[captionpix imgsrc=”https://thecostaricanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Meditation1.jpg” align=”left” captiontext=”Passive observation is the essence of methodless meditation.”]A friend wrote with a question that goes right to the heart of the human crisis: “When we experience the still place within us during the negation of thought, is that when the fragmentation of humankind has the potential to cease?”
There are two parts to this question, beginning at the individual level (not the personal, which is a very different thing), before looking at the issue of collective consciousness.
Passive observation is the essence of methodless meditation. This action effortlessly gathers attention and initiates the unwilled negation of thought. Division and fragmentation then effortlessly end within one, at least temporarily.
First the infinite regress of the observer ends; then the separate self falls away. Next the dominance of thought (memories, associations, and chatter) in the brain yields to silent perception in the present. And finally psychological time itself falls away. All this happens in seamless succession, or even all at once.
But my friend also points to the much larger issue of ending the trajectory of human fragmentation on earth, and the way (or rather, via negativa) that the ending of division and fragmentation is achieved in human consciousness.
With the negation of thought, he says, “Our minds shift from a worldview that is about divisions, linear, and static.” Yes, and it’s always a surprising and spontaneous shift in consciousness. “Divisions, linear, and static” end in a meditative state, the mind falls silent, and thought functions only when necessary.
But a question I’m still grappling with is: Having spontaneously left the stream of content-consciousness through attending completely to it, can one reenter the world and perform one’s functions in it without getting swept up in the old consciousness again?
In other words, why does the mind/brain return to the stream of content-consciousness, in which divisive thought dominates, after one has stepped truly left it, even once? Is it because we are social animals, and psychology mirrors sociology, or is there some other reason, written into the software or hardware of the brain?
I don’t know, but clearly, illumination is when the mind/brain leaves the stream of content-consciousness for good, and can no longer return to it.
“I do wonder,” asks my friend, “even though humanity is going backwards, is there not at the same time a birth of a worldview that recognizes dynamic energy and holistic way of living?” Perhaps so, but is that actually happening? Let’s not fool ourselves; there’s very little indication of it at this point.
Still, is there the beginning of a worldwide change in consciousness, manifesting far and wide, from Tahrir Square in Egypt to the “Occupy Wall Street” gatherings spreading across America?
[captionpix imgsrc=”https://thecostaricanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Human-brain.jpg” align=”right” captiontext=”Illumination is when the mind leaves the stream of content consciousness for good, and can no longer return to it.”]More and more people are realizing that the human experiment can fail, and at present, is failing. That doesn’t mean we will fail, but we have to see and feel the urgency of the global situation.
“Is the reason we don’t change because there is a desperate clinging by the individual and collective mind to what is familiar to us?” my friend asks.
Certainly there is a mass mind, which clings to the familiar and seeks ever more desperate escapes from what is. This mass mind seems pretty straightforward, if disturbing and dangerous. But even the most serious individual has great difficulty completely letting go of the old consciousness.
“Are we experiencing the chaos that’s inevitable before the birth of something new?” Some believe that the chaos we are experiencing is illusory, and that the “the birth of something new” is inevitable. But the chaos of thought is real, and enough people urgently need to understand how to negate unnecessary and destructive (i.e. divisive and fragmenting) thought within us.
There is nothing inevitable about a breakthrough in consciousness; we won’t know it will occur until it does occur. Faith in humanity is essential, but the fact is, consciousness is growing darker and darker, deadening all but the strongest spirits. There may be a flash point, when the dark matter ignites, but until it happens, it’s a matter of inward survival (especially living in North America, with its great preponderance of walking dead).
There are indications that some young people are aware of what is going on, and can spot the living amongst the dead. But we cannot take the usual cop out, and pin our hopes on the next generation.
“Will humanity be completely engulfed in man-made darkness, or will the accreted material of millennia ignite and a new human being and civilization be born?” Let’s hold the question in our hearts, and see.
Martin LeFevre[captionpix imgsrc=”https://thecostaricanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Meditation1.jpg” align=”left”]A friend wrote with a question that goes right to the heart of the human crisis: “When we experience the still place within us during the negation of thought, is that when the fragmentation of humankind has the potential to cease?”
There are two parts to this question, beginning at the individual level (not the personal, which is a very different thing), before looking at the issue of collective consciousness.
Passive observation is the essence of methodless meditation. This action effortlessly gathers attention and initiates the unwilled negation of thought. Division and fragmentation then effortlessly end within one, at least temporarily.
First the infinite regress of the observer ends; then the separate self falls away. Next the dominance of thought (memories, associations, and chatter) in the brain yields to silent perception in the present. And finally psychological time itself falls away. All this happens in seamless succession, or even all at once.
But my friend also points to the much larger issue of ending the trajectory of human fragmentation on earth, and the way (or rather, via negativa) that the ending of division and fragmentation is achieved in human consciousness.
With the negation of thought, he says, “Our minds shift from a worldview that is about divisions, linear, and static.” Yes, and it’s always a surprising and spontaneous shift in consciousness. “Divisions, linear, and static” end in a meditative state, the mind falls silent, and thought functions only when necessary.
But a question I’m still grappling with is: Having spontaneously left the stream of content-consciousness through attending completely to it, can one reenter the world and perform one’s functions in it without getting swept up in the old consciousness again?
In other words, why does the mind/brain return to the stream of content-consciousness, in which divisive thought dominates, after one has stepped truly left it, even once? Is it because we are social animals, and psychology mirrors sociology, or is there some other reason, written into the software or hardware of the brain?
I don’t know, but clearly, illumination is when the mind/brain leaves the stream of content-consciousness for good, and can no longer return to it.
“I do wonder,” asks my friend, “even though humanity is going backwards, is there not at the same time a birth of a worldview that recognizes dynamic energy and holistic way of living?” Perhaps so, but is that actually happening? Let’s not fool ourselves; there’s very little indication of it at this point.
Still, is there the beginning of a worldwide change in consciousness, manifesting far and wide, from Tahrir Square in Egypt to the “Occupy Wall Street” gatherings spreading across America?
[captionpix imgsrc=”https://thecostaricanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Human-brain.jpg” align=”right”]More and more people are realizing that the human experiment can fail, and at present, is failing. That doesn’t mean we will fail, but we have to see and feel the urgency of the global situation.
“Is the reason we don’t change because there is a desperate clinging by the individual and collective mind to what is familiar to us?” my friend asks.
Certainly there is a mass mind, which clings to the familiar and seeks ever more desperate escapes from what is. This mass mind seems pretty straightforward, if disturbing and dangerous. But even the most serious individual has great difficulty completely letting go of the old consciousness.
“Are we experiencing the chaos that’s inevitable before the birth of something new?” Some believe that the chaos we are experiencing is illusory, and that the “the birth of something new” is inevitable. But the chaos of thought is real, and enough people urgently need to understand how to negate unnecessary and destructive (i.e. divisive and fragmenting) thought within us.
There is nothing inevitable about a breakthrough in consciousness; we won’t know it will occur until it does occur. Faith in humanity is essential, but the fact is, consciousness is growing darker and darker, deadening all but the strongest spirits. There may be a flash point, when the dark matter ignites, but until it happens, it’s a matter of inward survival (especially living in North America, with its great preponderance of walking dead).
There are indications that some young people are aware of what is going on, and can spot the living amongst the dead. But we cannot take the usual cop out, and pin our hopes on the next generation.
“Will humanity be completely engulfed in man-made darkness, or will the accreted material of millennia ignite and a new human being and civilization be born?” Let’s hold the question in our hearts, and see.
Martin LeFevre