We, our information processing system, relates (relating is what it does). We take incoming information, relate that to what we have experienced in the past (to our developed map of universal existence and our part within), and make decisions (leading to contents within mind and behaviours). To say that relationships are important is a bit of an understatement, they are essential to our very existence. So having a little knowledge about them is rather useful; both about relationships in general, and the relationships our individual processing system has developed through experience.
Generally speaking, emotional responses are the basis of all relationships. Everything we encounter within universal existence, every person, animal, object , language, every idea we may learn, all that we receive into our information processing system is tied to emotional response. Our emotional responses are the drive for our information processing. With a little practice in meditation, a little information and opportunity, we can use our mindfulness training to explore the emotional drives behind thoughts.
Although Timothy Leary said that ‘whomever controls the eyes controls the mind’, it is more accurate to say that whomever controls the experience of our information processing controls the mind. This extended definition, clarification, recognises that while the information we receive is important in shaping the contents that are displayed within mind, what is of equal importance is how we deal/process the information we have received through our senses (such as eyes).
First and foremost, in order to gain control of our information processing system, and therefore our thoughts (mental world) and behaviour (physical world), we must choose to have the types of experiences (within the physical world) that are going to be best for our mental world. Basically, the more fantasy we experience the more screwed up we become (because when we learn a lot of information that is make-believe, that doesn’t fit with the reality of our universal existence, we have only fantasy information to make our decisions – and we will never be able to achieve anything of real worth in the physical, or mental, worlds with our mind in a fog of the unimportant). So turn away from the relationships with fantasies – with corporate media, entertainment, politics, advertising, etc (and turn toward independent/varied sources of information, make your own entertainment/create, spend time developing your internal politics; family/friends, creating community – relationships and infrastructure).
It is always easy to say ‘turn off the TV’, although this single act can be quite difficult (especially if you have a great deal of past experience to do with coming home after a hard day at school/work and spending an evening ‘relaxing’ in front of the TV, or the computer surfing the internet). The hard part is when you turn of the TV, then what? This is your chance to exercise (work out) your creative potential (which is infinite). Our ability to create is like a muscle within our physical body, like any system, if it is not maintained, strengthened, fed, used, it will fade away, atrophy, become useless (if we ever did want, or need, to use it). We live in the greatest playground there is, we can make whatever we dream up (if we understand universal principles); we can do this as individuals (and create art, games/moves, meals, homes, gardens, etc), and we can do this in relationships with other humans (creating families, neighbourhoods, communities, societies, etc and all that was mentioned previously).
When you do watch some TV (corporate movie, play a video game, listen to a song, etc), it is important to arm yourself for the psychological assault that is commonplace now days. In the average half hour on TV, about thirteen minutes are advertising (designed to stimulate your basic emotional drives and tie them to some concept/idea/product, with a logo). If you were to sit down and just stare at the screen for an average half hour programme, almost half that time is direct psychological manipulation designed to stimulate basic emotional drives (therefore suppressing influence of wisdom), although they usually create a nice story to go with the abuse.
Next we get to the actual content of the programming. We usually categorise movies in terms of the emotional effect they have on us, suspense thriller, horror, comedy, romance, etc, and this recognises that while these stories are nice/interesting/whatever, what is important is their overall effect on us emotionally. Everything we experience becomes a part of us, while we may not be able to quite recall all the sensory and language aspects of our past experiences, the emotional aspects all add up. Every time we feel anxious, depressed, angry, lustful, etc, or at peace, happy, of forgiveness, etc, we layer those emotional states into our processing system; the more we layer, the stronger those emotional responses become within our processing (meaning that it becomes easier for those emotions to be stimulated, and they last longer, each time we experience them).
If you suffer from anxiety then keep away from suspense thrillers and corporate media/’news’/advertising, if you are often depressed then avoid sad films/songs/corporate media/’news’/advertising. If you have anger issues then turn away from violent sports, movies, games, corporate media/’news’/advertising, etc. If you spend any of your time sexualising members of the opposite sex (viewing life as objects rather than human beings), driven by lustful impulses, then just turn off TV and keep away from corporate media/’news’/advertising for a good long time (because as our lustful drives are of the most basic, all evil corporations will try to use this particular emotion against us to sell product – hence the saying sex sells; only because they are using our sexuality as a weapon against us to goad us into consuming product/ideas of their choosing. It is time we recognise this social abuse and hold those responsible accountable).
We could go on about the psychological warfare being carried out through corporate media, advertising, entertainment, politics, etc, could write book s about it, although many others have. So do a little research, learning about how the abuse is being carried out helps you protect yourself from its effects (you can watch TV and pick out all their tricks, and know how it was designed to manipulate your information processing – can be a fun exercise). As well as learning about the layering of emotional responses with certain ideas/concepts (as briefly described here), look into Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP). While some news readers have been using NLP techniques to implant certain beliefs within the (passive public) viewers, many business people have been taught this information (and actively use it).
Like a gun, NLP is a tool, and what is important is the intent of those who use it. As we have no real way of judging the intent of those who use NLP, it is up to us to be aware of how NLP is used, and to decide if the user is trustworthy. The easiest way to work this out is to look at the content, the quality, of the information they are trying to sell. If the information creates division, separation, stimulates the those ‘sinful’, or undesirable, group of emotional responses, then the source is something we most likely want to avoid. If the information fosters connection, community, stimulates our desirable emotional states, then the source is something we should explore more (using our own judgement all the time; working from our base truth, do not steal (universal principles), and assessing all new information about universal existence in terms of our basic truth (and the truth, knowledge of universal existence, we have built up through experience) – always checking).
As we go about our existence we find that we are not always able to control the external aspect of our experiences; we find in the physical world there are things we need to do, or situations we are in, that we cannot control. Although we may not always able to choose the information we receive through our senses, (with information and opportunity) we are all able to control the internal aspect of our experience (how we process the information receive through our senses).
We are information processing systems; the more comfortable you become with this perspective the easier it is to apply the detachment from the physical world necessary to really take control of your life (full (unity) life – physical, mental, etc). Principle of rhythm, systems cycle. Essentially our system receives, processes, and reacts to information. While our info-pro-sys receives information through our senses, it also receives information from our mind. While our access to mind is part of our info-pro-sys, it is best thought of as a separate (conscious aspect of) processing; while the rest of our info-pro-sys (the majority of it) is subconscious.
It is the conscious aspect of mind where tools, such as logic, reason, abstract thought, etc, come into play. Our subconscious doesn’t have any of these tools (it is driven by our emotional responses and whatever sensory/language glyphs, beliefs/stories/ideas, we have learnt through experience). For this reason, if we want any order in our subconscious processing, we need to take the time to provide the order we desire within our conscious processing. This is the trick, our mind programmes our subconscious.
Our subconscious processing is ‘programmed’ by our conscious mind. What this means is that the ideas, beliefs, and ultimately the emotional responses, we experience within mind imprint onto our subconscious processing (making those emotional responses, ideas, beliefs, etc more dominant in subconscious processing). Remember systems cycle, and remember that our information processing is ultimately driven by emotional responses. I suppose you could say that the whole point of meditation/mindfulness training (in supplement to what was said before) is to programme the subconscious aspect of our info-pro-sys so that we are able move our conscious focus of attention closer to our essence (rather than the focus of our attention being pulled around by many different ideas/emotional responses subtly implanted/developed within our info-pro-sys through experience with our corporate based society). A processing of pulling our perspective from the river, to sit on the bank in the calm of the meadow.
If all else from here becomes past experience, try to make conscious for as long as possible the fact that our emotions drive us indeed, and as such they define us. Look at who you are emotionally. Has your emotional self developed so strong as to drown out wisdom (at least overcome its ability to determine thoughts/behaviours)? What emotional responses do you feel the most, what emotions drive the majority of your thought, the majority of your relationships with people/situations/things within the physical world?
While we live within the physical world, humanity has long moved into the world of mind (which is how we can live in a social fantasy which not only destroys/wastes the majority of human life, it also is destroying the majority of life on this planet). Although we may feel pain and pleasure, we are more focused on the world of sadness and happiness. Yet, bewilderingly, as we are socialised to focus on the physical, we often end up looking for happiness in pleasure, to only find in the long run pain and sadness.
To navigate the world we need some compass to show direction, to aid in our decision making. If we look at life in general, at the physical (aware) aspect of life we see that direction is ultimately derived from the pain/pleasure emotional responses. Humanity is member of the conscious part of life, and for us direction is ultimately derived from fear/love emotional responses. While we still operate within the world of pain/pleasure, would be foolish to ignore the pain of touching a hot element or jumping from a second story roof, we live within the informational world that moves the physical vessel (more than we live in the vessel itself) – all is mind.
Obviously the physical and mental worlds are connected; part of finding our relative health is learning about the relationships between the aspects (levels/worlds) of our being. It is recommended that you explore this idea from many perspectives; different cultures have different perspectives, framed within philosophy, spirituality, and science. At the end of the day what matter is your perspective, and as your perspective is developed through experience (experience is the most important thing for us to focus on – because we desire to develop and preside over our perspective; ensuring that it is ours and not the result of some corporate, or human, manipulation).
When our mind is uncontrolled, its tools (logical, abstract thought, etc) used by our basic emotional responses to drive thoughts, thought patterns, and behaviours, we are most easily programmed (by those who want to control us). Through walking the path to enter a state of universal governance we fortify ourselves in this war on consciousness; and in doing so, along the way, we develop the ability to hold our weapon in this war. It should be noted that in the mental world creating is developing our information processing system; the more we create certain ideas, stimulate certain emotional responses, the more they become a part of our subconscious processing. So the more we practice holding our weapon in the war on consciousness, the more we draw the concepts surrounding love into our mind, the more we shape our physical and mental worlds with the concepts (connectivity, community, creativity, etc) of love.
Fear is something conscious beings learn, it is an emotional drive to disconnection, to isolation, individualism, destruction, etc. In conscious beings, fear gives rise to such mental states as anxiety, depression, greed, lustfulness, boredom, racism, hate, etc. Love is inherent in all life, displayed as the basic drive to life, to create, to connect. In conscious beings, love gives rise to mental states such as curiosity, acceptance, peace, compassion, benevolence, creativity, etc. Use your meditation/mindfulness training to explore how you react to people/situations/things; what emotional responses drive your thoughts and behaviours?
Be the change you wish to see in the world.
At the end of the day the most important relationships are those within your information processing system (relationships between emotional responses and beliefs, between body and mind – how we relate to our essence, and to our universal existence and all the parts it contains –our human/life family). While we may live a life of servitude when we enter the state of universal governance, an aspect of that relationship is exploration, experience, enjoyment. So take the time to observe the moment we exist within, its form, how all moves in accordance with universal principles.
Choose how you want to relate to universal existence; how you want your life to be driven (and if you want to be the charioteer =).
Endnote – mental alchemy
Through understanding and applying our universal principles we can transmute lead into gold; obviously not physical lead, but emotional lead (fear based emotional responses) into gold (love based emotional responses). Remember the principle of polarity, that all polls are just two sides of the same underlying thing; because of this we can move things from one state on the spectrum to another. We can make cold things hot, and hot things cold. We can make dark things light, and light things dark, etc. In mind, we can transmute emotions of frustration to that of compassion, from anger to forgiveness, from fear to love. It all depends on what you want, who you want to be, at the end of the day; but you are the potential for creating a world beyond your wildest dreams (because, as we see as little as fifteen percent of the population turn their back on corporate social control to enter a state of universal governance, we witness the unfolding of a new age of humanity).