Idealism is the notion that reality (our entire universe) is fundamentally a form of thought in which the human mind participates.
When addressing the mind-body discussion, it is useful to envision a linear spectrum with two opposite poles:
- materialism (brain creates mind and all that exists is physical matter)
- metaphysical idealism (mind creates brain, and all of the physical universe)
Between the two lie many optional explanations that invoke “dualism.” These theories accept some existence of mind that is not simply explained by the physical brain, allowing for brain and mind to coexist in some parallel fashion.
From the view of idealism, one assumes that consciousness exists primarily, which generates all that exists, including our brains and bodies. Many of the founding fathers of quantum physics (Max Planck, Werner Heisenberg, Erwin Schrödinger among others) suggested consciousness to be fundamental — in essence, they were promoting a position of metaphysical idealism (as are we).
In metaphysical idealism, as also in quantum physics, the entire universe is deeply interconnected. Any separation of a part from the whole in our thinking leads to distortion and confusion. We originate from a larger consciousness made of all sentient consciousness throughout the universe but our individual awareness maintains a sensation of being separate.
This postulates a universe with wide-open possibilities for human potential, as we are all participants and co-creators in the grand evolution of consciousness itself.
PRACTICE
Begin to realize that your mind has tremendous ability to influence unfolding reality. In your daily practice, generate a sensation of being unlimited in your potential. Truly believe you can accomplish absolutely anything to which you set your mind.
RESOURCES
Brief Peeks Beyond by Bernardo Kastrup
A couple of years ago I began reading the latest two works of A. H. Almaas: The Alchemy of Freedom: The Philosophers’ Stone and the Secrets of existence and Runaway Realization: Living a Life of Endless Discovery. After 50+ years of pursing truth and enlightenment and all that, I’d decided that it was all true, it was all real, there was no direct line with the ultimate truth at the end. It’s all here and now, I experienced. Yes, it’s all created by mind, by consciousness, but no state is better than another. Oneness, dualism, etc.—well, Hameed put it all into words. Every state, every experience is a real creation and is a part of every other state. No matter what state we are in, we are in reality. Where else can we be? Emptiness is not a better state than fullness, oneness is not better than dualism. It is ALL reality. So, a person comes to me and wants to experience emptiness and be enlightened, and I say, OK, do it. Then what? Hanging out in oneness or sunyata has a shelf life. Before long, you will want to do something else. There is no end. It is all real. There are just many different ways of experiencing Reality. Any way of experiencing Reality is a doorway into deeper experience. This was the same conclusion I’d come to. I could experience liberation in duality just as easily as in oneness. That is true “non” duality when duality is embraced as a divine perspective. Resist not, fear not, separate yourself not from anything, even duality, which is a divine perspective.
Good day for all!
I did read various comments and I realized that there is a difficulty in separating the Self from the ego. The ego is in charge of our life. We want the Self to take over. There is the free choice of leaving the Self, the Divine Consciousness or Source, assuming the direction of our life, directly in the more evolved state of our consciousness, or with exchanges of information with the Self (what to do? ). We really have a mission, and that is to train the ego to give way to the higher (divine) Consciousness, to express this higher consciousness in daily life here on Earth. And do not the ego strive to imitate the characteristics of this higher consciousness, and continue in the direction of our earthly life.
Fred Carson realized this correctly: There is an unfolding of Reality going on but the best any of us can be aware of it and try to help in any way we can the servants of our Higher Consciousness, not ego centered fools trying to control everything in order to become mini gods ourselves.
Have a look at: Membership for the era of love & peace or kingdom of heaven on earth, (p.451, in http://www.elementalgracealliance.com/Christ's%20Letters_Articles_Messages%202007%202014%20Latest%20Edition%20August%202017.pdf).
For people who are deeply and sincerely committed to ridding themselves of ego, and allow the Divine Consciousness (the Father) to guide their lives.
And: A higher vision (p.457, in same book address above): The fatal version is when people are told that they (the body ego in command of our lives) are Divine because they have drawn their being from Divinity.
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Odo
Some years ago, when I tentatively began to attempt to meditate, I had a number of direct experiences with the singularity of being, or the One of All That Is. I suppose it was due to my “beginner’s mind” state, (I had no instructor, and my only knowledge of what meditation is, was a recollection of being told in a workshop on mindfulness once, to focus my awareness on my breath) but almost immediately, I had reality-shifting, mind-freeing, altered awareness experiences of the sort that you cannot go back from.
Once, in the first year of my practice, as I sat in the wee hours focusing as steadily as I could on my breath flowing in and out, with no preamble my consciousness remembeted itself as infinite. Every particle of all that exists, was my consciousness. There was nothing that wasn’t this consciousness that is “me”. “I” was in all things, in every particle of everything, and, conversely, within every particle of “me” was contained all that is. There was no separateness. I gazed down at my dog, laying with her head on my lap, and simply WAS her. In a very real sense, there was no “me”, at all. Yet, equally truthfully, it was ALL me. I knew in a sudden remembering, that this is the nature of reality; each tiniest possible particle of the universe contains within itself ALL particles and all potentialities of ALL THAT IS, and every form, state, and movement, contains every particle that is or may be. There is not language to describe this knowing, but it gently blasted to nothing the doctrines of duality and separation that I’d been told to believe in all my life. The “God” I’d been told I must have ‘faith” in, couldn’t continue within this direct experience of reality, for in this, I knew myself as “God”, and God as me and as all that is. ONE.
That morning, when I began my day with my usual study time, the next chapter in the book I had been reading, (Lonny S. Jarrett’ s “Nourishing Destiny – spiritual roots of Chinese medicine”), was about the holographic nature of reality. I had never encountered this idea before, nor any description of how a hologram operates, but there on the page was a precise description of what I had just experienced a few hours before, on my meditation cushion!
A couple years later, at the home of my in- laws, I found “Proof of Heaven” tucked into the armrest of my mother-in – law’s rocker. To this day I don’t know how it came to be there. My in-laws are very generous, very conservative religious people, who, I believe, would consider it their godly duty to reject the implications of Eben’s story, so, it’s odd that they were the ones to introduce me to it. When I read of his encounter with the young woman who told him, “you can do nothing wrong”, I turned to my husband, excitedly exclaiming, “this guy is saying stuff that I learned in meditation! We both got the same message!” I didn’t dare tell him what that message was, though. I wasn’t ready to challenge his reality by saying that I now had validation of what I’d intuitively learned, (or actually, remembered) ; that “sin” is a made up concept of humans, not an eternal reality. When I came to Eben’s experience of OM, it tallied compellingly with what I had experienced in several meditation episodes. Once again, here was corrboration of my internal experiences of things as they are.
Many other experiences like this, of finding validation/corroboration of my own internal “knowing” have taught me to trust this source of learning, above any other. This is the opposite of what I, and maybe you, were taught growing up. Perhaps most of us were given some version of the message, “don’t trust yourself for guidance, listen to the voices of others, listen to your fears, in order to remain ‘safe’, and to know what is ‘right'”. I just want to offer encouragement to listen to your inner teacher, and trust the voice of your heart, which is fearless.
” … your mind has tremendous ability to influence unfolding reality.” It is almost a frightening thought when realizing that we’ve been so conditioned to think that we are finite – nothing – powerless, and need to stand in fear of an angry “god” who will damn us to eternal hell if we don’t obey!
Our life is what we have made it! Thank you, Dr. Eben, for this wonderful course!
Thank you for the course and for the book, most of which I understood.
For me, the best exposition and exploration of the implications of metaphysical idealism, realism, monism versus dualism and so on is to be experienced in The Philosophy of Freedom (1894) by Rudolf Steiner.
In my understanding, we are all different on our material level and we are all one, at the level of the Soul.
And, in my opinion, it creates the interest of our existence and coexistence….
Dear Karen & Eben:
I have greatly enjoyed your book “Living in a Mindful Universe” as well as the present 33 day course we are taking. There is a book, written in 1970 by Jane Roberts & her husband Robert Butts called, “Seth Speaks – The Eternal Validity of the Soul”. It is a piece of work that was CHANNELED by Jane from an entity or personality calling himself Seth. If you have not come accros this book in your travels, I would highly recommend that you read it. It strongly supports and cooberates your theories of us, consciousness, our souls and our journey here in the physical. I sincerely believe you both will find it quite fascinating. Best wishes,
Namaste,
Mark
The Mind of God/Om/Conscoiusness is very different from our tiny little ego minds which will be destroyed at the point of physical death. I personally think it is much more healthy to try and tune in to into the Infinite concept of “Mind” or God/Allah/Jehovah than to try and believe that we as individuals can accomplish anything meaningful. Certainly if our own mind becomes One with God we can walk on water, fly through the air, raise the dead and literally do anything including change the World. But how is this possible for most of us fallible and weak humans in this Earthly existence? In truth most of us have to die first………………There is an unfolding of Reality going on but the best any of us can do is to be aware of it and try to help in any way we can as servants of our Higher Consciousness, not ego centred fools trying to control everything in order to become mini gods ourselves.
I like your words. ….feeling the same. There is nothing more exciting than to discover our inner world. Once you experience a glimpse of it, you will never forget it.
“Our duty, as men and women, is to proceed as if limits to our ability did not exist. We are collaborators in creation.”
― Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
One Thin
One thing I’ve noticed after 12 days is how serious this board is, so I’m going to move over to the lighter side. Let me explain my experience so far like this. I feel like the child of a Jedi Knight that just found his Dad’s light sabre and turned the darn thing on. After destroying several pieces of furniture, some expensive electronics, and making several new doorways in the walls of our house, I’ve decided to put this thing down and just watch how Dad works with it and be the observer for awhile. Yes new and exciting things are happening, I think about a song and it comes on the radio. I think about fixing something and the answer comes to me out of no where, etc. A disembodied voice of commanding tone and power called my name yesterday morning and said, ” Mark, I like you”. I’ve been having many visions while listening to the Om sound track. All of the visions so far have been gray scale until last night. Last night I was actually looking out of, sharing the vision of someone else. The Om sound was doing the powerful Oms and each one hit like a wave and passed through me like a row of falling dominoes. I began to vibrate intensely, and the fabric of the vision ripped right down the middle and made a portal. Out of the portal came a beautiful vista of green landscape and bright blue sky. At that point, with my curiosity peaked at max volume, I moved on my own to the portal and just as I was about to step through, a tiny little thought said, ” what if you can’t come back” The portal immediately closed, I heard a collective thought ” We have scared him, maybe he is not ready”. I did not pass Go, I didn’t collect $200, I was dropped all the way back to start. I just sat here blinking wondering what had just happened. I will give it a rest for a couple of days, give me a chance to sort things out. Peace and Love to all
I had a same kind of experience. There was a portal and a purple character there walking. I thought excited “Here we go then…” At the same time my legs strongly activated below knees by becoming very electric. I startled and lost the chance. Then I released my tension by laughing to myself, that I indeed lack the courage of astronauts.
OK; here is a different approach. I am a duelist; you really wouldn’t exist without the two. Consider yourself a computer motherboard. the CPU runs everything; but you need ROM to store the commands. I have been in computers since 1985; when I first made that connection.
This concept of the individual being one with the whole is what I experienced as an 8 year old when lifted from my body during an emotional experience. I did not understand it as such at the time but can see this now. While looking down upon the earth, I experienced the knowing that I was like a grain of sand that was connected to an endless beach of sand. I also experienced the sense of being infinitely small … both as self and also the experience I was currently responding to i.e., the loss of my only friend and disintegration of half of my family).
I have wondered many times over the years what it might be like to experience the lack of body, brain, personality (all that we experience in this dimension) when we move to an alternate dimension after death. I have wondered if there will be any “missing of the body”. I suspect that the sensation of love will be so intense and hopefully the shedding of wisdom and “big picture” or purpose for our having had lives on earth, will be so heightened that perhaps the loss of what we had here will seem infinitely small or inconsequential? I wonder…
The purpose of our life is, at birth to separate in thought, from the universal consciousness and as our life progresses to rediscover this connection to the one consciousness, to be aware in this lifetime of our connectivity and to grow the experience of the universe as it becomes more and more aware and evolved – however we do this is part of our life journey – as a nun, a monk, a truck driver or business owner – your path is your path, but we are all connected. Understanding the materialist view from our limited education in school as a child enables us to question it, from the deep connection we have and an inner knowing that we are metaphysical spiritual beings on a human journey of rediscovery! Enjoy the ride!
01/09 – 01/10/2018 – Dream occurring overnight.
A word came to me in a dream last night that as far as I know, I’d never seen/heard before….
calyx
n 1: (botany) the whorl of sepals of a flower collectively
forming the outer floral envelope or layer of the perianth
enclosing and supporting the developing bud; usually green
In my mind, I saw this word spelled caalyx (which is a correct alternate spelling) and to mean something that was precious and to be protected, but resembled a short, straight stick….brown in color, and then later white in color.
I’ve been asking in prayer/meditation to be open the all the possibilities of the shared consciousness. Maybe this is a reply to let me know that I am opening up as the calyx does to the flower. It seems to corroborate with all the the symbols of the other side….flowers, butterflies, etc.
Todd, thank you for sharing your dream of calyx, which is further fascinating as follows per wikipedia:
The Calyx of Held is a particularly large synapse in the mammalian auditory central nervous system, so named by Hans Held in his 1893 article Die centrale Gehörleitung[1] because of its resemblance to the calyx of a flower.[2] Globular bushy cells in the anteroventral cochlear nucleus (AVCN)[3] send axons to the contralateral medial nucleus of the trapezoid body (MNTB), where they synapse via these calyces on MNTB principal cells.[4][5][6] These principal cells then project to the ipsilateral lateral superior olive (LSO),[7] where they inhibit postsynaptic neurons and provide a basis for interaural level detection (ILD), required for high frequency sound localization.[8] This synapse has been described as the largest in the brain.
The calyx of Held is a part of the auditory system, connecting the globular bushy cells (GBCs) of the anteroventral cochlear nucleus to the principal neurons of the medial nucleus of the trapezoid body (MNTB). As a synapse, the function of the calyx of Held is to transmit the signal from the GBCs to the principal neurons. The principal neurons of the MNTB are glycinergic, thus hyperpolarizing the superior olivary complex (SOC) nuclei in nearby cells and producing tonotopic inhibitory effects.[11] As a result of its role in stimulating the principal neurons, the primary function of the calyx of Held is to allow differentiation between temporal activation of the cochlear hair cells that are important in sound localization (interaural level detection).[12]
Interaural level detection is possible through the calyx system due to the large relative size of the GBCs, the calyx of Held, and the principal neurons. The neurons in the Lateral Superior Olive are especially important in discerning these interaural level changes. The large diameter size of the bushy cell axons allows the inhibitory signal produced by the MNTB neurons to reach the SOC approximately 0.2 ms following the initial cochlear excitation. This ~0.2 second time measurement is important for comparing the contralateral (opposite side) and ipsilateral (same side) stimulation necessary in sound localization in the horizontal plane, and is key in distinguishing the location of low frequency sounds.[11]
End Wikipedia
I’ll defer to Dr. Alexander to explain the above in layman’s terms, but I wonder how our physical “hearing” is connected to astral “hearing” and how our astral body creates physical sounds in our minds.
Karen: The Visudha Chakra has upside down triangle within 16 petals, Sakini Devi. Sabda Tatwa. Hearing (sensation). Ether principle. Mouth (action). 16 letters. Bija Ham. source page 292 Chapter 10 The Absolute and Evolution of Prakriti in Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga by Swami Vishnu-devananda. Pg 290: “The whole world of five elements (earth, water, fire, air and ether) proceed from the active power of sakthi. Sakthi at first evolves mind and senses and then the five-fold elements of matter.”
I interpret the “evolves the mind and senses” as the astral body, which RC teachings say is tethered to the physical body by a silver cord. This seems consistent with the view of idealism, and supports Eben’s writings about mind existing separately and independently from brain. Your thoughts?
DaveS
Someone wise once posed the question to me, “Are you a human (physical person) here on Earth who may occasionally have a spiritual experience, or are you a spiritual person here on Earth having a human experience?” Guess we’re all somewhere on that spectrum.
After yesterday’s lesson, I held close the idea that anything is possible with infinite potential if we put our minds to it…
I overhead people talking bits and pieces about a baby in a critical hospital situation. I immediately thought wouldn’t it be amazing to take my anything’s possible consciousness, partner it with God’s consciousness, and travel with my mind to the baby and enfold the baby in healing love and light for a full speedy recovery.
At first, I felt helpless because I didn’t know any facts ( location, babies first name, etc…)… and then I thought of the many babies throughout the world in ICU and the help they also needed.
Nevertheless I applied the practice of remote healing calling on the name of God Yahweh ShalOM and Jesus the Christ to assist my intention of helping the baby… It made me feel Jesus saying you will do greater things than I.
That is such a long shot for me… but I applied the lesson affirmation “Believe” and acted as if…
I too, have walked in intention to heal with my presence and eyes everyone in a crowd.i felt in my heart a great love for human beings, their wandering and frailties.we are all one in being with The Christ.
Thank you for sharing, Michael. This opened my eyes to greater belief. Shalom to you.
I am way behind. No excuses. But I am writing here to say that this is something that came to me at 7 years old while sitting in the field of mustard flower across the creek from our home. I went into spontaneous meditation, I am sure, brought on by a tendency to day dream. As I watched the clouds, a low drone began to intrude on my musings, I suppose, but I ignored it until it got closer and was identified as the engine sound of an airplane above, a propeller sound. Yes, I’m old. Not missing a beat I entered the planes space and “knew” that I was in control of that plane. I could bring it down if I wanted. I shocked myself with that thought! I thought of the individuals inside, so different from this little migrant prune picker, rich, I thought, able to fly and my heart went out to them. They couldn’t help it. We were all one and I had a certain amount of control and I would use that control to see that they arrived safely where they were going. I spent a lot of time in that field that Spring. I think it was where I learned to meditate and to see us all as one. I’ve built my own life since then. Thanks for this confirmation, Dr Alexander.
Divine timing Dear Barbara…Just like a rose, you are naturally unfolding to the Light. thanks 4 this beautiful story.
As a Christian Scientist I hear every week from the pulpit „the scientific statement of being“ from the textbook of Christian Science by Mary Baker Eddy:
„There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter. All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all. Spirit is immortal Truth; matter is mortal error. Spirit is the real and eternal; matter is the unreal and temporal. Spirit is God, and man is His image and likeness. Therefore man is not material; he is spiritual.“
I like that. Thanks for sharing.
Yes, this perspective seems in some way to turn our notions of the world upside down! I have previously thought of heaven as “above” and hell as “below”. I can understand, on one level, why this makes sense: Heaven is a place of light, freedom, space, flying and is “up” in a positive way. Hell is the opposite and is either dark like the underworld or cave, or it is fiery, like a volcano.
But while this mode of thinking is good in some respects, it is deficient in others. Earth, or the land beneath our feet, is what we depend on. It is foundational. In some respects, the sky is optional, or non-essential. Over the centuries, we’ve come to regard the material world as foundational, and the spiritual world as optional.
If we flip this over, then we come to understand that the spiritual realm–the realm of the wider consciousness–is foundational. Its vibration are funneled up into the individual mind and break into the material realm largely (though not necessarily exclusively) through the human brain and from there they spill out into the world of matter and energy.
To be able to experience it, is a great gift. I have started to manifest my reality, recognize the synchroncies, to enjoy this new world. Walking this path and loving all that there is and yearning for a deeper, deeper understanding!
what a journey to discover yourself and where you come from!
The german word for thought is ‘Gedanke’. Danke means Thanks. Gedanke means being in the state of Thankfulness. Simply Gratitude.
This ‘I am’ is the first step of the believing awareness. Sounds related in my ears to OM, also interesting that Om and Amen are not only related how they sound, but actually deriving from the same root.
When all is frequency, as a kind of sound- even we are not capable to hear, is it also possible to be in a kind of no-frequency state?
Yesterday I heard an interesting statement: We all are like tuning forks. When one tuning fork resonates, all others resonating as well.
During meditation/prayer/quiet time I hear the sound sometime with my ears, sometime the sound is all around me or in me and sometime I feel the sound wave. When I feel the sound my body vibrates.
Beautiful meaning of thought in German: being a state of thankfulness….
There is another word in Germany „gleichmut” means equaminity.
„Gleich“ means „immediately“ and „mut” means „courage”.
If one is able to see the Moment and act to it with awareness and without hesitation, the interact, no matter how it looks, feels right. If you don’t, more and more thoughts occur and so hesitation and you lose the contact with your inner self. It feels different then. From my experience this is true. There have been many Situations i immediately know what to do or not to do. The situations i hesitate leads always to suffer or to confusion. Well, in both ways we can learn and grow.
I thought it fits to your comment, so i brought it up.
We are unlimited beings!. With my experience, I tend to think that the unlimited energy/power/potential is triggered by our emotion and not so much by the thought. But then there is the question what triggers the emotion? Sometimes it looks like the thought is the trigger but that’s not always evident. I didn’t figured it out. My Psychokinetic energy is unbelievable at least to me.
Sometime I feel like a puppet on the string and that’s my best explanation, an explanation I can process.
There are times when I am aware that I AM. It doesn’t take me all of a sudden, it creeps up on me, as it were. It is almost that Margaret becomes aware of herself, but herself is not Margaret. Self is assured, expressing the LOVE that she is, a stillness and such LOVE is she – which she, by being what she is, sends out as a matter of course, LOVE cannot help itself, it has to Be that. I hope that is clear, I cannot at present, express it any other way this evening. I don’t think I quite warrant being locked up! Wry smile. Love and Blessings, Margaret.
Margaret, where you are in your understanding…I hope to be someday. Thank you!
at around the age of 16 an awareness came upon me.. while bathing… “this is not the real me”.. it was rather a strange feeling like i was viewing myself from another ????.. through out the rest of my yrs i have only to think this an i am in that viewing mode.. the challenge this created is the need to stay grounded in the now…i grew up with abuse so figured this was my escape ..intuitively i knew i had to stay grounded ..this experience left me with much curiosity ..over the yrs have been going down this path of exploration …that Dr Eben is now able bring out into the open .. I AM GRATEFUL