You chose how technology shapes your world view

Futurists have often talked about how the current era would be marked by instability.  Technological change being the only constant.  And that those able to evolve would become kings, and those to stagnate would have no choice but to perish.  I wondered how much of this toxic climate was created by the rhetoric of those in power, and how much of it was true because of the genuine shift that was occurring beneath us at the informational bases. True, the manner in which information consumption occurred for most people had shifted as the oceans of published information became, in a sense, radioactive and glowing, as the opportunity to publish anything became a force encouraging people to publish EVERYTHING, and as the very nature of the lives of the “haves” refocused toward integrating electronic equipment as a primary focus of our very thought patterns.  It is true that many people became completely reliant on external devices for their daily functioning, and having the right apps in life can make the difference between professional success and failure.  And professional failure led to a perceived devolution in which individuals might be forced to live like animals, growing their own food or residing in over-priced, dimly lit cages, I mean apartments.  And I somehow had always known that the social state was predestined.  Maybe it was all predicted in the book of Revelations, which I had little interest in studying anymore, or that the circular nature of time provided a knowing in the very fabric of the universe that this point approaching a major cultural drop off had in fact occurred many times before, and that we were just another layer of pigment smeared across a canvas.  Same story.  Different eon.  I felt certain that these massive destabilizing changes were nothing new.  And this understanding did absolutely nothing to lessen the logistical challenges of each day.

It never failed to amaze me the degree to which subtle word choice wields power.  Small details in how things are presented created massive shifts in tone that lead to an entirely different effect on the reader.  That being said, I claimed no expertise in presenting ideas, rather I was a deep seeker into depths of meaning that words provided.  And the things I was drawn to read were mostly a complete waste of time.  Facebook posts and book reviews dominated, probably because I found that I wanted the experience of existing on the very pulse of the flow of information.  I wanted to be a part of that super highway of idea exchange. I wanted to be like a fiber optic cable, ready to efficiently move ideas where they needed to go.  

That interest was so strong, it was far too easy to become lost in it. The human mind, simply a biological step away from that of a robot.  A heartbeat, capable of existing beyond human death because most of the life essence had been funneled into the devices that directed the details creating existence.  "I could become the human mind of a robot, perhaps a beautiful young woman version of Stephen Hawking, if that could even be a thing," I imagined.  Astounding.  Incredible.  My mind reeled in search of the right words to describe the awesome, infinite power in this opportunity.  And at the same time, I was disgusted by the thought.  What a life it would be, living inside the Internet.  Like perhaps it could be something different than sitting at a desk reading.   

Was this, or was it not damaging to me and my children?  It may have a had powerful enough energy drive to prevent us from experiencing the physical lifeblood of being a biological human. It may have pulled us in to its intoxicating trance with a technological power I could only attribute to an other worldly intelligent design.  We were removed from the land. We were removed from the slowly growing exposure to toxins that we had created to poison the land in an effort to force beautiful, sweet, nature to submit to our all powerful will.  It stopped me from venturing into the sunlight with wide eyes and enjoying the texture of soil.  It prevented my mind from focusing on my children, who mattered most, and even discouraged my eyes from meeting those of another human being.  The Internet connected me and disconnected me at the same time.  In infested society like a highly addictive drug.

*****

I had this research interest in…  I guess I will call it meditation.  Meditating is powerful because it creates the opportunity to stop the flow of information into our minds from the physical world around us, and rather shine a light on the flow of information within us. We learn to see our thoughts, discover where they originate, and direct them to best create an internal world in which we may flourish.  If done long enough, we learn a great deal about our own ability to experience the power of intuition, read the energy fields of various aspects of our environment, heal earthly problems, communicate with spiritual beings, understand dream symbols, read the synchronicities and bad luck streaks in our lives, communicate with non-human animals, and access a powerful source of information that often reminds me the vast expanse of the Internet without the necessity of a device. Because as creatures living on the planet Earth, these skills and more are readily available to us if we chose to cultivate our minds in that way.

Some people I know have made extensive comments about the destruction of our planet through environmental degradation.  We all find it so easy to deny, or perhaps feel completely powerless to stop the problem.  It doesn’t really affect my life today, so why should I change?  The Internet experience is flooded with information about these things.  However we no longer live in the era of television.  In the era of television, viewers passively received information that in a sense programmed people to employ certain beliefs and opinions imposed upon them by the powerful leaders able to purchase broadcast time.  

In this Internet era, we are offered the beautiful, expansive opportunity, if we are willing to open enough to thinking critically, to see things as they truly are and not how they are presented to us by marketing experts. 

It is psychologically very difficult to change fixed worldviews and opinions.  Those with agile minds, willing to perceive issues from multiple angles will be the best suited for the future.  Big money has shifted away from television marketing, attempted unsuccessfully to conquer the Internet, but has found a nice comfortable bed in the field of education.  Technology is the driving force for developments in the field of education, and these changes will be hugely significant in the next century in terms of how people think, how able we are to get past environmental challenges, and how future generations will spend money.  Young, malleable minds are easy to shape, and very difficult to change once they have formed certain thinking tracks.  So we must carefully think about the use of technology.  Do the innovations drive from the top of society down, or from the bottom up, as in people have a need and something is discovered to meet that need? 

That’s a lot to digest.  Rather than overwhelm my readership, I will stop there for today.

Understanding the challenges of thought forms

I am currently reading The Science of Meditation by H. Saraydarian.  While there are 350 pages of great information, I'd like to focus for a time on thought forms.  Now, I understand that those of you who are not inclined to believe in things that you cannot see, touch, smell, hear, and taste may not find this particular blog entry in harmony with your way of thinking.  That’s fine. Go do something else with your time now.

If you are open minded and still with me, HI!!!  Thought forms.  There seems to be a suggestion among deeply spiritual thinkers and metaphysicists that Thoughts are Things.  I’ve heard about this enough times, and from enough directions that I am curious and need to know more.  What does that mean? I’m skeptical, because how can something be a thing if it’s… not a thing?  Not tangible?  Only exists for one person?  It doesn’t make sense in my cultural background.  Fortunately it does make sense to Hindus, and the language barrier is manageable. 

So they say it possible to create an object by thinking.  It doesn’t happen every time, and some people are unable to do it because of their level of Spiritual development. Hmm. A thought form is like a cloud or a bubble that has a shape, a color, density, velocity, and other characteristics.  It is implied that it may be possible to observe or measure, but I have yet to find a thought form scientist beyond the depth of information in this book.  Thought forms can combine with other thought forms, or other thoughts.  They can die.  They can pop or dissipate.  They can get really big and control the thinking of mobs of people.  It is said they have an electrical charge and that there are a great many in existence. Groups of thought forms, or “Clouds of Knowable Things” serve as storehouses of ideas, and can provide great wisdom and beauty to those that know how to access them.  Great thinkers contribute to them through visualizations, the creation of new knowledge, and working with the right spirit guides.  These storehouses are accessed telepathically.  Thought forms are understood telepathically, which seems to inhibit their study by a Western scientific approach, even though telepathy has been scientifically studied with well documented results for over hundred years and is proven to exist.

Lower strata thought forms have great destructive power.  They feed on greed, hatred, jealousy, and feelings of separateness.  The information contained within are easily available, and considered dangerous.  They can control or possess people, or magnify problems with thinking distortions.  Targets can be one or more people up to a very large group of people led to falsely define collective reality.  They can direct your focus. These thought forms are especially dangerous to people who allow their thinking to polarize, known to me as "black and white thinking" (no shades of grey) or "us vs. them mentality."  Any thinking distortions are weak points.

There is advice about how to overcome the effects of negative thought forms and of course it involves meditating on specific beneficial themes. Serendipitously, the day I selected a theme for myself I to study, I listened to a powerful sermon by a spiritual leader that I felt was in conflict with my present lesson.  This, to me, was validation because I was immediately tested.   I found it interesting when the book pointed out that highly powerful esoteric and occult knowledge was carefully guarded by ancient brotherhoods and religious sects until inductees had passed an intense battery of personality tests.  The reason being that great damage can be caused by knowledge falling into the wrong hands. Any weakness in a teacher is magnified through all that person's students.  Thus the value of spiritual lessons is measured by the number of lessons successfully completed rather than the specific content of the lesson. I tend to have faith that guides guard occult knowledge and skills based on a soul's level of development, but the chapter on evil scared me a bit in some of the beginning knowledge that has become available to individuals with malicious intent.  It is a major power struggle in the physical plane these days.

The process of creating thought forms is not available to all people, but the author gives clues that in advanced meditation, light can come together in the mental plane to take on a physical form. These happen around basic structures created by normal thinking, with the assistance of the Solar Angel, our great Teachers, or with our own minds if we are highly evolved. Regular thoughts provide blueprints for thought forms that may be built to meet the needs of individual personalities.  Sometimes thought forms are built on these blueprints that do not resemble the original thoughts at all, but rather combine with a very different thought energy to form a crystallized structure.  This frequently happens when lower emotions, desires, and selfish aims cause the original thoughts to degenerate.  Proper meditation time the quality of the substance used to create forms, and allows them to enjoy more beautiful harmonies and correspondences. Noticing distorted thought forms that have crystallized on your own blue prints may be a clue to carefully consider the seeds of your original thoughts and the true motivation behind the thoughts.

It is completely necessary to observe our own thoughts, and be very discriminating about the thoughts we allow into our mental sphere.  It becomes possible to determine the sources for thoughts.  We must guard our minds because of the potential for harm, especially while in meditation.   “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” It is possible to destroy unwanted thought forms that act as hindrances.  

In my own life, this all makes a lot of sense to me in the context of quitting smoking, or learning remaining calm in very stressful or infuriating circumstances.  “That is why a disciple is a man who can destroy those thought forms that prevent the inflow of more light, or free action, free radiation of light, love, and power.”  The book goes on to discuss specifically how occult meditation can carry on the destruction of a few types of unwanted thought forms. 

Thought forms are attached to their creator by etheric threads that may be made of various substances with various characteristics and link to various energy centers in the body and its energy field. It is possible, through meditation, to trace these threads back and understand their source. Some people believe that it these etheric threads are significantly attached to natural earth processes, explaining primitive beliefs about human thought problems causing natural disasters like earthquakes or volcanic eruptions.  This author insists it is true that our thinking cannot be separated from nature, and that the only true path to the science of species survival is through meditation.  People must learn to discriminate thoughts sourced from the lower mental planes from those coming from various sources, from those originating from one’s own soul, from his Ashram, and from his Master.  (My own spiritual cultural tradition speaks of guides, God, formerly alive people, and maybe aliens?) Once the source has been determined, they can be reshaped according to need. These are considered beginning level thinking activities because dharma (duty) is to serve the will of the Solar Angel.  

“The man reaches the highest state of thinking at the Fourth Initiation. After that thinking is the manipulation of atmic and buddhic energies through straight knowledge or intuitive perception in order to create in line with the divine Purpose and formulate it into the Plan to further the goal of evolution upon higher and higher planes. And this is what we learn to do in meditation [ibid].”

Thought forms are crystallized, materialized forms sourcing from a thinker. In any thought form, it possible to find part of the original thought, which is called the life principle of the thought form. The thought form exists because of this originating principle.  When the life principle is withdrawn, the thought form is a corpse in the mental sea until it breaks down over time, until it dissapates.   

Metaphysicists encourage us to look to outer space and the behavior of planets and stars to help visually understand the behaviors of thought forms.   Mediation can be dangerous for people that carelessly create thought forms without trying to find the seed of the thought, symbol, or idea, especially when it is repeated many times over time.  Late night TV commercials for pharmaceuticals endlessly repeating worry me here. This pattern can cause very real obstacles on our spiritual paths, forming a hard shell of energy around us, preventing the healthy flow of energy that allows us to live our best possible lives. 

To “slay the slayer” is to prevent ourselves from forming crystals in our minds, allowing dead thought forms to live within us, or to allow ourselves to coexist with many illusions.  A free thinker does not exist with dead thought forms, prejudice, superstitions, dogmas, or doctrine.  [S]he is able to shape and reshape thoughts and communication methods as needed with ease.  This is science.

Meditation is a flight toward infinity, cultivating an open mind. There are many possible missteps when beginning to understand the astral world.  Our minds have associate many, many false truths. It is worth the effort to learn to meditate well, for the rewards are great.

Wrong meditation:

• Obsession or fanaticism solidifies a false path, preventing evolution and it also kills creativity. 
• Meditation on surface level without searching for the seed thought.
• Using the seed thought to verify things already known, or twisting information to prove something.
• Focusing on a seed thought with the intent of serving selfish motives, or for attacking or controlling others.
• Seeking justification of your own line of thinking, doctrine, or dogma. (Not scientific.  We seek truth or reality, not create it.)

I hope this helps.  The book is 350 pages long, so there is plenty more to consider.  I was also very fascinated by the chapter on evil, and the detailed description of characteristics of various levels of spiritual development. For example, individuals studying the emotional body often experiences great challenges with their physical body in life, and those studying the mental body have the great challenges in life with their emotions!  Interesting stuff. 

The Principle of Induction

Based on the writings of Swami Panchadasi.

The principle of induction describes an energetic phenomenon: inherent qualities or attributes of energy can transfer to nearby objects, setting up a correspondence of energy between objects. Direct contact between the objects is not required.  This energy transfer is normal and intuitive.  For example, a hot object set beside a cold object will eventually result in two objects of a moderate temperature.  When light is shined at an object, some of the light will then bounce off the object (allowing us to see it in detail) and both objects appear illuminated, in a sense.  A strong magnet can cause a non-magnetized magnetic metal to become magnetized.  Electricity travels between conductive objects, and sometimes across air.  Sound waves can cause objects to vibrate at a sympathetic rate, and sometimes even shatter glass.  

There is another example, perhaps denied by some thinkers.  Yet Panchadasi sights this example that aligns to his beliefs in the power of thought.  And I believe it is worthy of careful consideration.  Emotions and mental atmospheres are contagious between people. Examples here include religious fervor, political enthusiasm, war like spirit, prejudice against or in favor of certain types of people, and the mob mentality.

Panchadasi takes us several steps deeper in this thinking.  If one person is sad and another is happy, will they reach a moderate compromise of emotion, will both end up happy, or will both end up sad? The answer varies, of course.  There must be a scientific explanation for the imbalance of power between emotional energies of different people.  He offers a hypothesis that includes three factors. 

1. Differences in the degree of the feeling;
2. Differences in the degree of the visualization;
3. Differences in the degree of concentration.

When feelings are vivid and intense, they are stronger.  People who behave in a more animated way, with stronger desires and more ambition, are more forceful with their energy and tend to overpower those that are meek and quiet.  These more intense feelings tend to be felt more easily by others.

Visualization refers to how well the person can see the end result in their imagination.  Spending time around prolific creative artists sparks more creative expression.  Spending time around an individual contemplating suicide is depressing.  The more I love books and reading, the more likely those close to me will be interested in the same thing.  The more my friend loves to shop at a certain store, the more I see myself in harmony with that person when I shop there. The strength of the person’s vision allows for greater contagion of energy.

Concentrating on visualizing or feelings or visualizing the results of feelings will magnify the strength of the energy.  It isn’t even necessary to speak to the other people nearby about it.  A sensitive communicator will notice the feelings, or vibrations, or vibes, from another person, and that is strengthened by focused concentration. 

A person trained in energy work, or with strong experience with a particular type of emotional energy, can easily identify the emotions projected by others without trying.  This skill is also accessible to those that tend to be less intuitive if they desire to develop it. Some people may try to harden their hearts against feeling the emotions of others.  Panchadasi doesn't mention this, but the degrees of success people may or may not experience has me a bit curious.  How possible is it, really, to avoid getting swept away by the strong, focused feelings of those around us?

It is wise to consider the atmosphere you project to others, because sensitive types can feel trapped by other people’s emotions.  Strong, focused emotions, including visualizations can really bring down others over time.  It is possible to consciously choose to concentrate and visualize the results of positive emotions to uplift one’s self and even other people that you come in contact with.  Results will vary with the amount of effort that you put forth.  Panchadasi presents the principle of induction as natural law.