Adam’s Peace

Note: This is part 1 of a 4 part series, not including the introduction and conclusion. The introduction is titled Peaceful Virtues, and has links to the rest of the articles in the series.

I said in the introduction to this series that Honesty forms the foundation of peace.

The reason why is simple: Honesty is the connection to reality. It is the only means that we can use to change ourselves and change the world.

Now, some people may ask, “Aren’t we already living in reality?”

Well, of course, yes we’re living in reality. At least, our bodies are. Our consciousness, however, doesn’t touch reality directly. Our thoughts can not smell a rose, or climb a tree. Our ideas can not write a program or get a promotion. Only our bodies can do these things, under the guidance of our minds.

I can imagine writing a program, but unless I guide my body to take action, the program never gets written. I can imagine the smell of a flower, but if my nose had never smelled a flower before, how can I know what one smells like?

The very essence of our thoughts lie just outside of objective reality. Every physical experience must be translated from the objective world into the subjective world before it can enter our conscious awareness. Every thought must be translated into physical action, whether it be moving muscles or pushing air past our vocal cords and tongue. Without this translation into action, none of our thoughts will manifest in the objective world.

Because our consciousness is separate from the objective world, we have the ability to experience things that aren’t real. This is great, because it lets us plan and remember, but if our consciousness is focused on the ideas that don’t match with the objective world, our actions will have little effect.

Paradigms, Pair o’ Dimes

Our lower-level neurons are wonderful at filtering out our environment, giving us the information that is the most useful. The problem is that we’re not born knowing what is useful information in today’s world. When you’re reading this, you see words on the screen, and your thoughts turn to the audio version of those words, so you can ‘hear’ without hearing… This is an example of certain neurons being trained to tease out useful information from your environment, and it happens very automatically. Nobody was born with this ability, it had to be learned.

What about the recent stock market turbulence? For most people, the turbulence says that investing in the stock market is unsafe… there is simply too much risk. It tells me, however, that the stock market is having a sale and it is prime time to jump in. The only reason why I think that it is time to buy is because I have changed the filter that processes information about the stock market. My paradigm is different, and it has been changed by a conscious decision.

This is one key to honesty. You must look at the world as it is, then change your paradigms to match. If we turned things around, looking at the world through our paradigms first, then deciding how the world really is, then we only reinforce the paradigm, no matter how close to objective reality that paradigm is. The Law of Attraction is a wonderful example of reinforcing a paradigm this way, especially because we are told to look first through the paradigm of Intention-Manifestation to see if that paradigm is good.

The Law of Attraction is not a bad paradigm, in my opinion… I simply see it as incomplete. If you believe that the world is flat, and you never needed to navigate far enough for the curvature of the Earth to matter, then your paradigm works, and works wonderfully. If you wanted to fly across the Pacific, though, you’ll find that the curvature of the Earth matters a great deal, especially when it comes to minimizing fuel costs, if you can even find your destination.

The Law of Attraction is part of the Placebo Effect. Unfortunately, it looses its power when viewed that way, because placebos require the subject to believe that the power/drug/law/solution is real. Fortunately, if you have been working under a placebo, you can look at the reality of your situation and realize that you don’t need the placebo in order to achieve the same results… You have already been succeeding on your own, and the training wheels were only there for looks.

Being Honest

First, to be honest, you must be honest with yourself. Doing this takes time and practice, and requires stripping away both pride and humility, if only while you’re exploring reality.

What prompted me to start taking an honest look at myself was when I noticed my pride getting in my way. As I’ve noted in a previous post, my pride prevented me from sharing what I viewed as failures, which limited the help that I could both give and receive through this site. I had tried to quit smoking, posted about it, and made it two weeks before returning to the cigarettes. Because I was prideful about quitting, I wouldn’t admit that I had started smoking again. Looking back, if I had kept my pride, I wouldn’t be able to relate my story of quitting smoking and the insight that it gave me about people’s expectations.

On the same hand, humility can be just as limiting as false pride. I am good at writing software (I’m not the greatest out there, of course), but for a very long time, I hid my talents simply because I wasn’t the best. This kept me from taking chances and trying new things. Looking back, I believe that taking chances is one of the best educational tools I have.

Neither pride nor humility are honesty. They are versions of our perceptions. Neither are empowering and neither give us peace. False humility can help us in our relations with others, if we’re unwilling to show them our true self. False pride can open some opportunities to continue to challenge ourselves… yet the problem comes when we have to continue to live outside of reality, and we have to limit ourselves to fit within our stated humility or we have to continue to create deceptions to prevent the true nature of our pride from showing through.

These are easy to see, when we’re being humble or prideful to someone else, but what about ourselves? Can we tell when the only thing holding us back from success is our own humility? Or, more likely, do we continue to use external excuses to explain why we don’t challenge ourselves and grow internally? Can we tell when our pride is keeping us from seeing the reality of the situation? Or, more likely, do we continue to blame poor luck and terrible circumstances for why we can’t perform beyond our abilities?

How to be Honest with Ourselves

This creates a question: How can we be honest with ourselves?

We can’t, unfortunately, simply step outside of our paradigms and examine reality as it truly is… Our minds are built upon several layers of nerves and different filtering systems that are essential to gain the most basic understanding of the world. No matter how flawed our view of reality might be, if we did not have paradigms, we would not have any connection to reality to begin with, and would never be able to examine reality. We will simply never have access to reality in the raw, because our consciousness doesn’t exist within the objective universe.

What we can do, instead, is look at the filters that we have in place, and ask ourselves if there is any other way to look at the world. This is a very slow process that is both methodical and intuitive, just as most discoveries about the nature of reality are. Sir Isaac Newton revolutionized physics by asking why objects fall towards the ground, which was started off by a sudden burst of inspiration followed by methodical measuring and several more sudden bursts of inspiration. The bursts of intuition were built upon the methodical observations, and these observations led to more bursts of inspiration.

First, most importantly, we need to be alright with proving ourselves wrong. I have taken on a new saying: I don’t care if I’m right today, as long as I’m right tomorrow. Being honest with yourself means accepting that the beliefs you hold right now might not match up with reality, and it is the process of moving closer to the reality of the situation which is important, not starting out being close to reality.

Just as a board game where everybody begins at the last square is not one worth playing, if we were born knowing the truth about reality, there would be no way to improve ourselves. Looking at what I have learned already, as well as at the questions left unanswered, I don’t think that I will ever learn all that there is to learn… yet it is the process of moving forward which provides the most joy and which gives me the greatest sense of peace.

Question of the Day

Alright, I want honest answers from everyone. What is your primary purpose in life, and what virtue makes up its foundation?

And, since I haven’t said it for a long while, I’ll repeat my chosen purpose: “To bring peace to everybody.”

Link Love

I’ve already featured him, but Albert of Urban Monk has written a very thought-provoking article that touches on my latest rounds of philosophical musings. While his article may be more appropriate for next Wednesday’s post on Awareness, a huge part of me is impatient, and I want to share what he has written right now. In his latest article, The Beauty of Impermanency and the Illusion of the Ego, Albert cuts to the core of philosophy, asking where the ego and consciousness reside… It is the same question that I am struggling with right now, especially after writing about how an artificial consciousness could be possible with today’s technology.

Note: This is the introduction of a 4 part series, not including this introduction and the conclusion.

Here are links to each article in the series:
Virtue 1: Honesty
Virtue 2: Acceptance / Forgiveness
Virtue 3: Awareness
Virtue 4: Responsibility
Peaceful Virtues: Conclusion

I have come to find that there are certain ways of thinking that lead directly to a sense of inner peace. The good news is that applying these virtues in small doses can lead to large changes in your life.

In the short time since I’ve really started applying these virtues, I have found my own life improve dramatically. I have a clear vision of what I want, and for once, I have a real path to achieving my goals.

No, I didn’t change my goals. I’m still selfishly seeking money. I still want to expose everybody to the idea of personal peace, for the admittedly selfish goal of providing world peace. I still want to play games on my computer, watch R rated movies, and listen to my music as loud as is comfortable. (I must be getting old, though, because ‘comfortable’ when it comes to music has been dropping a few decibels over time.)

I’m still the same person I was, just with a different idea of what day-to-day tasks make me happy.

The Virtues

• Honesty
• Acceptance/Forgiveness
• Awareness
• Responsibility

It’s a nice, short list. That’s always a bonus. Also, following this list can be as easy or as hard as you want to make it. You can dwell on your every act and constantly compare it to this list, or you can incorporate this list into your paradigms for viewing the world and make it largely automatic. There is no best method for applying these virtues, except for the method that works best for you. Personally, I find it easier to refer to this as a checklist whenever I’m making a large decision, or whenever I find myself procrastinating. When I’m making my moment-to-moment decisions, I trust that my momentum is pushing me in the right direction.

Honesty

I think of this as the foundation for the other virtues. There are times when I have to ask myself, am I being honest?

This applies both to my honesty within myself as well as my honesty with other people. If I’m not being honest, then I’m not working with reality, whether that reality is objective or subjective. Let me phrase that again: Honesty is our connection with reality, whether we’re working with our inner imagination, the ideas of other people, or we’re working with the physical laws of the universe.

If we lie to ourselves, we create a different reality… one that we can’t live in. I’ve lied to myself many times, especially when it comes to my knowledge of computers. Humility can be good when you’re trying to be diplomatic, but it is not honest, and it drives a wedge between you and reality. People are comfortable around humble people, because they know that they won’t be challenged, and that they can hold on to their own established perceptions of reality. False pride, as we all know, is also damaging. The key here is to find out the truth of your abilities and live that truth.

Acceptance/Forgiveness

Everybody in society has memories. Without memories, we would not be able to learn, and without learning, growth and improvement are impossible.

There are three things that we can do with our memories: We can love them, hate them, or change them. Of course, if we changed our memories, we would be breaking the first virtue, Honesty, and we would be disconnected from reality.

Our memories are a part of ourselves, and we are never separated from them. If we find ourselves hating our memories, we find that we are hating ourselves. Acceptance and Forgiveness change how we feel about our memories, without changing the memories themselves. Acceptance allows us to learn from an event instead of avoiding it. Forgiveness allows us to remove control that we have given to other people.

It is important to remember that Acceptance and Forgiveness are not the same things as complacency, admitting defeat, or condoning a person’s actions. You are accepting that the situation happened. This does not mean that you have to let that situation happen again… Rather, the goal here is to learn what you can and make certain that things turn out in your favor in the future. This goes right back to honesty… If you avoid thinking about a situation because it causes emotional pain, then you are removing yourself from the reality of what happened. Forgiveness is also not done for the benefit of the person being forgiven, it is being done for you. I have talked about this before, but it seems to me that each person creates a ‘paper doll’ of everyone they meet… a version of that person made up entirely of ideas and memories. Just as all of our thoughts and memories are parts of ourselves, these paper dolls are also a part of ourselves. When you forgive, you are forgiving that paper doll… If that paper doll has power over you, then you reduce that power.

Awareness

Just as Honesty is our foundation, and Acceptance/Forgiveness allow us to live with our pasts, Awareness supports our present.

Nothing exists outside of the present. Everything is happening right now. Our memories are just the momentum of our movement through the time which is always Now. The past doesn’t exist anymore in any universe, and we all know that it will never be tomorrow today.

By Accepting and Forgiving, we give ourselves power to act within the only time we can act: right now. By being aware, we can break our momentum and do the things that we choose to do.

If we’re not aware, then we are simply acting according to the script of everyone’s beliefs. By using our Awareness, we can re-write those scripts and be who we want to be.

Responsibility

As Acceptance/Forgiveness deals with the past, and Awareness deals with the present, we can’t be a whole person without also looking towards the future. Our Responsibility allows us to look ahead and lets us make the decisions right now that allow us to work towards the future.

Remember that you are not responsible for the past… You can only be responsible for what you can change, and the past is one of those things that simply can’t be changed. You can use your responsibility to change the present, but the present is already halfway in the past. Fortunately, the present is also halfway in the future, and the future can always be changed. You are directly responsible for your future, partially responsible for the present, and the past only exists to learn from.

So, where is your momentum leading you? How can you act in the present that will change your future? That’s responsibility.

I will have more posts about these virtues later, and I know that these aren’t the only virtues out there… What virtues can you think of that I missed?

Link Love

Jean of Cheerful Monk writes on a weekly basis about emotional mastery topics. Her posting style is different from most other blogs out there: She introduces a topic, relates a personal (or historical) story, and then asks her readers to share their own personal stories. This week’s topic is on The Power of Forgiveness. The way that Jean relates her own stories, then honestly listens to other people’s stories is something that I respect very much, and the conversations in the comments can leave lasting impressions on everyone participating, leading to insights that wouldn’t be possible from just one author.

Even though I don’t ask for personal stories all of the time, it is her ability to communicate with the participants on her blog that has inspired me to ask questions on my blog as well. I can’t call the people who visit her blog ‘readers,’ because they do so much more than simply read. If you don’t want to share your opinion here, then by all means, share your opinion over on Jean’s site… She will love to listen.

It has been a while since I have written about the tarot cards in the Major Arcana… In fact, I have been stymied by the forces represented in this card, which has held me back from continuing on the fool’s errand.

The seventh card of the Major Arcana, The Lovers, portrays a person at a crossroads, with passion on one side, and his initial goal on the other.

On its surface, this card represents love, companionship, or passion. At first glance, it is almost impossible to tell what it really offers, which goes along with any type of relationship. You just can’t tell what the relationship will bring until you have entered into it, lived through it, and have learned from it. Whatever type of love it bring, agape, eros, obsession, pure selflessness, or any combination of types of love, you can be certain that the ride will be wild.

This brings us to the second layer of this card, which is the most common meaning during a reading: Choice. At this point, a decision must be made, and that decision often carries with it some sort of sacrifice. On non Rider-Waite decks, there are two paths… The path that leads to love is often the side road, taking you away from your goals, whether temporarily or permanently. The choice must be made if any progress is to be had. One simply can not sit at the crossroads forever, wondering what each path holds, because the path which the Fool follows is time itself. Rider-Waite based decks, however, show the Garden of Eden, with the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil on one side, and the Tree of Life on the other.

You can see down each path a little ways, and know the immediate gains of each… The most difficult part is that both paths are good paths; there really is no wrong way to go. Each path, however, requires that you give up the goal of the other path. At the second layer, the question that this card poses is which do you love more?

Looking a bit deeper into the card, into its third, more personal layer, we find that the nature of The Lovers changes yet again. Just as much as the second layer is about exclusive choices, the third layer is about inclusive choices. Many of us have faced choices where we were certain that we have had to make a sacrifice… All too often, when we sacrifice something based on our fears, we lose both what we gave up and what we sought to gain. One example is liberty vs. security. We have given up many liberties in the past six years, and yet, I can’t help but ask what security we have gained… All politics aside, I personally believe that more people have suffered in the pursuit of security than could ever suffer in the pursuit of liberty, both in light of recent events and in the entire history of humanity.

At the same time, though, when we give up our fears, and make our choices out of love, we seem to gain both. Recently, my wife pointed out my addiction to blogging in a rather heated conversation. She pointed out how I was ignoring her, my job, and my responsibilities around the house in order to blog. I faced a tough decision, where I had to either give up blogging, or give up everything else. Looking back, I realize that if I had chosen my blog, I would soon be homeless from lack of income, and on my way to a divorce. Instead, I chose to humble myself, realize that I was making some extremely stupid decisions, and work on my life outside of the internet for a while. Because of the shift in priorities, I was actually able to make more time for blogging, without guilt and without fear of losing my wife, home, and this creative outlet.

Another analogy, going back to the symbolism on the Rider-Waite deck, is that of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Can immortal people ever give birth? (Figuratively, I mean… ) Adam and Eve had to partake of the forbidden fruit, sin, and be banished in order for us to exist today. Their choice was a personal sacrifice so that we could each come to live today. It was made out of love, and for their decision, they are immortalized in story, so not only did they gain the ability to experience both good and evil, but they also retained their eternal life, in a round-about sort of way.

For the LDS out there, or the former LDS as I am, I’d like to share my favorite passage from the Book of Mormon:

2 Nephi, 2:25 Adam fell that men might be, and men are that they might have joy.

At this third layer, instead of the card simply asking which you love more, it is asking you to figure out which decision is the one made out of love. It isn’t two paths diverging, never to meet again… it is a shortcut with extra benefits, if only we would have the courage to go down that less traveled path.

Here is some extra reading. The first is a very famous poem by Robert Frost, The Road Less Traveled. Each path is equally inviting, and only hindsight can reveal which is the ‘right’ path… but so long as we choose, we are always on our path… and that makes all the difference.

The second is an article by Slade, titled The Art of Surrender. In it, Slade talks about how sometimes we just need to let go and stop struggling in order to progress… This is often a hidden path that just isn’t obvious, but it matches the third layer of The Lovers perfectly.

The third bit of extra reading is the comments in my post, Manifest Destiny. In it, Kara-Leah asks how detachment in Intention Manifestation works in the analogy I had described in my post… Her second reply got me thinking a bit more about letting go and letting work get done in the background. Just how much energy are we wasting by controlling so many aspects of our lives, when we can just let go after we have set events in motion?

There are a lot of ways to apply the card in our lives, from recognizing the relationships in our lives to facing the choices before us with courage and love. Most of all, this card reminds us about love, and shows us that we always have a choice, no matter where we are on our path through life.