Where Christianity, Other Religions, Metaphysics, and the Law of Attraction Meet. There is but one creative source, and the source has given mystical revelation throughout the millennia. My goal is to point the recovering Christian toward eclectic and syncretistic spirituality and a panpsychist view of reality.
Here is another video blog. It answers the question what it means to reimagine reincarnation and should it be reimagined. It is important to remove the eternal treadmill wheel concept. Please like and subscribe to my YouTube Channel Cosmic Consciousness.
Having been a relatively recent pastor and theologian in evangelical Christianity, I am well aware of deconstruction. I have in fact deconstructed much of my former belief system. That is terribly painful for some but was less painful for me because I had deconstructed before, and I allowed life circumstances to bring me back, but not full circle. The things that I learned and believed from my first deconstruction, many of them, I kept locked away, but I did not voice them because I wanted to fit in and work within the evangelical framework. One of my reasons was to attempt to reform and reshape Christian dogma into a more realistic and more palatable place.
It is my belief that much of scientific dogma is a reaction
to Christianity. The age of reason liberated people from the constraints of
religious dogma, but the process of liberation created a dogma that was just as
ridged as Christian dogma to make sure that religious dogma would not gain a
strong hold again. This resulted in denying any kind of supernatural or
paranormal phenomenon. More than that, scorn was placed on any in science that
would investigate or give credence to anything labeled pseudo-science. This
included parapsychology, extra-sensory perception, and anything that could be
connected with the spiritual plane.
Not only did academic science ridicule individuals that
would look investigate the paranormal, the actively damaged the careers of
anyone daring to step outside of the accepted scope of materialism. They had
concluded that the material world happened independently of any outside force
and that even consciousness arose from materialism.
Of course, there were intellectual giants that did not give
into the materialist physicalist dogma, but they were few in comparison to all
those in scientific endeavors. One such giant was Carl Jung, who held that one
of the most important parts of psychology was humanities relationship to the numinous.
Many of the physicists that developed quantum mechanics were bold in stating
that there was most definitely a supernatural aspect to reality.
Over the millennia, Greek Philosophy, especially Platonism
and Neo-Platonism stated that the universe at its core foundation was mental
and ideal. Over the last one hundred- and fifty-years Newtonian Classical
Mechanics has given way to space time and ultimately the micro world of quantum
physics. These seem incompatible to scientific theory, and yet, it is quantum
physics that is responsible for so many inventions and upgrades. You often hear
physicists say that they cannot explain the weirdness of the quantum world but
only that it works.
Philosophers have struggled with the hard problem of
consciousness. The cognitive scientists have been unable to identify how we
know the difference between the taste of chocolate and vanilla within the
brain. They are unable to deal with experience. There is a rise in philosophers
that have a panpsychist view of the nature of reality. The biologist, Dr. Rupert
Sheldrake has theorized that there are morphic fields of resonance which are
responsible for mental telepathy. It is not just in humans but in the animal
kingdom as well.
Dr. Donald Hoffman, a cognitive scientist from the
University of California at Irvine is working on a theory that consciousness is
the foundation of reality. He is making progress mathematically using
evolutionary game theory. In 2022 the Nobel Prize in Physics was given to three
men who have proven that the universe is not locally real. The latest in
physics believes that space-time is doomed and that there is a deeper reality
out of which space-time arises.
The public is led to believe that everything in science is
tangible, measurable, and repeatable. And while that may be true of the basic
aspects of our science, it is not true at the foundational level of reality. In
that area there are theories and hypotheses and there is a wide difference of
opinion. They simply agree to disagree. The quantum level works for a multitude
of advancements in technology, and yet it is still a mystery.
I can understand why they stay away from what they call woo,
but that is not the same thing as ridiculing woo. The fact is, they ridicule
woo! The question becomes why do they ridicule woo? I think the answer is, if
they give any room for the supernatural, if they give any room for
consciousness to be foundational to reality, they establish religion’s role in
human philosophy. I don’t think it has to be the case. They can embrace the
possibility of consciousness being foundational without validating religious
dogma. But the fact is, they have developed scientific dogma to eliminate the
return of religious dogma and in my view it needs to be deconstructed.
This is an explanation of my theory of panpsychism. Assuming that consciousness is the foundational element of reality then it seems to follow that consciousness and energy are interchangeable. As the words of the poem, the primal dream flowed into my mind in 1974, I wrote “energy and thought, inseparable conceived the primal dream.” The above illustration is in the shape of the current graphic representation of the universe. Everything within the universe consists primarily of waves. The waves have particle potential and can result in matter. The original creative observer is consciousness itself which historically has been called the Logos, by Greek philosophy, Hermeticism, and Christianity.
Consciousness created individual conscious agents through
sacred geometry. These conscious agents are integral to all of the dimensions
and yet, the sum of conscious agents is greater than the individual parts. When
I speak of conscious agents, I think of them similarly to Dr. Donald Hoffman in
his book “A Case Against Reality.” This leads to the paradox of pantheism and
panentheism. Both are true, as the Kybalion states in the principle of
polarity. “All truths are half-truths; all paradoxes may be reconciled.” The way
it is resolved is in the truth that the whole is greater than the sum of the
parts which is pantheism, and the individual conscious agents are a part of the
whole, cocreators and that is panentheism.
To what purpose you may ask? I like a variation of how Dr.
Hoffman answers the question what is consciousness up to? It is answered in a
YouTube video. A Donald Hoffman Quote from his YouTube lecture on the Weekend
University Channel entitled “Is Reality an Illusion?” It begins at roughly
1:13:38 into the video.
Quote:
“If we start with consciousness
being fundamental then there is an interesting question; that is what is
consciousness up to and why? What is consciousness doing right? And when we
think about consciousness inside space and time we often think about it in terms
of evolutionary theory and we say maybe consciousness helps you to survive
somehow, maybe its an accident, but now we can think differently. Space and
time are not fundamental. Evolutionary theory is not fundamental. Consciousness
itself is fundamental.
So, what is consciousness up to?
I don’t know, but I have only found one idea that is deep enough so far to take
the idea seriously. I’m not saying it is right but it’s at least deep enough to
be interesting and to take seriously. Kurt Godel, around 1930 proved what are
called incompleteness theorems. What Godel discovered was that effectively, the
exploration of mathematical truths is unending. There is no way to be
omniscient about mathematical truths and what’s interesting about that idea
then, is that if consciousness is fundamental and consciousness is all there is
then mathematics, consciousness and that endless exploration of mathematics is
endless, then that means that exploration of the possible varieties endless and
is exploring, it’s a theorem that will never stop. And so maybe that is what
consciousness is up to. It is constantly exploring itself!
So what’s happening right now,
where we go, we talk, we have questions, we have lectures and so forth. This is
just consciousness in space using space time as a virtual reality exploring one
of many, many different possibilities, worlds in which there are attended
spaces. Dimensions of space is irrelevant there is no dimension.”
I am not a mathematician, and if you want to accuse me of
trying to turn science into “woo” go ahead. What I am writing here is
intuitive. However, it resonates deeply with me, and I believe that it is
correct. So let me explain the above quote in more spiritual and mystical terms.
I do not think this explanation is incompatible with Hoffman’s far more scientific
explanation.
Consciousness is knowledge. The ancient Greeks called it
Gnosis. However, knowledge lacks something. What you may ask? It lacks
experience. Knowledge is awareness of all the potential. It is aware of
possibility. Experience completes knowledge. One cannot truly understand love
without experience. Nor, can one know pain without experience. One can know it exists
but only through experience does it become complete knowledge. We participate
in the divine nature in order to complete knowledge with our experience. The possibilities
are endless and infinite. One could say that we are God experiencing creation.
This is not limited to one life in one plane. Quite the
contrary. However, we are also able to rest at will. I do not see reincarnation
as a karmic hamster wheel that one is trapped on. It is not a punitive alternative
to purgatory or hell. We all, in an egalitarian fashion, based upon our choosing
experience joy and pain, good and evil. The unified field of consciousness, the
All, God if you prefer, is the eternal present. As Eckhart Tolle states it is
the Now. Energy cannot be destroyed it can only be changed. I think that the
best illustration of what I am saying is that it is similar to a video game.
Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. You can get tired, even exasperated so
that you put the game down only to become refreshed, perhaps bored, and you
pick the game up and try again.
Experiential knowledge is ever increasing as we alternate
between being whole consciousness to conscious agents and back and forth.
The above diagram is an effort to provide a visual graphic
of my view of the nature of reality. The foundation of the diagram is Cosmic
Consciousness or Creative Consciousness that I see as primal in the creation of
the corporeal material world. I have taken cues from the Kybalion and the seven
Hermetic Principles. You can see in the diagram a cyclic construct that keeps
individual conscious agents, more commonly known as souls, cycling in and out
of material and corporeal reality at the will of the individual. The only place
in my view that free will can exist is with the overall cosmic consciousness
which is eternal and with the individual aspect of that consciousness which we
call souls, which are likewise eternal. It is in the eternal nature of souls that
free will exists.
I base the cyclic nature of reality on the principle of
correspondence. the second principle of the Kybalion. It states as above so
below and as below so above. The idea is that both the material realm and the
spiritual realm are similar in nature. Therefore, one can extrapolate from the
material realm which is visible the nature of the unseen spiritual realm. We
see cycles everywhere in the material world and by the principle of
correspondence we can know that the spiritual realm is cyclic as well.
It is the cyclic nature of reality that has me convinced
that reincarnation is a reality. I view it in a nuanced way that is different
than most of the traditional views of reincarnation. It is the incarnation
process that allows us to exercise our free will. While this may anger some
people who have experienced trauma, I am of the belief that we choose our life
paths and to a great degree what experiences we will have. If we all exist in
the eternal now, and if matter cannot be destroyed only changed, then a life
span has much less effect on our eternal soul than it would seem while in the
midst of incarnation.
When I say I view it differently and nuanced I mean that I
do not see it as souls being trapped in a karmic cycle that they must advance
in to move off the treadmill. The little that I know about Buddhism and
Hinduism assumes that souls are locked into the cycle from some outside
superior force. That karma is similar to a punishment reward system that gives
an alternate dynamic of the orthodox Christian view of heaven and hell. What
resonates for me is that each of us individual souls are autonomous. We
ultimately decide what we participate in and consequently what we learn. What
we learn is added to the experiential knowledge of Cosmic Consciousness. I do
not think that we have to learn lessons over and over. I like the system of
spiral dynamics to explain the progression of the soul, the soul’s journey, and
the soul’s purpose.
This leads to the concept that we are not trying to move
back to oneness. We can do that at will and we do that similar to resting or
sleeping. This means that for me the material corporeal world is not evil and
not the construction of an evil demiurge. This is the place that I part ways
with Christian Gnosticism. I do not think that Yahweh is an evil creator. I
think that Yahweh is the construction of a people that saw evil in the world
and tried to explain it in human terms. I do not believe that the creator
ordered genocide. I do not believe that the creator destroyed the world by a
flood because the creation was too evil. I think things like that are merely
experiences of Cosmic Consciousness and an innate consequence of geometrical
form. Beyond that I will not try to explain as it is perhaps incomprehensible.
So, the whole journey back to oneness and the source does not fit into my
paradigm.
Another aspect of our reality that is plausible is the
reverse of as below so above. That of course is as above so below. If indeed
consciousness is foundational, then matter and the corporeal world is very
similar to a dream. Is it only our dream or is it a corporate dream. I tend to
think it is the latter. I conclude that from the as below so above aspect of
correspondence. We see within societal structure governing and planning
committees. It is reasonable to me then that the material realm is a construct
of what would be similar to a committee. This communal spiritual aspect could
be called a dream and locks us into the duration of our incarnation. It is more
solid than the dreams we individually dream but made essentially from the same
stuff, mind. In this case however, it is from the cosmic mind, the universal
mind, or the mind at large. This fits in with the first principle of the
Kybalion, “The All is Mind, the Universe is Mental.” So, there is a very
plausible way to see material reality as God’s dream.
It does seem natural to me that at some point in our
evolution on the incarnation path, we will be able to use our individual minds
for the purpose of mental alchemy. There is a way in which we are all capable
of changing circumstances by a mental process. This falls back to the principle
of correspondence. As above so below. Since Cosmic Consciousness creates
reality as we know it, then being a conscious agent, having within us the
divine nature of the Logos or consciousness of God, it follows that we too can
create reality and change reality with our mind and thought process.
After seventy-six years of living, I have settled on a
metaphysical and esoteric view of reality that includes panpsychism and
panentheism. My spirituality is syncretistic with an emphasis on the teachings
of Jesus and the Tao Te Ching. I think that Buddhism and Hinduism have value as
well. However, all religions are merely symbolic metaphorical views of reality.
While I find physicalist materialistic science wanting, I am happy to rely on
all it has established short of its explanation of creation being accidental.
For me, the idea that consciousness is the fundamental reality resonates and it
is being more widely accepted by some philosophers and scientists. In other
words, I see consciousness as the creative source and would be happy to call it
Cosmic Consciousness. I also see Christ Consciousness, Mind at Large, Universal
Consciousness as synonyms for Cosmic Consciousness.
It is easy for me to see mathematics as the prime
foundational knowledge. It is from mathematics that all other aspects of
reality emerge. Dimensions come from geometry,
so I see sacred geometry as an important aspect of reality and the catalyst of
form. I view Cosmic Consciousness as ethereal. I believe it to be synonymous
with spirit. I am beginning to see spirit as a quality of universal or cosmic
consciousness and its connection to matter or corporeal reality is the soul. I
define soul as similar to psyche or the Greek word Psuche. This is the spirit
of a human or an animal. I contrast that with the Greek word Pneuma and the
Hebrew word Rauch. They both are wind and are the metaphor for Cosmic
Consciousness or Creative Source/spirit.
I have adopted an eclectic or syncretistic spirituality. I
draw from mystical revelations in all religious traditions. I am most familiar
with Christianity, both orthodoxy and gnostic expressions. I would say that
next I am familiar with Hermetic philosophy. Third but certainly not lesser, is
the Tao Te Ching. I am somewhat familiar with Buddhism and Hinduism. The
foundation of my spirituality is Christian Mysticism, Gnosticism, combined with
Hermeticism and Neoplatonic philosophy. I am also informed by Jungian
Psychology, certain aspects of cognitive science and new ideas in quantum
physics.
A significant influence for me is the Kybalion and other
writings by William Walker-Atkinson. I have studied the Corpus Hermeticum from
three different sources and translations. I frequently read the Tao Te Ching
and have looked into Greek philosophy that I believe to be influenced by
Egyptian mystery religions. While I have not looked into the Kabballah, I am at
least familiar to the extent that it reinforces the esoteric teaching of
Hermeticism.
I will end this here for now with a quote from the Kybalion.
“The ALL is mind, the universe is mental.”
One of my friends on Facebook posted that he realized that he was arrogant when he was an evangelical pastor and that it was a waste of precious time. The arrogance came into play as he thought that God had given him a message every week and that it was important for the people to come and hear it every week. He went on to say that he was delivered from that. This caused a light bulb moment for me because I can recall doing the same thing. I too thought that God was giving me a weekly sermon that was spiritually important for those who I was teaching and preaching too. What I realized with this is that we all, humanity, are going through, and are at different stages of an awakening to deeper consciousness and deeper reality. It could be that this is because of the dawning of a new age, literally. The age of information, the age of Aquarius. I must admit that the presupposition that informs this idea for me is panpsychism. It is best described by the idea that was stated in the Kybalion, “the All is Mind, the universe is mental.” As the days go by, I become more and more convinced of this view of reality.
So, to differentiate me from my online friend, I’m not sure
that it was a waste of time. Rather it was a transition from one reality to a
deeper reality. I must take into consideration that I likely chose my life
path, which means that I chose to be born into a fundamentalist Christian
family in 1946 for a specific reason, and for a specific expansion of
consciousness having a material and corporeal experience of learning. I should
perhaps relate the nuance of the family I was born into. My mother, and my
older sisters were fundamentalist Baptists all the way, however, my father was
raised catholic but did not really attend any church regularly, and a childhood
memory I have had all these years, is when my mother would go off on a tangent
like, the Roman Catholics weren’t really saved, my dad would say. “Iva, I think
you’ll be surprised when you get to heaven who’s there. I guess that I sensed
that he did not take the fear of hell all that seriously, and that likely
rubbed off on me. You can find a more
in-depth explanation of my interesting transition from fundamentalist to
agnostic, to mystic, back to evangelical, and finally back to an eclectic and
syncretistic spiritual mystic that is probably more accurately a panpsychist. I
will post a link to it at the bottom of this article.
So, why wasn’t my foray into evangelicalism a waste of time?
That is the question that is the main point of this post. While I understand
that orthodox Christianity and especially evangelical orthodoxy is very toxic,
there is a fairly important mystical message within the Jesus Narrative. It has
nothing to do with sin and salvation, and for those who have suffered spiritual
abuse, and spiritual trauma by this concept, they are unlikely to be comforted
by this realization, at least for a long period of healing, but I will state it
none the less.
If one sees some type of spirituality as important, then
this realization is best found in a part of the Jesus story. Whether one
believes that Jesus was an actual historical person or not, (I believe he was),
this message or realization is important either way. I will readily admit that
myth is an important part of all religions and spiritual traditions. Some are
beneficial and some are not, but myth has proven to be important throughout
millennia in the upward spiral of humanity. So, without further ado let me get
to the two concepts. They are what has been called the KENOSIS, and the
resurrection.
I do not want to minimize the good teaching about ethics and
love found in the sermon on the mount or various other parts of the New and Old
Testaments, but the two elements that are missing, at least explicitly in other
spiritual traditions is the KENOSIS and the RESURRECTION. I base this on the
idea that panpsychism is correct, and therefore, it is most likely that an
eclectic, syncretistic spirituality is the best way to proceed. This requires
that one uses intuition, the presence of spirit within, to discern what is
beneficial from a wide variety of spiritual and religious traditions.
Let’s first examine the concept of KENOSIS. This is an idea
that Paul mentions in his epistle to the Philippians. I will quote it from the
NRSV. Php 2:5-8 “Let the same mind be in you that
was in Christ Jesus, (6) who, though he was in the form of God, did
not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, (7) but
emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And
being found in human form, (8) he humbled himself and became
obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross.” Orthodoxy has
limited this to Jesus, but that does not acknowledge what the verse actually
says. Paul emphatically states, “Let the same mind be in you that was in
Christ Jesus.” To literally take
Paul at his word would require that we have the same view about our deity as
Jesus did. Let that sink in. According to Paul in this passage, we as humans,
should think the same way about ourselves as Jesus thought about himself. What
did he think? He thought that he was the incarnation of the Logos, the
conscious, creative word of God. He thought that he was the son of God, and
that God was his father. This means that he thought that he was the offspring
of the creative energy source.
He also thought that he was the anointing (Christ) of the
Logos, and so if we have the same mind, then we would think that we as well are
the anointing (Christ) of the Logos. You may ask was Jesus unique in this
regard? I would say that his uniqueness is in the fact that he was the
firstborn of a new humanity. He was the first one to recognize that we are the
anointing of the Logos. The writer of John’s first epistle expressed it this
way, “as Christ is in the world, so are we!” It seems very clear that
Paul’s meaning was a lot more profound than orthodoxy had expressed. In fact,
in a lot of ways, orthodoxy has been a real detriment to the mystical
understanding that the Jesus Narrative provides to all. I am advocating for
using the mystical messages of Christianity to benefit people who are far more
eclectic in their spirituality. These two understandings of Jesus are a benefit
for everyone. You don’t have to embrace Jesus as the savior from sin to realize
that woven within the message is Jesus the mystical master that can improve
ones understanding of spiritual awakening.
Now let me bring this concept’s implications to the one who
accepts eclectic spirituality as a valid path. I mean, the one who draws from a
variety of spiritual traditions to inform their view of reality, and most
especially their place in spirituality. Many of the reincarnation beliefs teach
that we forget our past experiences upon arrival into the earth plane at birth.
That is a perfect description of Kenosis. In these traditions it is the goal to
remember past experience and knowledge little by little with expansion in mind.
Kenosis in the Greek is an emptying. Emptying and forgetting are the same thing
when it comes to past knowledge and experience. Further, if as some cognitive
scientists believe, we are conscious agents, or as Dr. Bernardo Kastrup
believes we are dissociative personalities of the one universal conscious,
while we are equal with creative consciousness, we empty that knowledge. The
Jesus story provides an explanation of how we forget former lives and former
information when we incarnate. It is via KENOSIS.
Now let's look at the resurrection. It also is an important
part from the Jesus narrative. The only way that we can be sure that we are eternal
is if we are resurrected. That is exactly what is claimed that Jesus did or had
done to him. There are no other religions the claim to have the resurrection
phenomenon. This is yet another place where parts of the Jesus narrative can
inform all religions and it isn't necessary to accept the orthodox position of
sin and salvation. Rather, one who is accepting of eclectic and syncretistic
spirituality can glean truths from various traditions and amalgamate them in
the one view of spirituality. So for instance, 1 can include kenosis and the
resurrection with reincarnation and form a better picture of spiritual reality.
It's possible that when Jesus spoke of being born again he
was referencing reincarnation. He was speaking in spiritual terms. Therefore,
being born again, could allow one to realize that they will have the
opportunity to experience many lives on the earth plane and forget the past
lives only to rediscover the important truths that carry over into the growth
of the individual spiritually. This adds additional experiential information
and knowledge to the whole and is likely the reason for our incarnating in the first
place. This idea allows Jesus to actually be revealing additional truth to what
was already present in other spiritual traditions. This could be true even of
Judaism if one realizes that the Kabbalah accepts many of the characteristics
eastern spiritual traditions.
While it is absolutely not necessary that one embraces the
Jesus narrative or for that matter studies it at all it is still true that
understanding kenosis and resurrection are important concepts in eclectic and syncretistic spirituality. It seems a shame to me that orthodoxy and
Christianity in general has developed a dogma so toxic as to make it impossible
for those who have been traumatized by it to adopt certain revelations into
their spiritual view.
Here is the link I promised to my story:
The lyrics of John Lennon’s “Imagine” is something to consider and even move toward. A siblinghood of humanity that is inclusive and not exclusive. This could be achieved without sacrificing various kinds of spirituality as long as the exclusive nature of them is eliminated. Whether it is religion, philosophy, or national division and divisiveness it is unnecessary with the simple addition of tolerance. Tolerance and acceptance should be at the heart of any ontology. Beating swords into plowshares is a noble goal. It is in this vane that I would suggest the above title. It is not designed to start another divisive religion, but rather to provide a way in which people can honor their traditions, by embracing the best and eliminating the worst of belief systems. Letting go of terms like dogma, orthodox, and heterodox, and further letting go of the ideas that exist behind the terms is the first necessary step.
Still, there is nothing wrong with holding onto spiritual
explanations of the nature of reality. For example, the Christ concept is a reasonable one when considering that it is the Christ of the Logos, or in other
words, the anointing of creative consciousness. Christ as Richard Rohr has so
eloquently stated is not Jesus of Nazareth’s last name. It is important to
realize what the terms meant within their original language and too their
original audience. Christos was an anointing, a rubbing on of an ointment as
done for anointing kings. Logos was a word but in the Greek philosophical sense
it was creative consciousness. So, the universal or cosmic Christ is a
description of the anointing or the presence of the Logos. Jesus taught that it
was the natural state of humanity. While he acknowledged his Christ, he also
saw it as being for everyone. He did not think it was unique to him but
available to all. This is one of the main themes of John’s gospel.
A concept that fits well with the Christ of the Logos is the
Tao. Simply stated, the Tao, pronounced Dao is the creative conscious source of
the universe and is similar in nature to the Hermetic concept of “the-all.” It
should be noted here that most all civilizations had in one way or another the
concept of the universal creative source. Many of the indigenous tribes,
especially of the Americas called it the great spirit. While it is easy in
retrospect to romanticize the concept of the great spirit. The indigenous
tribes certainly had their share of wars, violence, and inhumane practices it
is interesting that the concept was essentially similar to the concept of
pneuma or qi (chi.) The life force and breath have been ubiquitous in cultures
over millennia in describing the prime source of life and energy.
For an ontology to be plausible it needs to have consistency
in agreement across multiple areas. It must at the very least take account for
previous spiritual traditions and recognize the truth that is embedded with all
of them to one degree or the other. It must also take into consideration
scientific thought, theories, and established data. However, it is important to
be able to recognize that science too has dogma, and dogmatic factions that
make it difficult for the non-scientist to easily filter out the dogmatic from
the exploratory and theoretical. When one recognizes that within the scientific
community, especially within quantum and astro-physics, that there is a wide
variety of disagreement. Likewise, when it comes to the nature of consciousness
there is equally a wide range of theories. While there is currently an effort to
advance those aspects of science, consciousness itself is a difficult topic to
study with mathematical precision. Some are trying, especially Dr. Donald
Hoffman, but it is in the infancy stage, and most are locked into the dogma of
physicalism and believe that consciousness is an evolutionary product of the
brain. However, in so doing they simply bypass the hard problem of
consciousness.
This in my view devalues the purview of logic and
epistemology. There are things that can be knowable that are not mathematically
provable or modeled. It is especially in this area that panpsychist idealism offers
a more plausible explanation of reality than the materialist, physicalist
explanation that stops short of explaining the why of existence. In a nutshell,
the Panpsychism Idealist view sees consciousness as the foundational basis for
reality. It is not completely out of the question given the nature of the
quantum field of waves that collapse into particles based on observation.
Further, it explains the many paranormal and supernatural occurrences
that are common over millennia that have been reported ubiquitously across
cultures, eras, and among a plethora of reliable people. If you name the
anomaly, Panpsychist Idealism explains it.
Spiral Dynamics and Theodicy
There was a song written in 1995 that asked this question.
“What if god was one of us?” It went on to ask, “a slob like one of us, a
stranger on a bus?” There is a way in which that song rings far more true than
at first hearing. In fact, it is plausible that it could indeed be true. Let’s
assume that the creator of the universe is collective consciousness. That the
reason for calling it collective is it is made up of individual conscious
agents in a collective that are jointly and severally divine. I will show later
on in this article that this idea is indeed the most likely of all possible
scenarios. Further, I will show that heretofore all of the mystics that
religions were built upon were simply misunderstood, and that their message was
coopted. It is my view that the orthodox Christian view of the creator is the
least likely scenario with respect to reasonable plausibility. That view makes
theodicy impossible.
Here is the description of the model of deity that I believe
to be the most plausible and reasonable of all possibilities and likewise, I
will explain why the scenario, of not having a conscious creative source, is
probably the worst of all possibilities. Eternal consciousness exists and has
always existed and is dark energy that produces dark matter. This is the first
and only miracle needed. The materialist view also needs a first and only
miracle and that is the existence of hydrogen atoms. So, in this both theories
begin with a miracle or at least an unknowable circumstance. Dark energy
contemplates all the dimensions and dark matter is continuously expanding and
sustaining material creation. It is by conscious energy that the waves of
potentiality are collapsed into particles. We then, jointly (the collective)
and severally (individual conscious agents) collapse the waves of potentiality
into the particulate matter of the corporeal world.
We create these modalities of existence to expand
consciousness. Further, we are divine and eternal being a part of the
collective. This eliminates completely the concept of an all wise and potent
creator apart from us and creates us as divine agents experiencing the
expansion of consciousness. All of the various religions have created metaphors
to explain the collective. The metaphors are father and mother, and the
individual conscious agents are the offspring or the children. It is in this
realm that free will exists. It is likewise in this realm that eternity exists
and therefore, being eternal, no actual lasting harm can come to any. While
suffering is real in some realms of existence it is not eternal and all
experience it. Likewise, what one could call fortunate, pleasurable, and
beneficial, though not eternal is experienced equally by all from time to time
as expanding consciousness dictates. This is not meant to minimize the
suffering or the contentment, but rather places each in perspective of the
eternal purpose of expanding consciousness. It makes conscious agents masters
of their own fate with free will. This alone provides complete theodicy.
So where does spiral dynamics enter the picture? It is
evident in the upward spiral of humanity over the millennia. Individually and collectively, we are creating
a better, more loving, more equitable world. Further, consciousness is
expanding toward a more widespread and eventually enlightened reality. Examples
are everywhere. Medicine and quality of life is expanding, equity of
opportunity is expanding. Statistics bear this out. The amount of people living
in extreme poverty has dropped from 2 billion in 1981 to 1.2 billion in 2011
according to the World Bank Poverty:
the past, present and future | World Economic Forum (weforum.org). We have
progressed from the archaic, through the tribal, the authoritarian, ethno-nationalistic,
democratic, and are heading toward the democratic social stage. I realize that
there are remnants of many of the stages still present or coinciding with the
highest achievement, but that is the way spiral dynamics works. In addition to
this, there are more and more people headed to the tier two aspects of spiral
dynamics, with the ultimate being enlightenment.
Here is an image that shows the stages of spiral dynamics.
So then, of the three explanations of reality, the emperor
god, atheism, or panpsychism, the latter is by far the best choice, and it
completely eliminates theodicy. One can equate monotheism with the emperor god
and of course atheistic physicalism speaks for itself, there is no god and no
purpose just accidental evolution, and with the panpsychism explained in this
article there is a purpose and a reasonable explanation of good and evil, and
more specifically the existence of evil. Both moral evil and natural evil
(earthquakes, disease etc.) are a natural result of the material corporeal
experiment but conscious agents being eternally divine experience an "evening
out" of suffering and comfort.
The reason that the panpsychist view is superior is that it
ultimately produces hope and a reason to love. While the emperor god view
promotes trauma, guilt, and shame, the atheistic physicalistic view is ok for
those who are encountering even a modicum of comfort but, it is devastating to
those who were born into poverty and harshness. In those cases, atheism can
lead naturally to one becoming a murderous outlaw. It increases crimes against
people and property. Without eternal hope and understanding, deep suffering can
produce a complete disregard for life.
Let’s examine the three positions in terms of what they provide
most individuals that have ever lived. The emperor god cannot be absolved of
creating suffering no matter how one looks at it. It is a view that makes the
divine creator arbitrary and capricious and no, giving human’s free will and choice
does not eliminate culpability. So many people have been born into poverty and
suffering, or just vary hard living conditions that overall life was not that
great a gift. They would have been better off not existing.
The same thing rings true for the atheistic view. If there
is no purpose and life evolved for no reason, then this view is the most toxic
of all. It leaves everything in life to chance. If one was born into wealth and
comfort, great but if not, they simply lose. Further, when you consider the
numbers of people who were born prior to the last two centuries it was really
an unfair plight to have been born.
Finally, the panpsychist view, that all is consciousness and
is created by consciousness is a view that offers eternal equilibrium and
justice. If we are in fact all divine and individual conscious agents that
participate in developing the material corporeal experience, and also have a
multitude of other dimensions, worlds, circumstances that cannot even be
imagined, we then have a narrative that will allow all to feel that over time
and development all will experience the expansion of consciousness by
participating in each creative experiment available to conscious agents that is
ever expanding in an upward spiral. Further having each dimensional experience
adding to the whole in the same way that humanity has developed as viewed by
spiral dynamics and seeing that the potential for growth is well beyond
imagination. In my view this is the best possible scenario, and it resonates
well with me.
It is my belief that all of the mystics and masters of the
past were actually trying to communicate this idea but were misunderstood. Sometimes
it was from real misunderstanding and in some cases, it was purposefully misrepresented
to favor those who were passing on and writing down the message. Those who
wrote their own like Lao Tzu and Rumi had a clearer more pure message, and of
course, Jesus who had all of his teachings passed on by second hand and third hand
messengers was likely the least clear. However, with our intuition and the
divine spirit that indwells each and every one of us, even there the real message
can be discerned.
Panpsychism makes it all one thing:
If the universe is a creation of consciousness. If the main
energy source of the world around us is consciousness. If indeed consciousness
creates reality, then all phenomena stem from one thing. And to state the
obvious, that one thing is consciousness. This would include normal phenomena,
and also paranormal phenomena, or anomalous phenomena. Over the centuries,
there have been a multitude of stories about anomalous phenomena. So, what are
the various forms of these anomalies? Well, there is the UFO/UAP phenomenon.
There is the spirit/ghost/poltergeist phenomenon. There is the cryptid
phenomenon. There is the power spot or power vortex phenomenon. There is the
interdimensional portal phenomenon. There is the psychic, clairvoyant, medium,
telepathic phenomenon. I do not claim this list is exhaustive as I have
probably missed many paranormal phenomena, but I simply want to point out that it is widespread. It is widespread over the planet, and from stories of the past it
is widespread over time. In fact, from petroglyphs and hieroglyphs it goes back
thousands of years, and conservatively, fifty centuries, and quite likely one
hundred centuries. What is the old adage? Where there is smoke there is fire,
and the smoke of these ubiquitous stories, point to a fire of plausibility. I
like the term, preponderance of evidence. In this regard, the preponderance is
overwhelmingly evident.
All of these anomalous phenomena have been met with
skepticism over the ages, and I would say that over the last one hundred plus
years, they have been ridiculed. And yet, over this same time frame, religions
with likewise wild claims, have been accepted without question. Who are the main ridiculers? Dogmatic
Christian groups and dogmatic materialist, physicalist scientist. The obvious
reason is that they interfere with the dogma and bring it into question. Yes
indeed, I am linking materialist, physicalist scientists with dogmatic religion.
There is a level of hubris in both groups that is unmatched. Likewise, they
both have a vested interest in downplaying and debunking these phenomena.
On the other hand, the mental universe has been a continuous
story across cultures for millennia. While I mostly understand it from the
perspective of hermeticism and Taoism it is prevalent in other spiritual
traditions including animism. So back to the concept of preponderance of the
evidence. There is a preponderance of views about mental alchemy. The Logos,
which is the conscious word of the creator has been widely reported for
thousands of years beginning with Pythagoras and the Greeks who claimed that it
originated in ancient Egypt. Circle all the way to 2022 and you have many
scientists that hold a view called panpsychism. Of course, I have often
mentioned Dr. Donald Hoffman and Dr. Rupert Sheldrake as two scientists that
believe that reality is first and foremost mentation. Hoffman is a cognitive
scientist and Sheldrake is a biologist that has developed a theory describing
morphic fields of resonance in animals and humans.
But now breaking it down into the categories. There are
Multiple reports annually about flying saucers. There are thousands per year in
the USA. In fact, in 2020 there were 7200 reports in the USA alone. Many of
these reports are from the military and military pilots who have seen and
captured them on cameral. Added to this, there is radar evidence to back them
up. Not only do they fly at unheard of speeds and maneuver in ways that impossible
to our current technology, but they can zip into the water and emerge. In fact,
the evidence is beginning to show that some of them at least may have a base of
operations in the oceans. It is a phenomenon that affects the navy more than
the air force.
So, what is the implication of these craft? What is the implication
of the presence of other worldly or extraterrestrial beings observing us? I say
other worldly because they may be extra-dimensional or they could be from
another planet, star system within the galaxy. The fact remains that if the
universe is mentation, then it is possible for worm holes and portals to be accomplished
by mental manipulation, a skill that we have not yet understood or developed. If
from another dimension it could be that they have constructed UFO’s, UAP’s, and
USO’s that help maneuver in this three-dimensional world. One thing for sure is
that it expands greatly the concept of the creative source of the universe and eliminates
a god in the box that religion has created. It also establishes the fact that
what was once ridiculed and considered mass hysteria is now admitted existing
by governments around the world. It is not a quantum leap to believe that all paranormal
activity that is widely reported across cultures and time has validity as well.
But what about spiritual dimensions? Could they simply be
dimensions within the universe that we as yet do not understand? That is more
than likely the case. However, if the universe is an organic and atomic
computer creation, and if it is sentient then it is possible that what we have
come to call the spiritual world or spiritual dimension is all there is. At
this time, I lean in that direction. There is one thing that is undeniable.
What we call paranormal activity is reported extensively over all locations and
time eras. It crosses cultures and centuries and by the sheer preponderance of
the reporting it should be taken seriously. Especially when the reports are so
similar.
There is a growing number of panpsychists that offer the
possibility that it is all one thing. Many of them are well respected and
published scientists and philosophers. While not all of them are comfortable
calling consciousness spiritual, the fact is that it operates as essentially
the same thing. Most metaphysicians look at spirituality being another name for
panpsychism. It is definitely in this realm that all of the above-mentioned
paranormal phenomena can fit nicely together as one thing, and that is likely
why you have such wide reporting of a variety of phenomena at places like
Skinwalker Ranch in the Uintah Basin, and Mount Shasta in Northern California.
Up until the time that I began to understand panpsychism I had a hard time
accepting that cryptids, and portals and other spiritual anomalies accompanied
UFO/UAP activity. Panpsychism offers a unifying medium for all of them. Certainly,
panpsychism offers a plausible answer to the problem of inter-stellar
distances, explains how it is possible for extraterrestrials to hide in plain
sight. It also explains portals in the sky and on the earth.
Consider a panpsychism view of reality. That view suggests that at the source of the universe is consciousness. So far as we know consciousness is invisible. Both the Hermetica and the Bible speak about creation coming from darkness. “Darkness was upon the face of the deep,” and “hovering over the dark waters of potentiality.” Panpsychism believes that within consciousness lies all potentiality. Quantum mechanics speaks of potentiality instead of materiality. Lao Tzu said that the ineffable Tao was the mother of all spirit and matter. Again, the spirit is likened to the wind or the breath because it is invisible. Therefore since there is an ubiquitous idea that consciousness or mind is the creative source of the universe in ancient writings and philosophies, I think it is safe to assume that the bible and the hermetica are both referring metaphorically to dark matter and dark energy.
Here is a quote from an article about the effort to find out more about dark matter...
“It
is essentially impossible to understand our observation of history, of the
evolutionary cosmos without dark matter,” Manalaysay said.
"Bless
me with Knowledge of Atum,' I begged. Suddenly everything changed before me.
Reality was opened out in a moment. I saw the boundless view. All became
dissolved in Light — united within one joyous Love. Yet the Light cast a
shadow, grim and terrible, which, passing downwards, became like restless
water, chaotically tossing forth spume like smoke. And I heard an unspeakable
lament — an inarticulate cry of separation. The Light then uttered a Word,
which calmed the chaotic waters. My Guide asked: 'Do you understand the secrets
of this vision? I am that Light — the Mind of God, which exists before the
chaotic dark waters of potentiality. My calming Word is the Son of God — the
idea of beautiful order; the harmony of all things with all things. Primal Mind
is parent of the Word, just as, in your own experience, your human mind gives
birth to speech.”
Freke, Tim. The Hermetica: The Lost Wisdom of the Pharaohs (pp. 32-33). Tim Freke Publications. Kindle Edition.
Also, look at this quote from the New Testament: Heb 11:3 “ faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.”
COULD THE METAPHOR OF HERMES "THE DARK CHAOTIC WATERS OF POTENTIALITY BE "DARK MATTER"?
I personally find that the preponderance of evidence shows that mystical revelation from source has suggested for millennia that consciousness is the creative agent. This would be true of the Greek Logos, and the Chinese Tao as well. The descriptors of dark and invisible fit nicely into this theory.
Egohood
Everywhere you turn these days you can find people who
suggest that in solving our most perplexing and disabling problems that the
answer is to let go of ego and become one with all. Further that we should deny
ourselves and work toward the good of a whole and become one with it. Many
spiritual paths suggest that the ego is essentially bad, that is our enemy and
needs to be brought under control by denying it.
However, in reading the “Arcane Formulas” by William Walker
Atkinson one finds a different view of the ego. The Arcane Formulas is a small
written work by Atkinson that gives practical steps and exercises to enable one
to do mental alchemy and spiritual feats. First among the steps is the developing
of what he calls egohood. For Atkinson, egohood is a goal to be reached and not
everyone reaches it. One is not born with egohood. Rather it develops or is
developed by awakening. For many esoteric teachings initiates are awakened to
an egoless state, but for Atkinson, initiates are awakened to egohood.
With Atkinson, egohood is synonymous with the awareness of
the I-AM within the individual. This is differentiated from the me or self.
Here is an excerpt from the Arcane Formulas that explains that concept. “Just
as one is bound by the illusion of the corporeal nature of the “I,” so is it
further bound—and even more closely bound—by the illusion of the personal
nature of the Ego. The Ego is not only more, and greater, than the physical
body it uses—but it is also more, and greater, than that part of the mind,
consisting of a series of inherited or acquired impressions which constitutes
the “Me.” There is a great difference between the “Me and the I.” The “Me” is
the individual as he thinks he is—a bundle of prejudices, tastes, ties, etc.
The “I” is the Individual as he is in reality—free from mental ties of all
Lesson IV. Establishing the Ego III. 21 kinds. The “Me” is the character being
played by the Ego—the “John Smith” part of him. The “I” is the real player of
the part. It is often very difficult for one to disentangle and free himself
from the overwhelming force of Personality, so completely is the average person
self-hypnotized and race-hypnotized with the “John Smith” idea. The Arcane
Teachers have several Formulas for unloosening the bonds of Personality. Let us
consider them” ~ The Arcane Formulas, William Walker Atkinson, Timeless
Wisdom Collection, 2016, page 14
In this quote, found in the third chapter of this booklet entitled
Egohood III, Atkinson points out the difference between the I (I-AM) and the
me. He sees the me as a part in a play that the I-AM is acting in. The I-AM or
egohood is directly tied to the Will. And as one moves on in the Arcane Formulas
it is evident that the Will is the I-AM within the cosmic I-AM, or the cosmic
will. This is the source of being able to manipulate and manifest from the
infinite potentiality.
Atkinson claims, and I am not certain that I agree or that
it resonates with me, but nevertheless, the claim is that no all people have
the potential to develop egohood, the I-AM, the will within the cosmic will.
That does not resonate with me like the concept of egohood and the I-AM does. I
think it is because I see each of us as individual conscious agents on a
journey of incarnations that has us at different stages in the growth spiral,
and while I have no problem with accepting that some people within a specific
incarnation may not be able to achieve egohood, I think that eventually they
will. I see our spiritual journey as an upward spiral that may from time to
time take downward movement but is ultimately on an upward trajectory. Do not despair
about being locked into a cycle of karma. While there is not time to discuss
this in this particular article, I believe that we are each in control and
there can be rest from the cycle when necessary, and a return when rest has
refreshed our spirit.
There is a full circle from ancient mystery religions to cognitive and quantum science. The connection is panpsychism. At the basis of Panpsychism is the idea that consciousness is the basic element of the universe. Here is a definition from the Britannica Online Encyclopedia. “panpsychism, (from Greek pan, “all”; psychē, “soul”), a philosophical theory asserting that a plurality of separate and distinct psychic beings or minds constitute reality. Panpsychism is distinguished from hylozoism (all matter is living) and pantheism (everything is God).
For Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, the 17th-century German
philosopher and a typical panpsychist, the world is composed of atoms of energy
that are psychic. These monads have different levels of consciousness: in
inorganic reality they are sleeping, in animals they are dreaming, in human
beings they are waking; God is the fully conscious monad.
In 19th-century Germany, Arthur Schopenhauer asserted
that the inner nature of all things is will—a panpsychistic thesis. And Gustav
Theodor Fechner, the founder of experimental psychology and an ardent defender
of panpsychism, contended that even trees are sentient and conscious.” In the
United States, Josiah Royce, an absolute idealist, not only followed Fechner in
affirming that heavenly bodies have souls but also adopted a unique theory that
each species of animal is a single conscious individual—incorporating into
itself the individual souls of each of its members
While panpsychism is not a religion, it is adopted by
various religions including pantheism and panentheism. There is also a close
relationship between panpsychism and animism. Animism is a religion that
believes that the cosmos is a living entity. It is common among indigenous
beliefs such as the Native America shamanic religions. It sees conscious entities
beyond human beings and animals. The mountains, the forest, the sun and moon
all are conscious entities. The bottom line is that these beliefs hold
consciousness as a top down causation rather than as some material panpsychists
see the consciousness at the molecular level and believe that it evolves into
greater and greater awareness in a bottom up fashion.
Since I was born into western civilization and thereby into
western thought that has been my focus in study. I certainly believe in the
recycling of souls or conscious agents, and since I believe that each conscious
agent is a mini creative conscious in the likeness of the source, then I
believe that free will demands that we are instrumental in choosing our life
path in incarnations. I realize that this is not popular with those who have
experienced a lot of trauma, and I do not want to victim blame, but at the end
of the matter, in my view, this is the least undesirable of all the other
possibilities. While someone in the midst of a traumatic life path may find
little solace in the reality that he or she is eternal, and that nothing lasts
forever except our conscious soul, it remains for me the most logical fact.
That aside, in selecting to be born into western culture,
western religion, and western philosophy I can best explain what my thinking is
in terms of the development of western philosophy. So, I mention panpsychism,
religion, and science in the title. I also see what I would call a preponderance
of evidence that consciousness is indeed at the basis of the nature of reality.
It does begin with Hermes for me. I assume and I think that the evidence points
to the fact that it is at least 5,000 years old and began with the mystery
religions of Egypt. It was taken to Greece by Pythagoras and adopted into Greek
Philosophy and Metaphysics. This was the forerunner of mathematics and modern
physics. The ancients adopted the idea of the ether/aether. Looking back it was
essentially a field in which all things existed. The catalyst for matter and
the material, corporeal world was the Logos, in other words consciousness. Over
time, this gave way to a more materialistic view of the nature of reality, however,
with recent developments in cognitive science, physics, and biology we have
returned back to a field similar in nature to the ether/aether.
Interestingly enough, in the twentieth century we had
individuals that were stating that the universe is consciousness. For example,
Aldous Huxley doing controlled experiments with hallucinogens, developed the
term the mind at large. Carl Jung, a psychiatrist, developed the term collective
unconsciousness. Rupert sheldrake developed the theory of fields of morphic
resonance. So there is a circular phenomenon at play but it is a spiral. With
an increase in technology and scientific method, what the ancients knew
intuitively is being substantiated by scientific method.
I am quite sure that all of the various world belief systems
have explored and developed this over arching idea. They have just used
different language to express it. At this time, I do not have the study and
expertise to validate it but it resonates strongly with my sense of
understanding. What I am seeing is more along the lines of the nature of
reality and not ethical. However, I certainly believe that ethics can fit well
into this cycle that appears to be an upward spiral.
There is a simple test that has steadied me over the years whenever questions begin to surface, whenever inherited theological structures st...
