisitely ‘fine tuned’ to allow, or to enable, the existence of stars and planets and the emergence of life and mind. If the laws of physics had much differed, if the values of their constants had much changed, or if the initial conditions of the universe had much varied, what we know to exist would not exist since all things of size and substance would not have formed.”

The search for reality. The meaning of life. Where did we come from and where are we going, if anywhere? Who, What, When, Where, Why and How? These questions are my constant companion, as they have been for others for thousands of years.

Kuhn’s article, which is in the latest issue of Skeptic, pulled me in from the opening paragraph: “When I was 12, in the summer between seventh and eighth grades, a sudden realization struck such fright that I strove desperately to blot it out, to eradicate the disruptive idea as if it were a lethal mind virus. My body shuddered with dread; an abyss had yawned opened. Five decades later I feel its frigid blast still.”

Uh oh, I thought. I bet it’s some kind of existential thing. In my experience, nothing else comes close to causing such terror.

Why not Nothing? What if everything had always been Nothing? Not just emptiness, not just blankness, and not just not emptiness and blankness forever, but not even the existence of emptiness, not even the meaning of blankness, and no forever. Wouldn’t it have been easier, simpler, more logical, to have Nothing rather than something?

A 12-year-old wrestled with that. Sometimes I forget how early existential anxiety can start.

The question would become my life partner, and even as I learned the rich philosophical legacy of Nothing, I do not pass a day without its disquieting presence. I am haunted. Here we are, human beings, conscious and abruptly self-aware, with lives fleetingly short, engulfed by a vast, seemingly oblivious cosmos of unimaginable enormity. While “Why Not Nothing?” may seem impenetrable, “Why This Universe?”, revivified by remarkable advances in cosmology, may be accessible. While they are not at all the same question, perhaps if we can begin to decipher the latter we can begin to decrypt the former. “Why This Universe” assumes there is “Something” and seeks the root reason of why it works for us.

Wow, I thought. Now here’s a guy after my own heart.

“This is really fun. It’s like having the Universe as your catalogue,” says Kuhn enthusiastically. “You flip through it and say, ‘I’d like to have this experience and I’d like to have that product and I’d like to have a person like that.’ It is you placing your order with the Universe. It’s really that easy.” NOT!

Of course he didn’t say that. Can you imagine Kuhn, or anyone else who takes the biggest questions in life seriously, saying such a thing?

No hint of the Universe as a Giant Catalog or Grand Genie. So far, so good.

(to be continued)

“Man will not live without answers to his questions.” ~Hans J. Morgenthau

Dear Swami:

I keep hearing about this Law of Attraction, but it doesn’t seem to work for me. Every time I am attracted to someone, they end up being attracted to someone else. And money? Forget about it. The more I affirm, the less I seem to have. I’ve tried meditation, I’ve tried affirmations, I’ve read books and attended seminars but somehow the Universe doesn’t seem to be getting my messages. Swami, am I missing something?

Erna Liddle, Lexington, Kentucky

Dear Erna:

You came to the right Swami with this question, because I had the same experience years ago. As a young seeker, I found myself unemployed and without money. Today, I refer to that time as my “Baroque Period” — you know, so Baroque I was Haydn from the landlord. Anyway, I knew with certainty that all I needed was to harness the power of the mind, and my needs and desires would be fulfilled. One Friday, I received a notice from the utilities company that on Monday, they would come to turn off my electricity for not paying. And so I began my intensive affirmation process that a large check I was expecting would indeed arrive by Monday. With each affirmation, I felt more confident and certain.

Sure enough, on Monday the doorbell rang. It was a huge Czechoslovakian guy who said, “I’m here to shut off your electricity.” And so I learned a valuable spiritual lesson. If you want the Universe to do your bidding, you have to spell it out.

But I really learned about the Law of Attraction when I did my apprenticeship in Texas as a sacred cowpoke with the legendary master of meditation and outdoor cooking, Baba Q. Every Sunday, at his ranch the I’m OK You’re OK Corral, we would have an attractor-pull where we would practice pure animal magnetism. I became a champ, and believe me, it’s quite a feeling walking around with a hundred or so gophers (and an occasional armadillo) stuck to you.

It was during that time (which I now refer to as my Gopher Baroque Period) that I learned something that might be of help to you. The entire problem with affirmations is that we use them to ask for what we don’t have because if we already had it, we wouldn’t be asking for it, would we? The problem is, that in doing the affirmation, we are first and foremost affirming we don’t have something. That is the thought we are broadcasting, and the Universe dutifully sends us more of the same. That is how the Law of Attraction becomes the Law of Repulsion.

So how do you trick the Universe into giving you something you don’t already have? By fully feeling that you already have it. That’s right. The key to fulfillment is full-feelment. And in solving this tricky problem, I inadvertently found the secret to health, wealth, relaxation and release of worry once and for all. After years of trying to live in the now, I decided to get ahead of the game. I bought a condo in a future of my choice, and I’ve been living there happily waiting for the world to catch up.

© Copyright 2006 by Steve Bhaerman. All rights reserved. Give the gift of laughter with Swami’s Fool Enchilada Special. To find out more about that and Swami’s schedule, call (800) SWAMI-BE or visit the Swami online at http://www.wakeuplaughing.com

I know why I love researching, reading, probing, analyzing, and arguing with myself (I don’t like arguing with others). The bottom line is that I’m looking for answers and solutions for several things (all overlapping):

• physical and emotional help to feel good
• knowledge to maximize my potential to be the best I can be for myself and for others
• information to end all uncertainty

It’s this last item that I don’t have and may not ever have: the answer to the greatest mysteries of the who, what, why and how of the Universe. Scientists in several quarters are painting a breathtaking picture of the possible what and how (that the universe is a giant computer), but of course they have no way of knowing or proving who created the Giant Computer and All Its Programs, or why.

And I believe that no one else truly knows the who or why.

The answer possibly could be a supreme programmer many call God, but there’s no way to prove it. I’ve read books about so-called God genes, neuroscientific reasons “why God won’t go away,” the name of God encoded in DNA, and so forth. These are intriguing, but they don’t totally convince me. Actually, I wish I could settle things once and for all!

What makes sense to me at this time (it may change in a few weeks!), is that God is the programmer and has created “programs” and “information fields” that the human mind (or something in us) is able to “connect to” and “play.” The programs that allow humans to know and express higher-order and life-promoting thoughts and behaviors are what we call Love, Joy, Peace That Transcends Human Understanding, etc. And perhaps there is a program called Faith, and God flips the switch to allow us to connect to that program based on many different variables. In other words, maybe Faith is indeed a “gift,” and not something that the human mind can just work up on its own.

I’ve been thinking along these lines because I just finished rereading Decoding the Universe: How the New Science of Information Is Explaining Everything in the Cosmos, From Our Brains to Black Holes, by Charles Seife. Although Seife’s conclusion about the fate of the Universe is depressing (one day all life, the entire universe, will end), I found his book extremely exciting, thought-provoking, and beautifully and clearly written. (One ray of hope is that there are plenty of other scientists who do not believe that the Universe is destined to blow out.)

Then I read excerpts from Programming the Universe: A Quantum Computer Scientist Takes On the Cosmos by Seth Lloyd, who says the universe is a giant quantum computer, not metaphorically like a computer.

I wanted to review Decoding the Universe because of problems I encountered when starting to read The Intention Experiment, a new book by Lynne McTaggart. (McTaggart is also the author of The Field, which has turned into a sort of bible for many in the trendy “consciousness” arena.) Not far into the book, McTaggart makes some claims about the state of affairs regarding quantum physics that I knew weren’t true. Red flags went up, so I wanted to refresh my memory before I continued reading a book that could be riddled with errors. At least she admits upfront that she engaged in speculation, and that the ideas are a work in progress.

I don’t know when I’ll get around to reading it. Once an author loses credibility with me, it’s hard to read without a lot of bias and suspicion, and that’s no fun.

I love the World Wide Web. Search engines are my friends. As an armchair philosopher, truthist and realist, I love to research and read the variety of positions and arguments for life’s biggest issues.

I don’t remember which site I started with yesterday, but on my journey I visited amazon.com to learn about the book SHAM: How the Self-Help Movement Made America Helpless by Steve Salerno. I had heard about the book a few weeks ago and was intrigued by the premise because I’m perturbed by the craziness that often finds a home in the “self-help” world. I started reading reviewer comments and ended up at Dr. Michael J. Hurd’s site.

Dr. Hurd is a psychologist and prolific writer. On one hand I liked his no-nonsense, practical approach, but on the other hand he was dismissive about things that I have experienced as very helpful. I clicked a link to one of his articles at Capitalism Magazine and discovered his roots in Ayn Rand and Objectivism. I consider myself a capitalist and a realist, so I was curious about Objectivism. So off I went poking around on various sites, pro and con Objectivism, and came away with the conclusion that it is way too extreme for me. (I don’t know to what extent Dr. Hurd subscribes to Ayn Rand’s views.)

One of the biggest problems I have with Rand’s philosophy is the contention that altruism is evil and greed is good. I disagree. Humans are genetically wired to be altruistic. I won’t get into the debate here about how or why that is; in any case, I’m not going to fight the system! Being altruistic is required for the healthy promotion of life. I believe that everyone is responsible for promoting life and making this world a better place.