A Critical Examination of the Term 'Conscious Evolution'

by Jeff Eisen PhD -

Redefining Consciousness and Awareness:

There is a lot of confusion between the words consciousness and awareness. In many instances they are used interchangeably, i.e., he is conscious of or aware of. In other cases they are used differently, but the difference is subtle.

For instance, you might say he has regained consciousness, in the sense of regaining consciousness after deep sleep or a drugged state; whereas you seldom hear someone say he has regained awareness.

Then, there is a deeper way in which they are used. However, in order to elucidate this, we first have to make a distinction within the word consciousness.

To make this distinction we capitalize the first letter of consciousness to signify that it is referring to an absolute, i.e.Consciousness.  Whereas when we use it as an adjective or noun, we start with a lowercase letter, i.e., consciousness.  This parallels the way we distinguish Self and self.

The root words ‘conscious’ and ‘aware’ are frequently used as nouns, i.e. things in themselves, consciousness or awareness.

In other cases, they are used to refer to a state of sentience, as in ‘he is conscious of’ or ‘aware of’.   In all of these cases they are interchangeable … He is a conscious person or he is an aware person means much the same thing.

After that the equivalence between the two words stops entirely.  Hindu and Buddhist sages, among others, theorize that Consciousness is the ground of being itself.

In other words everything or every living thing (there are differences of opinion) is made up of Consciousness.

Consciousness then is either the irreducible ‘substance’, the force of life, or if you are so inclined – the essence of God.  

Consciousness, used in this way is really an absolute!  On the other hand you can say no such thing about awareness.

Awareness can be used as an adjective, a noun or state of being, but in no sense has it been used to refer to the ground of being or the irreducible substance.

Everything is not composed of awareness, even a measuring instrument can be aware in the sense that it registers and calibrates something.  Therefore, in no sense is awareness an absolute.

Consciousness, when used as an absolute, cannot evolve, any more than empty space can.

It just is what it is.  On the other hand, consciousness used as a noun or even as an adjective can evolve.  But in these cases, it is not consciousness itself that is evolving; it is the object, the thing described that is evolving.

In the spiritual movement of ‘conscious evolution’ it is you, or in some cases the entire group of which you are a part, that is evolving.

The phrase ‘conscious evolution’ is a misnomer and a misleading one at that.

If anything, it means that you are evolving consciously, i.e. that you have taken the evolution of your awareness into your own hands and are pursuing it consciously.

If so, as your awareness evolves, you might well become aware of deeper, even causal layers of things:  I don’t dispute that.  I am only clarifying.  (Actually however, real evolution is always unconscious, even though the lifeforms that are doing the evolving might be aware.)

Finally, to say that Consciousness evolves is to imply that it is a thing, for in the strict sense of the word, only things and living things at that, can evolve.

In the final analysis what consciousness is might be a mystery or at least inexpressible: one thing is clear.  It is not a thing.

About Author: The creation of PsychoNoetics is the life’s work of Dr. Jeffrey S. Eisen, an academically trained psychologist and psychotherapist and a self realized master of Level II Enlightenment.  Dr. Eisen’s discoveries brought him to the highest levels so far of our understanding of consciousness, a breakthrough expansion of Freud’s id, ego and super-ego structural model of the psyche called the Enoe, and a revolutionary vision of the Self-Illuminated Human. As a PsychoNoetic therapist, teacher and practitioner, Dr. Eisen’s work expands the boundaries of Enlightenment to help us understand when we are in the Right Place. 

drjeffeisen.com

The Stronghold: Anatomy of a Block

by Cyndi Dale -

Essentially, a block keeps us from living as our authentic self. Usually blocks are composed of strongholds, mental or emotional programs that keep us stuck in a pattern that isn’t good for us. 

There are two basic types of strongholds. 

1. MENTAL STRONGHOLDS 

A mental stronghold is made of two or more beliefs that join together but never come apart. For instance, we might touch a stove and get burned. We now think, “Stoves can burn” and also “Getting burned, hurts.”  

These aren’t bad thoughts. In fact, they can be helpful; we’ll think twice before we touch another hot stove.  

A problem arises if we keep these two thoughts joined together to create a stronghold or a belief that detracts from our life or even causes harm.  

A resulting, negative stronghold might be the conclusion that because stoves burn and getting burned, hurts, then stoves are bad.  

This idea isn’t all that traumatic—it might spare us a great deal of cooking—but what if we formulate a mental stronghold like, “Anything that can burn is bad”?  

This type of stronghold can lead to a full-blown paranoia and we might avoid anything from sunlight to love, which can cause its own “burn.” 

2. EMOTIONAL STRONGHOLDS 

An emotional stronghold is formed from at least one thought and one feeling.  

These underlie many of our most challenging life issues. 

For example, imagine a sixteen-year-old who has just gone through his first relationship break-up. He feels sad. He thinks, “Breaking up hurts.”  

The feeling of sadness joins with the belief that breaking up causes pain. There’s nothing wrong with a temporary merging of a feeling and a thought.  

We are constantly trying in different beliefs and feelings; they instruct us on how to respond to a given situation. But what if our sixteen year-old would decide that a relationship, a necessary prerequisite to a break-up is itself, dangerous?  

To avoid the sadness of a break-up, he might now avoid relationships altogether.  

Strongholds, such as this one, often underlie lifestyle and relationship issues.

SPIRITUAL STRONGHOLDS

There are also spiritual strongholds, which are similar to mental and emotional strongholds. These are composed of beliefs or feelings that bond together and relate specifically to spiritual issues. 

Examples involve ideas relating to deservedness of Divine Love or acceptance of universal abundance.

A stronghold becomes a block when it fails to release when we’re through with it and becomes programmed into our energetic system.

excerpt from 'The Complete Book of Chakra Healing' 

cyndidale.com

Synchronicity and the Secret of the Co-Creator

by Robert Torres -

If you believe synchronicity is simply coincidence, then you haven’t read any of the top experts in the field. The famous psychotherapist Carl Gustav Jung coined the term synchronicity in the 1920s to reference the alignment of universal forces with a person’s experiences.

Synchronicity: is the experience of two or more events that are apparently causally unrelated occurring together in a meaningful manner [to the observer]. To count as synchronicity, the events should be unlikely to occur together by chance.

These forces have been sought out for centuries in many spiritual traditions as a means of aligning with the “flow”. This usually takes years of disciplined meditation, study, ritual or by other means to navigate this journey toward a harmonic individuation.

To some the search is inward for the self, yet for others it’s an outward search for spirituality.

My first experience with synchronicity was on March 21st at 3:03am which is the 3rd month, 3rd week, 3rd hour, 3rd minute or 3333, on the equinox and the moment of my birth. It was my alignment with the universal forces, the planet, space and time.

My awakening was also through no effort of my own and came by way of a supernatural encounter with an entity of light. It began my involvement with and research into the metaphysical nature of reality – I became “enlightened.”

Because of this I have an inherent understanding of many esoteric concepts like the flow, the spirit, one-ness and even divinity.

My experiences are not entirely unique, but the way in which this window of understanding opened for me is. There was no journey, no explanation as to why – the knowledge was just revealed.

Things that to many are never more than concepts and metaphors, I actually see as having real form. I’ve witnessed many paranormal phenomena unfold with me seemingly being the only connection. However, because of my earlier encounters I’ve never attributed much of it directly to myself.

I’ve always sensed a presence around me. So unlike many others who seek the path, I feel that for some reason the source found me.

Being human however leaves me questioning: “Who or what is this presence?” Abilities like ESP, clairvoyance, telekinesis are all real along with the concepts of a sub-stratum or pre-space. But what is our connection?

In Jung’s book “Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle” it is subjective meaning that connects us. Without an observer (you) there is no mind, no synchronicity, no meaning.

Thoughts connected to events, mind connected to movements of matter, absent of a cause (acausal). Thinking something before it happens, remote viewing, telekinesis, where do these abilities come from? Since scientists don’t accept the mind as a cause. How then do we prove any of this?

I say that we are using a flawed science because it is incomplete. Physicist, Dr. William Tiller proposes that consciousness is what’s missing from the equation.

It’s the unifying integrator of all the individual constituents. Bohm says there is a hidden variable implying that neither relativity nor quantum mechanics should be accepted as a conclusive nor exclusive solution.

My research began with Carl Jung but for millennia prior to Jung man has experienced synchronicity. Theoretically it begins outside of our space-time in the flow where all knowledge exits and our material reality takes shape.

It then unfolds into our dimension only to return back to the flow. 

This is described by David Bohms theory of “the implicate order.” However prior to synchronicity, ancient humanity used words like sympathy, harmony and unity.

In the fourth century B.C., the Greek philosopher Heraclitus viewed all things as being inter-related, nothing is isolated and that all things are linked.

Similarly Hippocrates said:

“There is ONE common flow, a common breathing. Everything is in sympathy.” 

A bond – and even between inanimate objects. A form of animism or the belief that all matter has consciousness. This is a classic idea whereby separateness is an illusion.

Now what you should know is that Jung had a lifelong interest in and many experiences with the paranormal. Working with him was the Nobel Prize winning physicist Wolfgang Pauli who also had experiences with telekinesis.

Catastrophic breakdowns of experimental equipment would inexplicably occur when he was around. It was often joked about, but other scientists feared his presence during experiments because it was commonly believed he was the cause. This is well known in physics as “The Pauli Effect.”

Together they helped pioneer the study of parapsychology. Others studying non-material or fringe science also advanced the field (sometimes unknowingly) by the very nature of their work. Pauli’s early work in quantum physics had a strong influence by changing how we think about matter itself.

A great example of good solid theory is Rupert Sheldrake’s “morphic fields.” He shows us how fields create relationships. Physicist David Bohm’s “Implicate and Explicate Order” as previously mentioned.

Michael Talbot’s famous “Holographic Universe” or Physicist David Peat’s “Meaning and Form.” All of these hypothesize a substratum beneath our material and temporal reality. Much of quantum physics is competing theory and it’s the same with non-material science.

Consciousness itself cannot be scientifically quantified – there is no explaining it. Many believe it exists outside the brain, perhaps the Akashic field. Psi-fields, source fields, the flow, these are all conceptual dimensions bound together by abstract relationships.

Where consciousness and matter are two aspects of the same thing. These are the domains of the trickster gods where Hermes and Loki conspire to fool us using mind, matter and meaning.

Although, I am in agreement with many of these theorists about some hypothetical matrix.

What is the Intelligence Behind the Curtain?

Since before recorded history humankind has recognized the existence of a greater intelligence. Ask any believer of any esoteric system and you’ll get many different answers. The spirit, God, the Goddess, Sophie, Allah, the Demiurge, The One. History’s greatest scientists came to this same conclusion.

Einstein said:

“Everyone who is seriously involved in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that a spirit is manifest in the laws of the Universe – a spirit vastly superior to that of man.”

Max Planck the father of quantum physics said: 

“All matter originates and exists, only by virtue of a force. We must assume behind this force is the existence of a conscious and intelligent mind. This mind is the matrix of all matter.” 

Isaac Newton believed the universe was mechanical, set into motion by God and then left to run. There are others who believe that all existence is an emanation of God. Some don’t believe there is an external intelligence at all. This is not my belief!

Your Thoughts Can Alter the World

What many of these theories and beliefs have in common, is that your own thoughts can alter the outside world in relation to you.  Though, you alone are not the creator within the flow of the source field. You are simply part of the process. 

The biggest secret is not that there is a co-creator but that it’s YOU! 

Ultimately there is a separate coordinating intelligence in control. This is what causes events to coincide without your thoughts, like for instance, the moment of my birth: 3333. That’s why we pray or chant, recite mantras, sing praises and invoke – expecting a particular outcome. 

Deep down inside we’ve always known we were being watched, even in an empty room, we are never really alone. How many times do events align that seem so strange and statistically unlikely to have occurred by chance? They must originate externally. This means, that The Source or The-One controlling it all is out there and… (everywhere).

“Synchronicity is Gods way of remaining anonymous.”  

—Albert Einstein

Note: This article was written using excerpts and concepts from the non-fiction book “Sin Thesis”

About Author: Robert Torres (aka “Bobby T”) is the author of “Sin Thesis” and a self-described paranormal magnet. He is also a published singer and songwriter of “Then There Was Rock.” Torres has worked for many well-known national US companies as a freelance. He has also worked as a magazine editor, technical writer, music writer, content writer, web designer, consultant, promotions, manager, agent, booker, producer, photographer, multimedia computer and audio tech… and the list goes on. Torres’ first book “Sin Thesis”  is a non-fiction book based on the many paranormal events that he has experienced. The book is available on Amazon. You can also connect with Bobby T at about.me/Towers3ere.

wakeup-world.com

What Being Authentic Means and What Gets in the Way

by  Trinity  Bourne -

Authenticity is one of those fascinating subjects that spiritual seekers love to sink their teeth into. The egoic mind feels threatened by it, because the true energy of authenticity means the demise of ego led behaviour. If we logic it solely through the intellect, then we can rapidly lose the meaning behind it.

Authenticity is a simple way of being that rises spontaneously, without control, from the core …

What Does ‘Being Authentic’ Mean?

‘

Authentic’ is a descriptive and powerful word, deserving the space to breathe.

So here I feel to shine a little light on the subject by sharing a perspective on what being authentic really means, perhaps even dispelling a few myths in the process.

‘Authentic’ means from the source or origin. 

Being authentic in a spiritual sense means ‘as expressed directly from the source’, through the soul. It is the raw, naked, unhindered expression of beingness of the soul. Authenticity is a quality of being. That’s why we say ‘being authentic’ not ‘doing authentic’.

Observing Authenticity in Others

One of the easiest ways to observe authenticity is to notice creatures in nature: a hedgehog, a squirrel or a butterfly. They have no agenda other than to be ‘who they truly are’.

They have an advantage over many humans, without the hindrance of an ego, showing us a great example of what it means to be authentic. Another great example would be a small child. There is often a time in a child’s life, before they are washed through with conditioning, fears and expectations, where they are free to simply be. They are real, liberated and authentic – for a while at least. People within indigenous cultures often exude authenticity – especially if they never lost their connection with the soul and the source.

We see authenticity in people from all walks of life – people who are just really comfortable in their own skin. They feel real and natural. They say it ‘how it is’, yet with compassion and awareness. These are the people we trust in life – because they are real.

You can’t ‘try’ to be authentic. 

You can’t train yourself or follow a technique to learn. You can however, self-realise and allow your layers of baggage to fall away. In so doing, authenticity will arise more and more as a divine expression of your being.

Authenticity is all about the moment. It’s about now. It’s about presence. It’s not only seeing beyond the veil, but  being  beyond the veil and bringing that through to the experience of being human.

Authenticity is what is left over when the mind steps out of the way and let’s the soul shine through.

Authenticity is when you are being you, from the core.

Authenticity is pure beingness.

Accepting Our Darkness

It may be that you can’t be fully authentic because a distortion is coming through.

You might feel an authentic impulse, that becomes distorted by a filter. In which case, you have the option to be real at least.

Being as real as we can possibly be, distortions n’all is a powerful precursor to authenticity.

This means we are able to see how we are not being authentic and peel away those layers – leading to authenticity.

It’s acceptance of all our inner darkness – each of us have it – and not being afraid of what others may think of us. It’s not placating others, at the expense of being true to ourselves. It’s not showing others our likable traits in order that they accept us, because of fear of being rejected.

It’s having the courage to be true to ourselves.

It’s Not a Doctrine of Spiritual Correctness!

Authenticity doesn’t mean that we always have to bare all either. Honesty doesn’t necessitate splurging everything out in a mighty torrent of emotion.

It might mean that we have to be silent, to say nothing or that we are meant to contain our emotions; work with them ourselves, because it is not the right time to share.

This is different to withholding because we are afraid of the consequences – but rather honouring what is divinely given in the moment. It may equally at times be totally in the flow to bare all, yet consciously, despite the perceived consequences.

Being authentic means that we observe what is appropriate for each given moment.

Our actions are not dictated to by conditioning, fears or expectations. Every moment is unique and cannot be predicted, nor can the outcome of our actions.

True Compassion

Sometimes being authentic requires being the bearer of undesirable news. True compassion is finding the courage to do this because you know that it is the ‘right’ thing to do.

It can be really tough being a messenger in the face of opposition, yet, that honesty may hold the key for a greater spiritual unfolding for others. It might be the most loving thing that you can do. (A little tip  – letting go of the need for thanks, appreciation, the need for approval or to be liked helps a lot… The Importance of Feedback Loops for Energy Workers)

Authenticity will determine exactly what is meant to be shared. It will determine exactly how the energy is given.

Being authentic requires the courage to deliver.

What Gets in the Way of Being Authentic?

1. Fear of what other’s think of you
2. Being swept along by other people’s energies
3. Being trapped by others expectations – ‘being labelled’
4. The spiritual identity

1. Fear of What Others Think of You:

It’s difficult to be authentic if you are living in fear of what other people think of you. It may be a natural expression of your soul to be considerate and kind to others, but if you adjust your behaviours to keep the peace or please others so that they’ll accept you, then you aren’t being authentic.

Being authentic might mean that the relationship no longer serves either of you and you go separate ways – an essential step forward to make space for new, more suitable friends who meet us where we are at.

It may equally mean that the relationship evolves and you both evolve to a new level of connection together. Who’s to say!

When we live in fear, we don’t get to evolve, we just run around in circles, recreating the same suffering for ourselves. We don’t get to be the authentic us.

When you live in fear of honouring your true expression, you create a dead feedback loop for your soul. Your energy is drained, because, energy that is not authentic can only ever be replenished by the mind or emotions (which are a limited resource) – whereas energy from the source is ever-present.

2. Being Swept Along by Other People’s Energies:

Some people are highly sensitive and lose themselves when around others. It may be authentic to harmonise and align with others, but their own vibration gets drowned out. They can no longer hear the voice of their own soul. They are swept along by the strong current of other peoples energy, unable to find their own flow.

It might feel like you have no choice, or that it’s just your configuration, that it’s just the way it is – but there IS a choice.

It’s a matter of awareness and learning to honour your boundaries. Boundaries are important for highly sensitive souls. 

This takes practice. It involves continually bringing consciousness to your own soul and energy field when around others and then learning to tell the difference between you and them. It’s knowing what’s yours and what’s someone else’s (See article: Are You an Empath? for tips and advice for highly sensitive souls)

3. Trapped by Others Expectations – ‘Being Labelled':

In personal relationships with family or at work, people often find that they’ve been categorised and labeled. People are typically hemmed in and related to by the people around them, by certain behaviours, traits, gifts and faults, with very little room for change. Every engagement with you will confirm their expectations as they subconsciously re-affirm them.

I am incredibly blessed to live in a house where we respect one others constantly unfolding nature. We are continually evolving and growing, accepting change as a natural part of our evolution.

A funny thing happened to me last month though, when I went to stay with my Mother. She’s a beautiful soul and very accepting of ‘me’, yet something from the old days slipped back in to highlight the incredible power of expectation – to keep me on my toes, I think!

I had jet lag and was feeling a bit wobbly after traveling half way around the world and flipping my body clock upside down. I’d randomly bumped into the door frame as my spatial awareness went to pot, to which with a smile, my mother cheerfully said: “You’ve always been clumsy haven’t you?”

It threw me back momentarily. Have I always been clumsy? Am I clumsy? Something from my childhood perhaps. But is this really me?

Something didn’t feel quite right, yet my reality was being presented to me under no uncertain terms. I sat with the notion, paused for a while and then replied…  “actually, I haven’t really been clumsy for a long time now.” 

The truth is, I DID used to be clumsy though! At home I had a reputation for bumping into things. It was expected and reaffirmed light heartedly throughout my childhood.

It was my reality. I even remember being given a mug with Mr Bump on it (Mr Bump is a sweet clumsy cartoon character, who bumps into things a lot, covered with bandages). I used to smile all the time too, I had many positive attributes, but I didn’t get ‘Miss Sunshine‘ – I got ‘Mr Bump’! So, I  was  clumsy.

At the age of 26, it suddenly dawned on me that I had a choice. I didn’t feel at home here on earth. I was ethereal in nature and had little reason to be embodied, naturally living out of body, ungrounded, living in the ‘clouds’.

Expectations of who we are, as projected by those around us, can silently bubble in the background without us realising it. We are all aware that if you tell a child he’s naughty enough times, eventually he’ll believe it – the same can be said for just about anything.

When we become aware, we can do something about it. So, in my twenties, I stopped letting others determine my reality and over time became present, aware and you guessed it, embodied. The clumsiness (which was never ‘really’ me, but a tool of deeper self realisation) fell away almost instantly.

4. The Spiritual Identity

This is quite common in the spiritual world.

I’ve often seen the spiritual identity acting ‘authentic’. This happens when an ego/false self or shadow of the soul, knows exactly how authenticity ‘should’ look like and emulates it.

This is one of the biggest pitfalls in the modern spiritual movement. The problem is that a spiritual identity emulating authenticity may carry a vibration that is closely aligned with the real thing – because a fragment of the soul is embedded. It always has a fabricated undertone though and from presence can be spotted a mile off.

Swinging Too Far The Other Way

Of course, it’s common that when people realise they are ‘people pleasing’, ‘trapped by expectations’ or ‘washed through with other peoples energy’, the spiritual identity can then swing in completely the opposite direction, in a valiant effort to rebalance and make up for lost time.

So I have seen people pleasers become incredibly selfish. I have witnessed people who have been brain washed or hurt in some way, reject just about anything with authority.

People liberated from being trapped by others expectations also run the risk of becoming thwarted by a false sense of self empowerment.

Beware of over compensating with stubbornness! It’s understandable, but not authentic.

It can be useful to swing the other way for a short while, to feel the polarity of the distortion. It can help to shake off the distorted behaviours. Although why replace one distortion with another?

Natural Evolution of the Soul

The wonderful thing is that authenticity is our natural state of being. It is boundless. It’s the return to who we truly are.

Our soul will, one way or another, always urge us back to our true and authentic origins.

If we can allow anything that is not us, simply to fall away, we can be who we are divinely given to be.

Once we realise, we need not wait a moment longer.

About Author: Trinity is an experienced, empathic energy worker. Around 18 years ago, during a profound spiritual awakening,the world around her shattered. At the time, she became engulfed in a white, universal, timeless, formless light until nothing else existed, other than the nameless truth at the core of all sentient beings. Following which,  her path rapidly became one of deep compassion for the Earth and environment. During her journey, she has integrated a wide variety of multidimensional gifts including clair-sentience, kundalini awareness, inner child healing, removal of energy blockages, past life regressions and karmic healing. She works hand in hand with the Angelic Realms. Trinity is the co-founder of the  Openhand Foundation, an organisation dedicated to the evolution of humankind. She works as the divine complement to her soul mate Chris Bourne to help facilitate the global Ascension process and feels incredibly blessed to be of divine service.

openhandweb.org

wakeup-world.com

The Integral Heart and Our Evolutionary Future

by Terry Patten -

The "Integral Heart" embodies a disposition that pays attention to the core of all things—the center that also connects with—and integrates—all dimensions of reality. 

The word "heart" comes from an Anglo-Saxon root-word connoting the "very center" or "core." 

The ancient lore of yoga posited three hearts — the beating physical heart on the left, the subtle feeling heart chakra in the middle, and the conscious causal heart on the right.

The core of things can be found quite practically right here in the physical plane; it can be found through the opening of the heart in transpersonal love; and it can be found by realizing the radical consciousness at the root of existence. 

The Integral Heart explicitly emphasizes the connection of consciousness, care and embodiment. It stands in the inseparability of the intelligence of the Integral impulse with the unified, awakened feeling awareness associated with the heart and the body.

It opens up a conversation: How do we actually live the Integral Heart? —especially in this time and place.

Living the Integral Heart

We live in "interesting times." We face multiple challenges so large they transcend human history, challenges that can only be understood on an evolutionary scale. 

Such conditions require profound, inclusive, caring intelligence and commitment, not mere calculation. 

That’s what is signified by the words "Integral Heart." 

Our political, social and economic institutions seem helpless, bound by a spaghetti-tangle of tunnel-vision karmas and Catch-22 dynamics. 

We Are Each Called

Only mighty, multidimensional, whole-being intelligence, anchored in the heart, has a hope to meet the challenges of our time.

We are each called by our evolutionary emergency—by problems that cannot be solved at the level through which they were created. 

We are called to wake up, to heal ourselves, to serve others, to cooperate and to evolve human culture and society. 

We must transcend and include all that has come before us, and embody our highest heart-intelligence in our personal commitments, our intimate relationships, our careers and our contributions to the world.

It's a big task. It's a humbling, sometimes painful task and it's a joyful one. But it doesn't help to get hyped up over it, or grandiose. If we are going to survive and evolve, it will only be with our feet planted firmly on the ground. 

This means we must engage in a deep, authentic process of growth and transformation. It means we must respectfully help each other evolve. 

We must further the great adventure of human consciousness, which, with all its twists and turns, peaks and pitfalls, is the process of history itself.

A New Enlightenment

In the 17th and 18th centuries, an "enlightenment" swept over the Western world—a new level of consciousness that sought to liberate individuals and institutions from the tyranny of tradition, guided by the light of reason. 

The enlightenment brought us democracy, human rights and such notions as equality and "justice for all." But of course, it was an incomplete enlightenment. 

It left a lot of people out. It glorified rationality at the expense of other legitimate forms of consciousness. Thus, in many postmodern circles, the whole notion of any kind of “enlightenment” was discredited. But nothing was offered to take its place.

In fact, we now need an even higher level of enlightenment. A greater, more inclusive, trans-rational enlightenment. An enlightenment of both the Mind and Heart (not to mention the Body, Soul, and Spirit!).

Just as the old enlightenment was inspired by the ideas and philosophies of the great thinkers of the time, our own enlightenment must also have its own grand ideas and maps.

This is important, because if we’re going to engage the process of waking up—and helping each other and many others, to wake up (imagine a viral or grassroots enlightenment movement)—we must make use of the best distinctions, vocabulary, and maps of reality we have available. 

We must understand, transcend, and integrate our global inheritance of human wisdom and know-how—ancient, traditional, modern, and post-modern. We must be changed in our very way of being. 

We must comprehend and thus masterfully participate in a nuanced, flex-flowing, multi-dimensional world. We need Integral maps, Integral consciousness and an Integral Heart. That Heart has no way into the world except through us.

Realizing the Integral Heart

Ultimately, this site is part of a larger conversation between people who are concerned with the big issues and questions that we face not just as individuals but a species and as a nascent global society. 

How can we bring greater love and spirit into the world? 

How can we peacefully coexist coming from different cultural contexts, different religions (or non-spiritual backgrounds), different histories, different politics, different ecological sensibilities and even different levels of consciousness? 

What's next for the inhabitants of this strange little planet in a boundless sea of stars and emptiness in all directions? Contributing to our evolutionary future is a great matter. It inspires me (and many). We often fall short of what's needed. I fall short. Yet we must keep trying.

More Background on The Integral Heart

• Integral Agency-in-Communion - A short essay on the importance of balancing the "agentic" (masculine, individualist) orientation of many expressions of Integral consciousness, with a balanced and corresponding "communal" orientation (feminine, collectivist).
• The AQAL Integral Map and Other Sources of The Integral Heart - A summary of the theoretical context of The Integral Heart, including a link to a 40-page PDF by Ken Wilber introducing the AQAL ("All Quadrants, All Levels" model of consciousness, the Kosmos, and human development.
• Integral Life Practice - General introduction plus link to a preview of the first two chapters of the book by Ken Wilber, Terry Patten, Adam Leonard, and Marco Morelli.

terrypatten.com

New Earth Paradigms and Culture Minds

by Brendan D. Murphy -

"In a time of drastic change, it is the learners who inherit the future. The learned usually find themselves equipped to live in a world that no longer exists." —Eric Hoffer

Kuhn states in The Structure of Scientific Revolutions that the actualization of a scientific paradigm is achieved by increasing the extent of the match between its facts and its predictions, and by further articulation of the paradigm itself: “mop-up work.” 

Kuhn’s candor is enlightening as he explains that such work occupies most scientists right through their careers; it is “normal science,” an enterprise attempting to force-fit nature into the preformed conceptual boxes supplied by the already existing paradigm (the Big Bang theory comes to mind). 

New sorts of phenomena are not sought and those phenomena that won’t be squeezed into pre-existing boxes tend to not even be seen at all. Scientists generally don’t seek to invent new theories, and they don’t always tolerate the theories of other scientists.[i]

Psychologically speaking, it makes sense that scientists imprinted by the culturally dominant paradigm they are born into will expend most of their energy attempting to understand it better and elaborate on it. 

Practically speaking, this has to be done because of the chasms that exist between science’s theoretical understandings of the cosmos (from the Greek Kosmos, meaning “ordered whole”) and what the cosmos actually has to offer—and every answer yields another ten questions. 

The average scientist is busy enough trying to test and validate aspects of the preformed paradigmatic box he or she has inherited without having to worry about various anomalies that challenge the basic parameters, theoretical underpinnings, or first principles of that box. 

Hence, anomalous data, such as that which we will deliberately focus on in this book, is typically unfavorable to those scientists imprinted by a theory or model of the universe that posits that such phenomena should not even exist. 

The presumption seemingly made by many scientists—like the child who naïvely sees his parents as being god-like in their knowledge and authority—is obviously that the paradigm must be right and that there’s no point actually checking, or else why would it be the dominant paradigm? 

This, of course, creates unscientific institutionalized blind spots that do not harmonize with people whose conscious experience is not congruent with what the popular theory says they should or shouldn’t be experiencing. 

If the facts of your waking experience are not encapsulated by the theory and your experiences are being shared by millions of other people, then perhaps the theory needs some revision.

Importantly, Kuhn also stated that a paradigm defines what constitutes a valid scientific problem. 

Any pursuits venturing away from the confines of the paradigm therefore define themselves as being “unscientific” (and therefore the findings must be untrue) by default and—to conventional thinking—this is where most of the information contained in this book lies: the scientific wilderness or no man’s land. 

This briefly outlined “scientific” approach, needless to say, can institutionalize myopic and dogmatic gate-keeping activities that prevent novel research from occurring (or being published), ironically in the name of science if not the form, leading to a stagnation in the advancement of science to the extent that such activities succeed and prevail. 

However, history shows that such circumstances break down in the end, in line with the ultimate law of the world of form and relativity: the only constant is change.

The individuals who catalyze such breakdowns and revolutions of thought and encourage them to unfold towards what will ultimately be a state of greater order and understanding (whether they facilitate this consciously or otherwise) are what Rudhyar called civilizers (and what historian Arthur Toynbee referred to as creative minorities). 

Culture Minds

These (relatively) independent and forward-thinking minds possess a differing vision from the majority of culturally conditioned minds, aptly designated as culture minds. For clarity, culture is defined by anthropologists as a collection of learned survival strategies passed on to our young through teaching and modeling.[ii] 

The culture mind, which is essentially a reflection of the collective or group mind, is the one that imprints on and inherits a pre-existing paradigm, refines it, champions it, and, maybe above all, defends it against “attack” from unfamiliar and unexpected data—supposedly for the benefit of humankind but in truth simply as a coping mechanism, perhaps a perversion of a biological survival drive. 

Such was the role of those who decried the invention of the light bulb, the radio, the telescope, and almost every other novel and important invention through our history.

Joseph C. Pearce refers to culture as “the collective embodiment of our survival ideation,” and “a circular stalemate,”[iii] and in this sense our narrow cultural tendencies are holding us back from transcending ourselves. 

Civilizer Minds

The civilizer mind, on the other hand, is the lonely soul or minority of souls brave or silly enough to bring forth such unexpected and “ridiculous” creations as light bulbs, radios, quantum mechanics, or parapsychology, and pose the uncomfortable questions stemming from them that the culture mind’s paradigm had failed to anticipate.

What if this new phenomenon is real? What if the universe doesn’t work the precise way our paradigms led us to believe? What if more is possible? 

The civilizer will pursue a new line of inquiry in spite of its being politically incorrect or taboo, if he or she perceives that such a pursuit could benefit mankind in the long run. This will of course be done to the chagrin of the tribally oriented culture mind who perceives, however dimly, such investigation as a threat to his status and identity—his models of self and the universe. 

Eventually, when the civilizer has succeeded in gaining acceptance for his new concept or invention and it has become familiar and even commonplace, a new breed of culture mind will grow up taking this once dangerous heresy for granted as self-evident and obvious.

New Paradigms

Thus, the genius civilizer and Hermeticist Isaac Newton’s profound scientific output led to the formulation of new and unforeseen paradigms which would ultimately be inherited by culture mind minions who would dogmatically insist that those materialistic and reductionistic paradigms essentially described the Universe as it was and must necessarily be, refusing to acknowledge the validity of legitimate information that did not conform to the expectations induced by those (incomplete) paradigms. 

New data or refinements were permissible only insofar as they did not challenge the fundamental precepts of the Newtonian outlook, and thus the religion of Funda-Materialism (Fundamentalist Materialism) was born (which is ironic, since, as Newton matured he moved from a mechanistic view to an essentially “magical” one, being deeply involved in alchemical research, as well as being a Freemason and student of Biblical prophesy[iv]).

The culture mind is typically bent on maintaining the status quo at any cost, for it lacks imagination and vision enough to see a potentially better way of operating and more importantly, its identity is intimately tied to said status quo, so challenging the latter threatens the former by default. 

It might reluctantly agree to consider making some small changes, however, if a “credible” and familiar cultural authority figure can induce it into perceiving some kind of self-benefit for such an action. 

As Joseph Chilton Pearce observes, 

“Culture is the fundamental deviancy of intellect from intelligence, and because of its massively unnatural and arbitrary, and illogical nature, it requires an equally massive energy to sustain it.”[v]

Inspection reveals that for the most part—within the context of paranormal research—that energy is the emotion known as fear, and it is usually repressed/subliminal, lurking in the background, tacitly guiding our processes of logic (and sabotaging our capacity to learn). 

Culture, as Pearce points out, feeds the ancient survival modes of our brain and keeps us locked into them.[vi] This means that information challenging the culture mind’s paradigm and sense of self evokes a fight-or-flight biological sort of response—about the lowest level of intelligence available to us. 

Having only those two ways of responding to “threatening” data is profoundly limiting to intelligence. 

It leaves one with only the option of perpetually debunking (“fighting”) information through a pseudo-intellectual veneer, or simply fleeing from the most challenging facts altogether. More intelligent responses could be forthcoming if our sense of self was not based on such flimsy ground and so easily “undermined”—expanded on, in truth—by the “unexplainable.”

Self-interest is a strong motive for the biospherically oriented culture mind, while the civilizer’s motive is typically something more transpersonal, something vaster and more far-reaching. 

The civilizer seeks to drag the possible future into the manifest present. In Rudhyar’s estimation, the steps to preparing for the role as a civilizer include “having a deep-seated dissatisfaction with the forms and institutions that the culture has built…and the development of a mind able to relentlessly question the intellectual and/or moral validity of the essential premises (paradigms) constituting the framework of the collective mentality of a society having already passed its maturity.”[vii]

Gautama the Buddha, Pythagoras, Newton, Bacon, Tesla and many researchers, mystics and occultists who will be mentioned in the following pages have been cast in the mold of the civilizer mind, pioneers and trailblazers that they are (or were). 

The consciousness of these individuals no longer imbues the familiar cultural beliefs, assumptions, values, behavioral patterns and concepts, with the importance and/or meaning they have for the average human being/culture mind. 

In some cases, Rudhyar observed, these people have actually “transferred the center of their consciousness and therefore their sense of identity from the biopsychic level to a spiritual-mental level.”[viii] 

This is exactly what we seek to facilitate here.

Creative Minds

What the creative minds are able to communicate to others in their culture “becomes a mutating ideologic seed that, sooner or later, will germinate and affect other minds.”[ix] Thus, culture is the carrier wave, as Rudhyar termed it, of civilization. The process of civilization cannot occur without cultures and culture minds to evolve and transform, to “civilize.”

 “Culture forms. Civilization transforms.”[x]

The process of transformation implies a sort of crisis (from a Greek root, meaning “to decide”), and it is indeed a crisis/decision point that humanity currently finds itself at. 

This is especially so for our dominant scientific paradigms, placed under siege and laid waste by inconvenient facts that have been swept under the proverbial rug for so long now that the rug looks as if it’s hiding a jittery woolly mammoth. 

This hulking mass now appears ready to topple over into collective awareness with an almighty crash. Our cherished materialistic-reductionist paradigms of life and consciousness are crumbling under the weight of their own obfuscations and omissions. 

Such is the saturation of inconvenient facts that perceptive scientists such as Radin can legitimately state that we are indeed making the step from Phase 1 of outright institutional denial to Phase 2 of reluctant acceptance and further, more mainstream investigation. 

This very fact signifies a philosophical crisis occurring in the hallowed halls of science, as the growing realization dawns on more and more minds that our dominant politically correct scientifically induced (and scientistically preserved) metaphysical assumptions about our existence are simply unable to cope with the questions being asked of them.

New paradigms are in the making—culture is being civilized (transformed) in a way that few generations on this Earth have ever had the opportunity to witness. 

With the capability to “nuke” or simply pollute and contaminate ourselves out of existence, there has probably not been a better time in our recorded history to embrace the dynamic of civilization and choose to consciously transform ourselves and our cultures (and by that I don’t mean throwing in with a totalitarian World Government agenda run by psychopathic unelected financial oligarchs). 

The creations of civilizer minds, as opposed to culture minds, induce sociocultural transformation rather than fulfilment or what we might often refer to as the preservation of the status quo. 

Such humans are transpersonal beings, according to Rudhyar. “Space, life, God, act through them, even if they are not aware of this fact.”[xi] 

The civilization process pertains to the activity of “spirit” as spirit acts through the mind. While spirit creates, culture merely reproduces.[xii] Finally, Rudhyar tells us: “The way of transformation is what occultists call ‘The Path.’ The real civilizer is the man of relationship. He relates the as-yet-unknown to the known, the greater to the lesser.”[xiii]

This book, as the reader has no doubt gathered by now, is the kind of dangerous and subversive text that can potentially play a civilizing or transformative role—as long as one’s mind is receptive, curious, and open. 

The time is ripe for such outlandish material to be circulated en masse, because perhaps never in our known history have the masses of mankind been so beaten down, worn out, and disillusioned with the status quo (just look at the “Occupy” movement!). 

More to the point is the fact that never before have we known the collective mind to be undertaking the kind of mass awakening that now appears to be happening and gathering pace, even as I type these words.

What makes this book dangerous to the conditioned culture mind is the author’s refusal to allow his perceptions to be utterly dictated and shaped by his own culture’s customs, taboos, and metaphysical assumptions. 

This book challenges dogma, culturally ingrained assumptions and beliefs, rather than arbitrarily selecting one particular “culturized” viewpoint (say, materialism, Freudianism, or Christian fundamentalism) and espousing it at the expense of all other viewpoints merely out of fear or pride. 

Culture seizes the new ideas civilization creates and erects them into systems and truths endowed with permanent value, leading to tradition and also dogmatism. 

The civilizer “plays with” ideas and his mind “sees,” while the culture-man’s mind cogitates and endlessly argues pros and cons.[xiv] The purpose of this book is not to merely argue pros and cons but to expand one’s vision: to civilize/transform.

It is interesting to note that one cannot spell culture without cult. What is a cult best at? Rigidly and fiercely maintaining its own cognitive status quo, its ontology, in spite of any and all evidence to the contrary—indefinitely. 

Extreme data filtration and streamlining. Model fanaticism courtesy of what I dub “paradigmatic fanatics.” No cult member ever really realizes the depths of stupidity he or she, as a believer, sinks to until they leave the cult, dis-identify with its models of reality and the world, and stand on the outside looking in. 

We want to transcend the culture mind. A change in perspective (data reception and meaning creation) is a powerful thing. 

The product of any profound and positive change in perspective is transformation/civilization. At this point in our history, can we aim for anything less?

Endnotes: 

[i] See Kuhn. 

[ii] Pearce, The Biology of Transcendence, 2. 

[iii] Ibid., 3. 

[iv] See my article The Newton You Never Knew (www.globalfreedommovement.net).[v] Pearce, 125. 

[vi] Ibid., 171. 

[vii] Rudhyar, 107. 

[viii] Ibid., 34. 

[ix] Ibid., 44. 

[x] Ibid., 26.

[xi] Ibid., 66–7. 

[xii] Ibid., 180. 

[xiii] Ibid., 129. 

[xiv] Ibid., 194.

 excerpt from Chapter 1 of The Grand Illusion: A Synthesis of Science and Spirituality  

“What a wonderful job of collating and integrating you have done! Every person in the field of ‘paranormal’ psychology or related topics should have this book as a major reference.” –Dr. Buryl Payne 

“A masterpiece…The Grand Illusion is mind-blowing.” –Sol Luckman, author of Potentiate Your DNA. 

“You’ve written the best synthesis of modern science and esoteric science that I’ve seen in 40 years of study in that area. Brilliant!”  –Michael K. Wade

About Author: Brendan Murphy – Co founder of the Global Freedom Movement and host of GFM Radio, a leading Australian author, researcher, activist and musician. His acclaimed non-fiction epic The Grand Illusion: A Synthesis of Science and Spirituality – Book 1 is out now! 

brendandmurphy.net 

globalfreedommovement.org 

wakingtimes.com

corespirit.co.uk