30th July 2023
It is blog 20! The summer spirit is still in the Scottish air, it has been almost 2 years since I started this blog. In this twentieth blog, I would like to state the important message to ‘Come To Your Senses!’. This will affect every component of your life, from the root level. What goes on behind that eye of yours?
1 Why our Modern Approach Limits our Sense of the World
Trying to make sense of the world has been a human endeavour since antiquity. We have used our consciousness to apply our attention outwards. In doing so, we have been able to create laws and models of the external world to produce great things from science to engineering feats. Even in the medical domain by applying standardised reductionism and rationalism externally to our world we have found internal disease causes and the structure of our very own DNA. Indeed we have conceptualised even the nature of an atom.
Notice, in modern times we have applied our attention outwards to solve problems with remarkable success. Even studying our own brain waves with external sensors to detect the pattern of our sleep cycles. However this leaves out using a very important and arguably most complex sensor we have, our own consciousness and attention. No matter how much in detail waves are measured, this will not match the internal perception using our very own attention.
This type of sensing gives knowledge by using our attention to go inwards contrary to grasping the external world. This is much harder the standardise yet equally important. Because we standardise the external world we lose quality in the sensing, but of course this allows us to practically advance in our life and is ultimately effective.
However the degree of fidelity when applying the attention inwards and putting attention into what exactly arises, let’s us ask profound questions. Why are we engineering a device in the first place? What is motivating us to measure thought patterns in the first place?
I want to devote time to explore the nature of the equally valid internal reality with attention since this is the other half to the world we live in. And is the primary way in which we navigate the reality.
2 Sensing a Full Picture of Reality
In ancient times, civilisations put focus and equality into understanding the nature of our own internal worlds. This inner world drives our work in the external world. However our understanding and focus in the modern age does not equal that of before. We now put more attention on the external world. In fact by putting attention on our inner world and how reality is viewed from the inside, we gain insight into the very nature of reality and the external world itself. We begin to perceive in more detail how we are perceiving reality and ourselves.
It seems surprising that many people are engaging in external events, using a lot of attention without understanding what parts inside them are driving their attention and their motivations.
We can begin to categorise and notice thought forms and feelings in our inner world, the laws in which they operate, and how they form personalities and archetypes. Just like the seasons of Earth or the diversity of the universe, the inner world of consciousness has the same depth of diversity.
By placing the attention inwards, not only is this diversity is observed but also what is prominent in one individual to another. Certain inner worlds prioritise certain cognitive functions, inputting, processing and outputting the world compared to others. Just as all inner worlds contain all processes equally but prioritise them differently, naturally so too this can be seen in nature where all different forces are at play and have different balances.
3 Navigating the Internal World Consciously
The inner world elements have a certain amount of energy devoted to it that determines their stacking and priority within the individual and how they show up. All elements are always present but have a different balance. As within the inner world so too the human population.
The elements all provide a function and process. For example, from using energy to create external structures, sensing emotion, processing thought points, expressing thought forms etc. When the attention and a element or a collection of them (part) becomes inseparable unconsciousness occurs. The attention observing is lost and immersed into the certain energy at play.
Grouping and standardising certain stacking of inner processes according to their prominence results in the illusion of archetypes. For example The Macho Man, The Sage, The Damsel in Distress, The Hero, The Villain, The Joker etc. This can extend to more complex architypes such as Gods representing multiple parts and virtues or personality archetypes like ENFJ, roles such as parents/child/sibling/wife or even gender/cultural/generational stereotypes. The archetypes are useful in representing a practical view and a holding point to view the inner world. Again as this is standardised it does not take into account the full fluidity of the mental processes at play in real time. This does provide a practical representation – the result of certain processes stacking as per prominence as discussed. This allows us to spot: certain balances at play, the nature of the play and strengths & weaknesses associated with that. Again like the seasons.
An issue arises when the true reality and granularity of the elements, the mental processes and it’s stack is lost and the illusion of the archetype is held onto, idolised, condemned or even worshipped. Therefore one may be able to spot certain patterns of the external world but not comprehend the full reality at play. Much like believing the images on the screen are real, rather than seeing the play of the pixels.
3 The Ancient Play of Our Internal World
Going back to the ancient pantheons of Greek, Pagans and Hindus we see certain archetypes at play again, presenting the stacking of processes within us. Certain stacking leads to thoughts and emotions on a situation. The play between archetypes leads to stories and mythologies of parts personified as human characters that lead to a moral outcome or truth. However in doing so it loses the granularity of the resolution of processes at play and leaves it to the listener to perceive the play intuitively..
Within the inner world of each human each process is present and each archetype stronger or weaker according to the balance of the humans nature. Without consciously realising what is occurring within them, some humans are only focused externally. They make sense of the world, without factoring in the other half of perception.
The consciousness may place the attention internally watching mental processes at play, the stacking of them, their relation to one another, and reaction to external stimulus. The consciousness behind the attention can observe unattached. Therefore the consciousness transcends the mental processes and archetypes and watches the play. The consciousness observes and realises the transient nature of each process in the play and the quality of the balance.
This is equivalent of observing all the archetypes, god’s and goddesses of the pantheon each embodying certain qualities play out in a mythology whilst remaining an observer. Consciously watching the play loosens the attachment to the personality that developed as a result of the parts playing in a certain way.
4 Evoking your Internal Parts Consciously
However beyond the observer role processes/parts can be consciously evoked when deeply recognised by the awareness. These parts can all can be expressed consciously. This also allows the realisation of playing of the parts consciously or unconsciously in others.
Each part has a quality and essence to it that is a natural part of reality itself in terms of intensity, force and flavour. The whole play gives us perspective of how we are placed in reality and what drives our thoughts, feelings, words and actions both as individuals and as a collective species group since all parts are present within all.
The question is: do we only conceptually understand this internal play or do we truly observe the fidelity of each part playing in real time.
What is that observer self that so gracefully flows it’s attention into and between the parts? The sum seems to be mysteriously greater than just the parts. Perhaps, for another time…
To be or not to be? Come to your senses!
-Jhoty 🙂
Jhoty 