The main objective of this article is to help you become proficient at recognizing your current state of consciousness. To teach you to be in the habit of knowing if you are in a Mental or Emotional or Spiritual state or some combination thereof.
The one true and simple fact of the spiritual aspect of life is that it is infinite. This is the first thing that almost all spiritual writings say. The spiritual aspect of life has no limitations of time, space, thought or emotions. That means it cannot be defined by concepts, felt with emotions or touched physically, it can only be experienced. This is the one insurmountable obstacle that all spiritual teachers were/are confronted with, how to use finite concepts, feelings or words to describe infinity. Stated simply, it cannot be done. So the challenge is, how does one teach spiritual concepts without these tools? One method is to use metaphors. The teacher sets up metaphor that induces the student to adopt or accept a state of consciousness or being that frees the student enough to be able to take the “leap” into an awareness of themselves as spiritual beings. Notice that this means the final action must come from inside oneself, that is the student can only be led to the door of spiritual awareness not through it. The final step to spiritual awareness can only be taken by the individual him/herself. The secret to the use of metaphors is to allow them to change as our spiritual awareness grows.
Now if you can see the truth of the first two paragraphs and you look at the major religions of the world, you can see that the metaphors set up by the teachers, without exception, were pre advanced technology metaphors. To explain, consider an example, let’s say you are the teacher and you are trying to get the students to understand nutrition. Remember, it’s pre science, so you cannot say; “People, it is important to have a well rounded diet of vitamins, minerals and fiber in your diet.” They will not know what you are talking about, so, knowing that they belong to a tribal patriarchal society and are conditioned to follow a leader you say, “God (the ultimate leader) created a bounty of fruits, grains, vegetables and meats, and he commands you to partake of all of his gifts. If you do, he will bless you with health, if you do not, he will punish you with disease. Just think of how many rules in the religious books do this.
In the Judeo-Christian book it says one rule begat ten, begat one hundreds. This is true, and a few simple rules, (metaphors) set up thousands of years ago have been rewritten and expanded until the original metaphor has long since been lost. So much so that today it is hard to pull the spiritual truth out of the metaphor. Another way to say this is, we are no longer inspired to take the “leap” to a realization of ourselves as spiritual beings.New metaphors are needed.
To get to what I have decided is a good metaphor for myself, I must digress for a while.
Technology:
Science has many positive aspects, yet it is vulnerable to being abused, the main reason for this is that science gives power to people who may not have the emotional maturity to handle properly. For example, the automobile gives us the ability to quickly drive to the store for food, but this does not mean that we should drive to the store five or ten times a day simply because we can, we must, for the sake of clean air, discipline ourselves to plan our day so one trip is all that is necessary.
Technology has been a bone of contention for a long time, some want to walk away from it all together. Others want to use it in any way they please regardless of the consequences, the answer lies in the middle, use technology wisely. Society and technology go hand in hand, the more technology available, the larger the society it can sustain, and conversely, the larger the society the more sophisticated the technology it can create. Another fact to keep in mind is that the greater the technology the greater the power being harnessed. Some futurists have labeled the levels of society in this manor: Type O is humans from the cave to knowing the physics of the forces but not yet able to control such things as the weather and genetics. Type I can control the forces of the earth and have begun to explore the solar system. Type II have gained mastery of the forces of the solar system and are exploring the galaxy. And finally Type III have harnessed the power of the galaxy and explore the universe. The caveat is that in order to move to the next level more cooperation is required than was necessary for the previous level.
There are two things that can be said of technology, first it is an inherent part of evolution and therefore it cannot be cut out of the equation. Second, technology has a dirty phase, that is it starts out dirty, such as the internal combustion engine, then moves into a cleaner stage, such as the hydrogen fuel cell or electric car. This lower power dirty phase is the universes way of protecting itself from sentient beings that do not develop the discipline to control technology at the higher power levels, they simply destroy themselves before they can damage other parts of the universe.
Holograms:
Holograms are made by splitting the parallel light of a laser into two beams then directing those beams to a photographic plate, one of the beams having been bounced off of the object being photographed, say an apple. An interesting aspect of the developed photographic plate is that it does not look like an apple but concentric circles that have run into each other, much like the surface of a pond looks if you throw a hand full of pebbles into it, this pattern is called an interference pattern. Another interesting aspect of the developed plate is that if you cut it in half and place it in the projector the whole apple appears in the hologram, this is still true if you then cut the half in half and so on. Each hologram is less distinct than the last yet this seems to be proof that each part contains
the whole.
Yet another aspect of the hologram is that after exposing the photographic plate to the apple if it is tilted and another picture is taken of another object like a pear, when the plate is developed it will show an apple or a pear depending on how it is tilted. One final word on holograms, many physicists agree that the universe is not really trees or rocks, but an interference pattern that has been interpreted into trees and rocks by one or more observers. So to them if no one is around to observe the tree falling, it not only doesn’t make noise it doesn’t exist as a tree.
Physics
Before such powerhouses as Copernicus, Newton and Maxwell, we knew about planets, wheels, pulleys, levers, and electricity but we did not know the mathematics behind these phenomena so we could not predict them accurately. That is to say if a Roman wanted a catapult that could throw a fifty pound rock five hundred feet, the only option was to build one and see what happened. Today Boeng can build a new airplane in virtual reality then convert those equations into an airplane, push it out of the hanger and fly it. However these laws of physics only work to the atomic level, when they are applied to the subatomic level, they break down. That is, when scientists ask an atom, by Newtonian physics, what are you, the atom responds, I am so many electrons, protons, etc. When they ask an electron, the same question the answers do not make sense because Newtonian physics no longer apply. Trying to measure the velocity of an electron destroys it mass, and trying to measure its mass destroys the velocity, electrons act like waves sometime and particles others. This was very confusing until men like Bohr, Einstein and others started taking a different look at the universe that the answers to the subatomic world started coming through. These men said things like time is relative, and the observer affects the equation and therefore the results. This is commonly referred to as Quantum physics. One last point before moving on, we have known about things such as time travel, out of body experiences, mind over matter, but we do not know the math behind them. Today physicists are saying they can see that the math exists and it is only a matter of time before that math is known and we can predict these phenomena.
Summation
Holograms are the result of two waves interacting with each other to form an interference pattern, the interpretation of which is affected by the observer. Technology is an integral part of the universe and beings using technology must stay connected with the universe and keep the power of their technology under control so as not to harm the balance of the universe. How much affect we as observers have is just now becoming known to us.
The Universe as Concentric Globes
In the pure Spiritual Realm there is no separation, all things are unified, the best that can be said is that there are aspects of the Spiritual Realm, three aspects, Creation, Experiencal and Animation, or God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The worlds of duality, that is the Mental, Astral and Physical, are created by splitting the spiritual flow in two opposing forces (sound and light), positive/negative, male/female/ good/bad, etc. this split is like splitting the laser in a holographic photograph, the two forces interact to create an interference pattern that is then interpreted by soul as experience. What soul experiences is determined by its attitude. And just as the photographic plate could hold numerous pictures, depending on its position, soul can experience many aspects of creation at once and these aspects emerge according to souls attitude. In the Spiritual Realm Creation is continuous and instantaneous, that is it never stops, each moment the universe is recreated, over and over for eternity. Knowing this we can see that the Creator cannot take Its attention from Creation for even an instant and therefore it has no time to judge Souls actions. Because everything is happening so fast Soul has been given the tool of the Worlds of Duality in which to learn the aspects of the Universe. In these worlds things are slowed down so they may be separated and studied. With that in mind, lets take a look at the Lower Worlds.
First, it is important to understand that there are two Grand Divisions in the universe, the first is between the Spiritual Realms and the Worlds of Duality, or Maya and the second is between the ethereal planes of Mind and Emotion and the Physical Plane. Second it is essential to know the basic difference between the dualistic worlds of mind, emotion and the physical. The Mental world is the first encountered by Soul as it descends from the Spiritual Realm, it is slower than the instantaneous realities of Spirit but still, compared to the physical it is fast, thousands of times faster than the speed of light. For this reason, many who experience the mental realm think they have “reached heaven.” On the mental realm the matters of mind exist, this is where thought is originated, also it is the origins of such phenomena as telekinesis, reading of minds, clairvoyance and so on. It is a very powerful realm, much more powerful than that of the atomic power of the physical and also it is very malleable, this can be confusing to someone who has poor control over their attention because as their attention changes the hologram of the mental world changes. In this realm we have the highest ratio of Spirit to Matter and it operates in twelve dimensions
The next realm Soul encounters in its descent from the Spiritual is the Astral Plane, this is where emotions are generated. It is slower and less powerful than the Mental but still much faster and more powerful than the Physical. Things are occurring at hundreds of times the speed of light. It too requires strict control of the attention as it also is very malleable. On the Astral is where such phenomena as ESP occur. The ratio of Spirit to Matter is less here than on the Mental Realm and is seven dimensions in complexity.
The next realm that Soul encounters is the Physical, this realm is the slowest of the three and requires little explanation. The fastest speed attainable here is the speed of light, and it can slow to such speeds as to allow minerals to form. It has the lowest ratio of Spirit to Matter and is three dimensional.
So the image is four concentric globes, Spirit is the largest and the only state that can exist by itself. The mind is next in size and has to have Spirit to exist but not the Astral or Physical. Next the Astral is smaller than the Mental but larger than the Physical, and needs mind and spirit to exist. And finally the Physical needs all of the other states to exist. This is like a building, it can have a foundation but no wall or roof, but not walls or roof without a foundation. Now lets look at how Soul operates in the universe. If Soul wants to create a sculpture it follows a particular procedure. First it decides to create a sculpture. This sets the process in motion, soul has created intent. Second it uses creation in the Mental realm to form the image of the piece then lets Spirit fill that image which brings it to life. Next it takes that living image and gives it feeling by creating an Astral form and allowing Spirit to animate it. Lastly it picks up the physical tools and, following the guidance of the images from the inner planes ,forms the image on the Physical plane. This is how all things in the lower worlds are manifested regardless of what plane Soul is working on. One might ask at this point, if it is that simple why doesn’t everyone know about this process and I suggest the answer is simple, this knowledge shows us that we are the only ones responsible for our situations and most people do not want to accept that as reality. They want to blame, or credit, something outside of themselves.
Before I move on to the next metaphor lets play around with what we have already learned. We now know that we have bodies on each of the levels, and that each level is more complex as we ascend to the Spiritual level, so it is not much of a leap to understand that each body is more complex and therefore capable of higher states of consciousness. We now can understand that somewhere inside each of us is knowledge far above that of the Physical level. We need only to tap into or become aware of that knowledge not learn it. That is why Spiritual teachers often say that they are not teaching self improvement but rather self awareness. So how do we go about tapping into this knowledge? One way is through the dream state, what really happens most of the time when we are dreaming is we are asleep on the Physical but awake on another level, say the Astral, and the dream is our experience on that level. The dreams jump around because of the malleability of the Astral and dreams are sometimes hard to remember because they incorporate more than three dimensions. However they can be important because as I have said, the movement is from the Spiritual level to the Physical so if we can understand what we are doing on the Astral we can see what is coming to us on the Physical.
Another technique available to us is that things that seem very complex to us on the Physical can become simple on the Astral so we have the opportunity to solve problems through the dream state. The knowledge of the inner levels also can explain why we sometimes come to an understanding of something and later have trouble pulling that understanding back into our awareness. What has happened is that we tapped into the higher state of consciousness for a while but could not hold it, so going back through the same sequences of events that led you to the knowledge the first time can bring it back. One last thing and I’ll move on, the judgment that is talked about by some religions is not performed by the Creator, as I said, the Creator can not take It’s attention off creation for even a moment. What is really happening is that we ourselves when we translate to another level, die, look back at our life and in that higher state of consciousness see what our mistakes were and if there were large imbalances, we then set about correcting those situations, usually that means coming back and trying them again. Much like having to repeat a school year again because we did not learn the lessons of that level. This is not a punishment but simply necessary so we are equipped to learn the lessons at the next level.
The Sports Video
We have spent time looking at a metaphor for how the universe works, remember, this is just a metaphor, not Gospel. Now let’s look at a metaphor for why the universe is set up the way it is. As Soul exists on the Spiritual level it is experiencing creation in its raw form, instantaneous, powerful complex, unified. If Soul would like to examine any one aspect of creation it needs to go where it can separate the components of creation and slow them down. This is what the lower worlds are for, slowing down, separating, and examining the components of creation. The lower worlds are used much the way an athlete uses videos, just for the sake of this metaphor lets say a baseball player. The mental realm would be analogous to looking at a video of a game, the player can relax and watch him/herself from different angles, during various times in the game. How he runs up to field a ball, what his posture is, the way he holds the glove. From this perspective he can see nuances that he was not able to perceive during the game. The Astral plane would be analogous to playing the video in slow motion, the player could slow the action down to analyze particulars in her technique, the manor in which she transfers the ball to throw it, then take that insight to practice and improve her performance. The Physical plane is analogous to stop action with the video, he could slow the motion down and then stop it at a precise moment to get a precise picture of a critical move, say just as the bat is hitting the ball. This is what Soul is doing in the lower worlds, testing, learning, analyzing, adjusting, preparing itself for a time when it will understand creation well enough to become an aware participant in the creative act. This is sometimes referred to as becoming a Co-worker of God
