Self Improvement
Things To Think About
- Education or Indoctrination,
- Which do we have?Has the education system in the US failed in its mission?
What's Up With Ming
"Did you ever feel like an alien who somehow became stranded on a planet called Earth where nothing seemed to make any sense?" A quote from "Ming The Merciless"
Civilization Rehab
Recovering from civilization can be brutal but neccessary if we are to become truly free from it's influence. Kick the civilization habit here!
Being Human
The Condition Of Our ConditionArticles on the Human condition and how we might improve it.
sHumint 2.0, A New Definition (continued) By R.E. Darby
The Spiritual Human (cont)
So, for all practical purposes, we are left with little choice but to forge ahead into unknown territory and goldly blo where no man has apparently blone before. :) I know, a pitiful attempt to delay my responsibilities.
With that almost said, let's look at this domain from a couple of different points of viewing. Since I have a real problem with religious dogma and since organized religions seem to feel that they have proprietary control over spirituality and have documented their ideas ad nauseum, we won't be looking at spirituality from their particular point of view. All evidence to the contrary, you may be surprised to know that there is spirituality beyond religion. In fact, by the very nature of spirituality, organized religion or any other business cannot produce, sell, manufacture, bequeath or in any other way, guarantee a state of spirituality.
Here is what we mean when we say 'by its very nature'. Spirituality is the experiencing of a state of being that is very different from all other experiences. So different in fact, that it defies description through the use of language symbols such as words. We can try using words, but we only seem to be able to circle around it, maybe sneak up on it a little, but we never are quite able to really nail it. We believe that the reason for this is in its nature. This seems to be the one domain designed to deal with the unknowable by the usual means. Those experiences that cannot be understood by the mental Human or the emotional Human or the physical Human alone and are not perceived through, or known by any standard avenues of perception or ways of knowing. Some speak of the spirit existing outside of normal time/space. Even with my limited experience in these matters, it is easy to understand why some would go down this line of interpretation. Spiritual experiences can be somewhat alien, but we are not prepared to go quite so far as to pass beyond the time/space paradigm just yet. But neither will we eliminate the possibility altogether.
I recall a time when I was back packed in the big sur mountains of California and I topped out on a ridge and stood there momentarily breathless at the sight before me. For just a fleeting few seconds I experienced what it was to be one with the miracle of life on this world. The view spread out before me affected me in a way that is difficult to express. But at that moment everything was perfect just as it was.
While this is just a very small instance of a spiritual experience, it was nevertheless very powerful and provides us with a small glimpse into a much misunderstood and very unexplored domain of Human experience. The reality that we can transcend all our worldly concerns and achieve a place of calm peaceful pure knowing, is both thrilling and frightening. The intensity itself is sometimes overwhelming.
Strangely enough, it is that feeling of intensity itself, that signals the end of the experience because that feeling is a pronounced physical sensation and that changes the focus and brings us back, so to speak, from that spiritual place of perfection.
But for me now, taking the point of view that the spiritual domain is separate from the other domains, just doesn't work. The spirit may exist beyond the physical form, but the individual manifestation and experience of spirit almost has to be the result of an integrated activity of all the Human domains. Something like a point or condition, of perfect harmony. In fact, the concept of harmony seems to exemplify the spiritual Human perfectly, whereas the concept of conflict is alien to this domain beyond the fact that conflict is a natural phenomenon in a dualistic reality.
There are just too many reports worldwide of Human beings achieving exceptional and unexplained perception and performance in various areas of life to dismiss the spiritual domain. Yet there is a tendency to do so simply because it is unexplainable by our mental Human domain or frightens our emotional Human domain or overwhelms our physical Human domain.
Faith and Power
We have mentioned other Human powers such as our power to choose. But that is only one among many powers we possess. Faith is rarely perceived as a power, yet it is probably one of the greatest powers we have available to us. At various times during our effort here to build a conceptual framework for a new definition for Human intelligence 2.0, we have referred to the limitations of our currently accepted reality. Here we encounter one of those limitations. The dictionary defines faith as; unquestioning belief, or complete trust or complete confidence. Not bad, but not nearly complete and surely reflects the limited range of current civilization or perhaps just current culture.
Humans tend to have faith in something or someone or oneself. Having faith for its own sake seems a little strange, what would be the point? Yet the spiritual Human domain would seem to demand a great deal of faith. But faith in what? Or who? If we don't bring organized religion into the equation, then can we bring the idea of god into it? Can the concept of god exist outside of religious beliefs? In fact, aren't there many different concepts of god even among different religions? Why not a god that doesn't depend on any organized belief system? Why not just a higher power? Or a higher self? In fact, why can we not be gods? What might we see if we began to undefine ourselves so that we begin to perceive ourselves less and less as some limited form of life with all the associated limitations that come with narrower and narrower definitions? Might we not realize our true nature? And what could that nature be? Could it be unlimited potentialin one or many or all areas?
To our knowledge, there has never appeared a life form even close to the Human manifestation of life on this or any other world. Think of what we might be or become, if we stopped wallowing in the tiny pool of our extremely limited perceptions of ourselves and commit to the courageous exploration of our potential.
Faith and Power (cont)
What part does faith play in the spiritual domain? In the absents of any real verifiable knowledge or experience, my instincts are telling me that faith might well be the foundation of the spiritual domain.Faith, by its very nature is difficult and sometimes risky to investigate. It is also associated with a few other concepts like confidence, hope and courage.
The simple definition of faith is 'the belief in something for which there is no evidence'. If faith is belief, why do they call it faith and not use belief? Is it the same thing?But we believe that faith is a powerful process, a spiritual act or activity that is able to transcend standard definitions and or paradigms of reality. It is this very idea that makes this subject so difficult to talk about because language itself belongs to the standard paradigms of reality. Let's see where this takes us.
Why are faith and confidence so closely related in meaning?
Faith, confidence, hope and courage. The four horseman of Human divinity.
Yes, we speak of Human divinity. If we look at the Human life form with clarity and courage and accept the infinite and unlimited potential that we see represented by this form of life, we cannot but realize the god like possibilities and call these the Human divinity. Notice that we don't define Human divinity by the achievements of our science and technology, but rather our capacity for faith, confidence, hope and courage. The power centers of the spiritual domain, without which, there would be no technological and scientific accomplishments.
The more we think about this domain the more we realize how often we rely on it without knowing we are doing so. Let's consider the above bulleted list;
Once we decide to jump out of an airplane using a parachute, just what do we really bring to such a task? We may use our mental domain to intellectualize the act, that is, visualize it. We may generate the right amount of emotional desire necessary to carry the act out. We may prepare our physical body for the sensations it may encounter, but when we are actually on the plane and it's time to jump, is there not one more element required? The spiritual domain must be involved at this point because we need the faith it will take to overcome the reality of the possibility of death, we will need the confidence in the functionality of the parachute, and the person who packed it, we need to have hope that the many factors that need to come together in the right way and the right time will do so and we will need the courage to believe in the reality of all these highly variable concepts. Though a track record of past successes will help, it is no guarantee. In fact, courage is that power that enables the Human life form to accept and deal with life, regardless of the risks and uncertainties.
This was just one decision to engage in one act, and although it is a high risk act, we believe that the only difference as far as the spiritual domain is concerned, is in the degree or amount of commitment of spiritual power required. This process is probably carried out perhaps every second of every day of a Human lifetime in one degree or another.
Faith and confidence in the Universe
It is one thing to have faith in a parachute. It's tangible and we can exercise some measure of control over it, but ... the Universe? Actually, we believe that these two realities aren't that different where the spiritual domain is concerned. Either we have faith in the basic correctness and stability of the Universe, or we go down in the flames of stress from worrying about things we have no control over. The reality is that the durability of the Universe, that is, whether the Universe will end any time soon, is part of the uncertainty of life and without faith, the uncertainties of life would destroy us. Ultimately, faith in the Universe and faith in a parachute is the same faith. So it is not that which we have faith in, but that we have the power of faith itself.
It is our position at this point that faith is either power itself, or a source of power.Also, this power seems to be a different kind of power, not quite like the other domains. Consider the list again. Letting go and surrendering control don't seem to fit at first glance. But the power of the spiritual domain will not be available to us if we are, in any way, interfering with it. We need to get out of our own way in order for our natural or divine self to function properly, and this requires faith, confidence, hope and courage.Once we let go, the horseman are loosed, and our divinity is set free.
The biggest challenge with this domain is overcoming our reluctance to explore it. Religions tend to exploit it in order to support their agenda. But exploring the spiritual domain with a desire for accurate information and a purpose of understanding it so that we can use it wisely and intelligently, doesn't seem to be a high priority on anyone's list. We believe that this is largely due to the general population of Humans choosing to embrace the comfort and convenience of ignorance, and surrender to the fear of fear itself. But also, especially where this particular subject is concerned, the fear of the yet unknown. Yet this is easy to understand if we believe that characteristics such as a genuine value system and integrity are generated from this Human domain. That these characteristics are noticeably missing in our civilization is a measure of our spiritual ignorance.