Toward a Unified Metaphysical Understanding: What I Think in Simple Terms    
 What I Think in Simple Terms
2009-03-18, by John Ringland

Before I start I will mention that this explanation has been simplified into common sense (naïve realist) language hence it doesn't accurately convey what I think but it is adequate. The points are not random but develop in sequence.

What I think in simple terms:

  • Reality “is what it is”.

  • All that exists is reality "in action".

  • We are not what we think we are.

  • The world is not what we think it is.

  • Due to naïve realism we succumb to persistent false interpretation (delusion).

  • Delusion leads to dysfunctional participation in reality, which leads to a self-perpetuating spiral of delusion, suffering and destruction.

  • How we think creates what we think, and there is a feedback loop whereby what we think influences how we think.

  • Delusional beliefs produce delusional thought processes and lead to a spiral into ever deeper delusion.

  • Corrective beliefs and “inner work” clarify the thought processes and lead to a spiral into clarity.

  • Whilst what we think programs how we think, if the thought processes themselves are riddled with dysfunctional habits such as naïve realism it is futile to just clarify what we think because the dysfunctional thought processes will constantly distort what we think.

  • It is important to focus on correcting how we think because if the thought processes are clarified, by overcoming naïve realism, then delusional thoughts will be recognised as such.

  • Words symbolise concepts, which are the content of 'what' we think, hence it is impossible to speak directly about 'how' we think, the closest we can get is to say what we think about how we think, which is what most of this is.

  • That which we think we are becomes the central character (the ego) in the 'story' that is accumulated in memory.

  • An ego dominates, controls and identifies with the organism (cellular society) in an analogous way to “the state” (collective ego) dominating, controlling and identifying with a society (collective organism).

  • All that we interpret, experience and know is given meaning within the context of the ego, and its desires, fears and agendas.

  • That which we think of as our lives is the story of the ego woven in memory – that which we call 'history' is the story of the collective ego woven throughout the collective mind (culture).

  • The ego maintains a self-image that it projects as its 'persona' or propaganda front and when egos agree to treat the persona as the whole being what results is a 'person'. Thus a 'person' is a socially constructed mythological entity arising from mutual self-deception.

  • The vast majority of our evolution as a species and as civilisation has been founded upon delusion that is cultivated by the ego, both individual and collective.

  • Mind (culture) can be a useful faculty but only when it is not infested with delusion, otherwise it is a great danger.

  • Liberation is never 'of' the person (state) but 'from' the person (state).

  • Delusion can be overcome however the ego (both individual and collective) is entirely "woven out of" delusion and will fight for its imagined 'life' to maintain and deepen the delusions.

  • The greatest weapon of the ego is denial, which destroys truth, love and reason, resulting in cynicism.

  • The ego's armour is made of an alloy of ignorance and arrogance, which is impenetrable to truth, love and reason.

  • The habit of naïve realism can be overcome and by doing so the capacity of the mind to entertain delusion is lost – the ego evaporates and harmony naturally arises.

  • Regardless of how deep and entangled the delusions are, liberation is possible so long as the will is capable of 'seeking' it - attainment may require persistent and arduous 'seeking' or it may be instantaneous.

  • There is no one 'method' for attaining liberation but all methods have the same general principles – to weaken denial, ignorance and arrogance so that truth, love and reason can penetrate and permeate consciousness.

  • Some false ideas deepen delusion and some lessen it - for example the idea that "I am the body" will lead to worsening delusion whilst the idea that "I am not the body" will lessen the delusions up to a point, however both are false ideas that only have meaning within a delusional paradigm.

  • Ideas of existence or non-existence, I or other, space or time, bondage or liberation, pain or pleasure, doing or not doing, being or not being, creation or destruction, dualism or non-dualism, this or that are all false ideas.

  • It is possible to develop a rigorous 'science' of the overcoming of delusion by utilising false ideas appropriately, to 'disentangle' the delusional paradigm within the mind of an individual and within the collective mind (culture) of a civilisation, to bring to light and rectify the dysfunctional thought processes and thereby 'liberate' consciousness.

  • By overcoming delusion reality is no longer obscured from awareness - analogous to a society that is liberated from the state and its propagandist manipulations.

  • When delusion is overcome the mind can 'reflect' reality clearly.

  • Full participation in reality is then possible - not as an 'actor' within an imagined story but as a 'motion' of all that is.

  • Reality is not inanimate and that which we imagine to be our own consciousness is a "drop in the ocean" of universal consciousness.

  • Systems at all levels of complexity such as a particle, an atom, a cell, an organism, a civilisation, a planet, a galaxy, etc... all experience themselves and their world according their nature.

  • Existence operates at all levels of system complexity and the system boundaries that define the levels of complexity and the systems that exist at those levels are artefacts of perception – thus the systems we perceive ourselves to be, both inner (mind) and outer (body), are artefacts of our own perception.

  • A cell within our bodies experiences itself as an individual and we are its civilisation. Civilisation experiences itself as an individual and we are its cells. These perspectives are no more nor less real that our own perspective and all perspectives are just 'views' of reality and cannot perceive reality itself.

  • Anything that can be perceived, seen, touched, thought, felt, spoken, etc... is not reality but an experience (a movement of consciousness).

  • Reality is imperceptible in every sense.

  • The 'universe' is analogous to a virtual reality that is animated by an imperceptible reality generative process – it cannot be seen because it is the seer of every sight.

  • The inner most 'self' (animating principle) of all that is, is the reality generative process.

  • Every 'thing' is an object of perception which is both produced and experienced by the reality generative process as it animates the virtual reality.

  • The reality generative process has neither beginning nor end because 'time' exists only within the virtual reality. Neither is it infinite or infinitesimal because 'space' exists only within the virtual reality.

  • The nature of that which I call the "reality generative process" is beyond all concepts and cannot be known, however all else can be known - keeping in mind that all knowledge is a 'reflection' that depends on the quality of the 'mirror-like' mind.

  • The reality generative process is not in any sense a 'thing' as there is no 'other' to perceive it and it does not exist within any context but is the foundation of all existential contexts.

  • The reality generative process is not random but is self-ordered.

  • The orderly processual emanation of existence can be modelled mathematically.

  • This mathematics can provide a conceptual foundation for a unified science that can help to liberate consciousness from delusion.

  • The mathematics of the reality generative process is a non-naïve realist language with which to enquire into and communicate about reality.

  • Aside from all these metaphors woven out of false ideas, reality "is what it is" and all that exists is reality "in action".



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2009-08-28: Extracts from the Lankavatara Sutra
2009-04-25: Discussing the Emerging Paradigm on the SSE Forum
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2009-04-05: Advice on Nurturing the Emerging Memeplex
2009-04-04: Shape of the Emerging Memeplex and How to Nurture It
2009-03-23: Wisdom for this Phase of the Journey
2009-03-18: What I Think in Simple Terms
2009-01-09: Signs of a New Paradigm 01


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