|
The Compact
Oxford English Dictionary defines MIND as:
“1 the faculty of consciousness and thought. 2
a person’s intellect or memory. 3 a person identified
with their intellectual faculties. 4 a person’s
attention or will.”
The Compact
Oxford English Dictionary defines CONSCIOUSNESS as: “ noun 1 the state of being
conscious.
2 one’s awareness or perception of something.”
These
definitions essentially define ‘consciousness,’ ‘mind,’
‘thought,’ ‘memory,’ and ‘intellect,’ in terms of each
other. The definitions, as we shall see, are appropriately
circular.
The reasoning
attribute of consciousness has been referred to as the
intellect. Memory is also generally referred to as an
attribute of mind, the capability of consciousness to store
and remember its experiences. Thought is usually defined as
coming from mind or consciousness. All of these are
qualities or characteristics of consciousness.
There is much
confusion about these concepts on planet earth because of
the belief in the biological basis for consciousness.
However, cognitive scientists cannot agree on what ‘mind’
is, or even where it exists. Most would probably say that
the seat of consciousness, and the mind, is in the brain.
There is agreement on this because we can measure and
experiment with the brain and show its effects on
consciousness.
Various
philosophers throughout history have debated these
questions. Bishop Berkeley provided a purely spiritual
definition, saying that the material world is merely a
concept in the mind of God and that the mind is a
manifestation of the soul or spirit. Huxley began the
demolishing of these ideas, and modern studies have shown
that altering brain chemistry has a profound effect on
consciousness.
In the
Spirit/Mind/Body framework, we say that the origin of
consciousness is non–physical, and associates itself, while
incarnated, with a human body. In other words, we say that
non–physical (spiritual) conscious personalities exist
independently of the body, and will exhibit the same
qualities of mind, memory, intellect and self–awareness as
when incarnated into a physical body. It is impossible to
prove this by experimentation, of course, because there is
no way to physically measure or detect a non–physical
consciousness. Nevertheless, there is no reason to dismiss
such claims, even though such assertions are terribly
inconvenient. Although a conscious personality while
incarnated into a human body demonstrates the
characteristics associated with mind, intellect and self
awareness, it is, in my mind, a logical error to say that
consciousness is therefore dependent upon the body for these
properties. Such reasoning merely dismisses the spiritual
origin of consciousness/mind out of hand, because no
physical evidence for it has been discovered! (I will say
that a precise location for consciousness, or the mind, or
the intellect, will never be found in the brain).
Furthermore, let us admit that because physical structure
cannot be created out of nothing, the physical universe
cannot have originated in a singularity, or in some quantum
excitation. The Law of Conservation of Energy states that
energy can neither be created nor destroyed. Therefore all
of the matter and energy in the universe must have existed,
without reduction or increase, since the beginning of the
universe at time t = 0. Scientifically speaking, this idea is absurd,
for matter cannot create matter.
Therefore the idea that consciousness originates in matter
is equally absurd. A creative principle is necessary in
order to get the universe started!
However, let’s
admit that physically messing around inside the brain can
cause undesirable effects, and begin our discussion of mind
by starting with the assumption of a healthy human being who
is not drugged, electric shocked, or lobotomized!
What is the Mind?
Mind is the
collection of experiences of consciousness. Often
(especially in therapy) the mind is assigned a causative
effect over consciousness. It is said that a person suffers
psychological trauma after a horrifying or unpleasant
experience, as if a mental recording from a past incident
can adversely affect a person in the present.
We will try to
show that consciousness cannot ever be the effect of a
mental image or stored memory; or rather, that consciousness
has, at all times, the ability to lessen and erase
psychological trauma at any time. This idea, if true, would
be enormously important in the reduction of trauma, and in
daily life as well. In accordance with the principles
espoused on this website, we place consciousness always at
cause over it’s own thinking process, and it’s own emotions.
Otherwise, we have to assume that consciousness must
inevitably be adversely affected by something that it has
self–created! In truth, psychological trauma is analogous to
the guy who keeps hitting himself over the head with a
hammer. The impulse for these actions is consciously
controlled.
We will define
mind as having two aspects: a collection of imprints of
events, and the associated negative emotion that accompanies
these events. Psychological trauma is often considered to be
stored energy, either in the cells of the body, or somewhere
in the mind.
An imprint we
will define as: that non-resisted recallable memory,
including full sensory perception, of an experience. An
imprint is an impression made within consciousness itself,
defined as the spiritual component of the spirit/mind/body
collection that makes up a human being. In other words, the
impression is recorded within the human energy field, and
has no physical component. A conscious being, in this
conception, whether in a physical body or outside of it, is
able to accurately recall everything that has ever happened
to it, without distortion, and with full sensory perception.
In its
interaction with the physical universe, whether in a body or
outside it, anything consciousness perceives is impressed
vibrationally upon it. In other words, consciousness
“samples” the universe at the unimaginable frequency of
thought, providing an accurate recording of exactly what was
experienced. Let's go into this a little.
In signal
processing, a bandwidth limited signal of N cycles per
second can be reconstructed without error from samples taken
uniformly at a rate which is greater than 2 * N cycles per
second. In other words, if the frequency of sampling occurs
at not less than twice the highest frequency in the sampled
waveform, a Fourier analysis of the signal can perfectly
reconstruct the original signal with all of its components.
We can eliminate the bandwidth limited requirement (real
world signals are almost never so) if we assume that the
sampling frequency of consciousness (here considered as a
subtle energy of unimaginably high vibration) is far above
that of anything that exists in the physical universe. We
have been making that assumption throughout these essays,
stating that consciousness and thought are, in comparison
with the matter and energy of the physical universe, pure
potential, or “virtual.” We have stated that consciousness
and its product, thought, are subtle energy phenomena,
unmeasurable by the instruments of science, and are the
basic vibrational quanta of matter and energy.
An imprint is
like a “sampled” waveform in signal processing, only it is
accomplished effortlessly by a purely spiritual component,
consciousness itself, which acts like an infinitely
sensitive photographic plate. If one accepts the idea of
the Human Energy Field, one might say that a conscious
personality is a spherical/toroidal holographic recorder.
Science presently has the capability to record thousands of
impressions upon a single, 2 dimensional surface, but has
not figured out how to record on or within the surface of a
sphere. If such a thing is possible, it may be possible to
record a quantity of information orders of magnitude greater
than is presently possible with present technology.
We’re a little
off the subject, but suffice it to say that an imprint is
simply an accurate recording, in the finest detail, of an
event or an experience.
Psychological
trauma, or any uncomfortable emotion, is self–created
resistance to an experience.
In other words,
the actual data of the event, the sights, sounds, and
perceptions, are faithfully recorded in the imprint, but
there may be negative emotion associated with the event.
These negative emotions are the person's resistance to the
actual occurrence.
Let’s look at
an example:
Case 1: You are
walking along in the woods on a sunny day with the breeze in
your face and you feel wonderful. In the distance you see a
bear, drinking from a stream. This experience is perceived
without resistance of any kind. Recalling this experience
brings back the perception of it, in a positive way, for it
is at the pure, positive–feeling frequency of consciousness
itself.
Case 2: You are
walking along in the woods on the same sunny day and you see
the bear. The bear invokes in you a fear of being attacked,
and you spend the next few minutes getting as far away from
it as possible. This experience includes vibrations of fear
(and possibly other 'negative' emotions) that are not at the
frequency of consciousness itself, and so must remain
separate from it. Because any vibration, if not continually
activated, will die away, any uncomfortable or distressing
emotion or feeling must be self–created in the present. In
other words, in a physically healthy person, all trauma or
negative emotion is created, in the now, by a resistance to
an experience. Since all events are imprinted, one is free
to regard it in any way one desires.
In case 2,
recalling the experience brings with it discomfort, but that
discomfort only exists because it is being re–created right
now!
In the
reduction of traumatic incidents (using a procedure known as
Traumatic Incident Reduction, developed by Dr. Frank Gerbode),
it becomes clear that when an uncomfortable experience is
'reduced', that is, when all the resistance has been removed
from the event, the trauma vanishes and only the imprint
remains. When this happens, physical recovery is often
greatly accelerated. The imprint is non-erasable, it being
an attribute of consciousness itself.
The
uncomfortable emotion vanishes because the vibrations of it
are no longer being created or activated, and therefore are
no longer being experienced.
With physical
trauma, one can say that the cells of the body are
physically damaged, but that is not the case with purely
psychological trauma. In trauma that is psychological,
there is no physical source. (We can say that psychological
trauma is stored in the “mind” or in the “psyche,” but no
one knows how to precisely define these entities, or even
where they are! )
In our model,
psychological trauma can only exist because it is
continually created. It is the continued attention and
resistance to the event which constantly re–creates the
uncomfortable emotion. In TIR –– used successfully in
treating PTSD, or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder –– we find,
every time, that successful reduction of psychological
trauma is dependent upon the client’s complete willingness
to “face up” to the actual event. When the client is able to
completely inspect the event as it actually occurred, the
trauma vanishes. We are saying, in effect, that all
psychological trauma is a phantom. We AREN’T saying it isn’t
real, for anyone who has experienced trauma knows how
debilitating it can be. We ARE saying that psychological
trauma can always be transcended, because it's origin is
under the conscious direction of the client.
You might say
that no one would deliberately sabotage themselves, and to
suggest that the cause of trauma is self–inflicted is a
little nutty. However, it becomes understandable when we
examine humanity’s approach to solving problems. We are
taught to fight anything we don’t like, to dig in and
wrestle with it until we have overcome our fear of it, which
just activates the vibration of it more and more. By our
fear of it, we create “monsters of the id,” and lose control
over ourselves in the process. A good example is provided in
the HBO series, “Six Feet Under.” David’s van is hijacked
and he is subjected to physical and emotional trauma. After
he physically recovers, he still struggles with the event
and his reactions to it for weeks and weeks afterward.
It turns out
that all psychological trauma can be successfully erased, IF
the client is willing to carefully re–live the event in his
or her mind. When this occurs, the resistance to the event
is eliminated and the psychological trauma disappears. TIR
is a wonderful therapy, and it works because it operates on
the basis that a conscious being is always at source–point.
This idea is in full agreement with the laws of the universe
as we’ve been describing them in the essays.
In our
vibrational model of the universe (and consciousness) a
vibration only is noticeable when it is activated. The
quiescent tuning fork makes no sound until it is struck. All
vibrations eventually die away IF they are no longer
triggered. In an analysis of psychological trauma, it will
be found that the greater the trauma, the more attention is
on it. This is reasonable, for a suffering person is
suffering because he or she is stuck in something! But
again, we look at the situation wrong–way–to. We say, “Of
course the client’s attention is on the trauma, because it’s
biting his head off!” No, the trauma exists because the
client's attention is on it continually, which keeps the
vibration of it activated, through fear, worry, anxiety,
etc., until it has become overwhelming. The traumatic
event(s) become the equivalent of an 800 pound mental
gorilla!
Normally, the
vibrational solution to something unwanted is to take
attention off of the unwanted thing and to place one’s focus
on something wanted. This deactivates the vibration of the
unwanted thing and strengthens the vibration of the wanted
thing. With severe psychological trauma, however, this is
not possible, for the client’s attention is fixed on the
traumatic event. In this case, the client must be made to
fully confront his participation in the event. When this
occurs, the client understands that he or she has been
creating the trauma all along. If you’ve ever experienced
this procedure, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about.
The main idea
in the reduction of all uncomfortable experience is the
realization that it is continually self-created.
If the client,
after successful erasure of the psychological trauma,
engages in the same pattern of resistant thought, then there
will be a gradual re-creation of it. But once the client
gets the idea that he or she is causing it, has complete
control over it, this will not be a problem!
When our woods
walker looks carefully at what happened, he realizes his
fear associated with the bear was self–created. He realizes
his discomfort stemmed from a TV show about predatory
animals; he made a decision that hiking anywhere could be
dangerous. Fear, anxiety, any uncomfortable emotion, is
simply resistance to an experience. That cause of that
resistance is always your conscious decision. It's a
destructive, learned pattern that can be replaced by a more
positive one.
In order to
avoid the uncomfortable feelings that are associated with
some events, we often go into denial about what really
happened: “I wasn't afraid of that bear. I was tired so I
turned back.” Now we've created a story about the event,
which just perpetuates the discomfort. In all cases, it
is conscious resistance to an event that causes
uncomfortable emotions.
The imprint is
the experience we would have had, had we simply allowed it.
It is always a pleasurable, since the imprint is at the
pure, positive, vibrational frequency of consciousness
itself.
The mind is
essentially a collection of imprints, with uncomfortable
emotion superimposed.
The mind is
essentially a collection of bad habits! In our lives we have
learned a pattern of resistance, which we continuously apply
in the present. If we previously had a bad experience at the
dentist, it is easy to dislike all dentists. There is no
reason for such an approach to life, however; in fact, it is
irrational. What one experiences in the present is created
newly, in every moment. We just have such an addiction to
telling the truth about past events, that we continuously
carry forward and thus recreate our discomfort in the
present!
However, it
turns out that Truth with a capital T is not the event, but
the consciousness that experienced the event, and so the
solution to the reduction of mental trauma is always an
exercise of the creative will. This can be proven by the
process of 'reducing' a painful incident, in therapies like
TIR. By carefully inspecting the event from a causative
orientation (according to defined protocol) it is possible
to eliminate all of the discomfort associated with it.
Traumatic Incident Reduction has been used successfully with
Vietnam veterans and other traumatized individuals, placing
them at cause–point over their past experiences.
Of course, one
cannot experience in a painful fashion unless one is already
vibrationally set up to do so. Manifestations do not occur
randomly, or by accident! In all cases, the content of your
thoughts, beliefs, and attitudes (your state of being)
determine the events of your life and how you perceive them.
Once you have focused upon something uncomfortable long
enough to receive a manifestation, the vibrational tendency
is to continue to do so. This is the main cause of
psychological trauma after an experience has already
occurred.
We know that if
this tendency is continued, the Law of Vibration and the Law
of Attraction will match you up with another self–similar
experience in the future, so it is a good idea to clean up
one’s vibration regarding the experience as soon as
possible!
Elimination of
the resistance toward an experience restores a true
perception of the incident, eliminating the cluttering
thought forms that block and distort a true perception of
the imprinted data, deactivating the unwanted vibration and
restoring mental balance.
Click Here for
more information
|
