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Why Thinking Logically Imprisons You

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June 9, 2014

We often come across phrases in everyday life, “statistics show…”, “odds are….” or the medical field’s favorite, “research has shown…”

Many times, phrases like these are used as a precursor to a statement to imply that because something has happened a certain way to a majority of people, that it will also happen to you that exact way.

When we make assumptions about the way things will go for us based on things like statistics, polls, or comparison to others, it is safe to say that we are thinking “logically”.

But what if we chose to start approaching our life less from a logical viewpoint and more from a creative standpoint?

How would looking at our life less from an “I’m a realist. I know what the research has shown” perspective and more from an “I am creating my life as I go along through my thoughts, beliefs and attitudes” perspective, change our life for the better?

“The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift” ~ Albert Einstein

It is important to first realize that both ways of thinking, logically and creatively, have their place in the psyche. For example, things like walking, driving a car or eating food when done thinking logically would be beneficial.

However, when approaching broader life issues such as human interaction/communication, job/money making opportunities, dating/relationship issues, outlook on life, or problem solving etc…, creative thinking may be more advantageous in ensuring that we live the life that we TRULY desire.

In a society where it is not only uncommon to follow your dreams but sometimes even looked down upon, it is no wonder that so many people give up on their true goals and ambitions only to settle for a relationship they are less than thrilled in, or a job they hate but doing because it has good insurance and a 401k plan.

More often than not, people try to keep status quo. They find themselves settling for circumstances that will at least “keep them up with the jones” because logical thinking tells them that this is what is required to be fulfilled and happy.

As Deepak Chopra said, “The universe has no restrictions. You place restrictions on the universe with your expectations.”

If we believe this statement to be true, then it is safe to say that if we EXPECT to live the life we have always wanted, then why shouldn’t we be able to?

The single most debilitating emotion we as humans possess is fear. Whether it be fear of change, fear of failure, fear of what others will say or even fear of success, fear is undoubtedly the number one thing that holds people back from going after their goals.

Fear often disguises itself as logical thinking. When left unchecked, this logical thinking will run amuck labeling opportunities as “risky”, lofty goals as “unrealistic” and thinking outside the box as “silly”.

At what point did it become unrealistic to go after a life that you love? Have we become so jaded as a society that we actually expect for things in our life to be less than amazing?

If we are expecting things to not be that great then what hope do we have for things to actually be great? If we expect and accept that things will go for us just like they have for our parents, grandparents, friends etc…, as a form of logical reasoning, are we then selling ourselves short?

Does Logical thinking Imprison Us?

When we think logically, we imprison ourselves with limitations. When we think creatively, we open ourselves up to solutions and limitless possibilities. When we approach our life from a creative perspective, we will start to see failures as opportunities for growth and redirection, and we will spend more time pursuing endeavors that utilize our specific gifts and talents.

Creative thinkers feel in complete control of their lives, and expect to be successful because they expect to always be growing as a person. These expectations and beliefs will then manifest as outer reality.

Logical thinkers expect that things will go exactly as the data has shown, whereas creative thinkers know that the universe is filled with limitless potential, and just because something has happened a certain way for one person, it doesn’t mean that it will happen that way for them.

It is so important to remember that not only does the universe want you to be happy and in love with your life, but it also needs you to be. Your gifts and talents are completely unique to you alone and when utilized properly will be your gift to humanity.

Two Simple Steps Toward Authentic Freedom

Gary Z McGee

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June 9, 2014

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“There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting.” ~ Buddha

This quote, attributed to the Buddha, holds the two keys toward achieving authentic freedom. In this article we will break down these two components, while creatively analyzing how and why they always work as long as they are followed.

1) Starting

“You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment.” ~ Henry David Thoreau

If, as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe wrote “Whatever you do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it” then it behooves us to be bold with our dreams and aspirations. Not starting is only dreaming. Starting is acting on the dream.

Whatever the dream is: painting a self-portrait, traveling the world, living off the land for six months, it doesn’t matter, begin it. Discover the genius, the power, and the magic in it.

Wanting our lives to be more fulfilling and complete and magical without acting on it is like a wannabe novelist always talking about writing a novel but never actually writing anything down. Not getting started is just a cartoon in the brain. Actually starting is emancipating the cartoon, becoming an aspect of the cosmic-joke rather than the butt-end of it.

What if one day you wake up and you’re an old man or woman and you think to yourself, “Why didn’t I live the creative life I dreamed of? Why didn’t I write my memoirs? Why didn’t I travel the world? Why didn’t I paint more? Why didn’t I grow a garden instead of a lawn? Why didn’t I cliff-dive from the cliffs at Rick’s Café in Jamaica?”

The answer will more than likely be that you were afraid, or you didn’t have enough money, or you weren’t in shape, or you were too busy working, or you were worried about being perfect and never got around to simply being human. Don’t let this happen to you.

It will be heartbreaking. It breaks my heart everyday seeing people stuck in dead-end jobs, slaving away for money that never seems to be enough to live a fulfilling life. Hint: it will never be enough. Don’t wait for perfection. Don’t wait for “enough money.”

Life was meant to be lived now. Live it, for Christ’s sake! Quit people-pleasing and stringing yourself out on the illusion of perfection. Get out there and live the way you want to live, the status quo be damned. Like Rita Mae Brown said, “I think the reward for conformity is that everyone likes you except yourself.”

“The important thing,” said French critic Charles Du Bos “is to be able at any moment to sacrifice what we are for what we could become.”

Take baby steps if need be. Just begin the journey. Begin right now. What’s stopping you? Take inventory of your plethora of excuses and then toss them out the window. Defenestrate the shit out of anything and everything that’s preventing you from being the most full-frontal juicy creative version of yourself possible.

The first step will be the most difficult, enormously difficult in fact. All your doubts will come crashing down on you like the weight of God. Push him off. Shed the parochial. Kill every Buddha you see on the path. The steps will get easier and easier the more you liberate yourself from what’s been restricting you.

2) Going all the way

“Until the whole world is free to agree with you or disagree with you, until you have given the freedom to everyone to like you or not like you, to love you or hate you, to see things as you see them, or to see things differently – until you have given the whole world its freedom – you’ll never have your freedom” ~ Adyashanti

It’s not just that we’re on a journey; it’s that weare the Journey. We are not simply the bridge from animal to Overman, like Nietzsche would say; we are the “passage” itself. The glue that binds finitude with infinity is the man torn between being both an animal and a god. We are the tearing.

We are the passage. We are the walking personification of Flux. There is more to being human than choice, there’s vicissitude. The sooner we embrace these truths, the sooner we’ll be able to live the life we’ve dreamed of living.

This means we need to keep moving. This means breaking through mental paradigms like a wrecking ball breaks through brick and mortar. This means stretching comfort zones like a trickster god stretches Truth.

This means tricking ourselves out of whatever current condition has us conditioned to think that it’s the “only way.” We need such upheavals in order to individuate the ego and self-actualize the soul. Spiritual sophistication comes from constantly disrupting the current state.

Like Rumi wrote, “If you are irritated by every rub, how will you become polished?”

“The journey between what you once were and who you are now becoming,” writes Barbara Deangelis, “is where the dance of life really takes place.”

The dance of life is right now. Not a few seconds ago. Not sometime in the future. Right now! The question is: are you dancing or are you stagnating. Are you alive or just another member of the walking dead? I assure you, Somnambulant meandering does not become you. Don’t have conviction, have gumption.

Indeed, as Nietzsche once said, “Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies.”

Wake up! Smell the roses! They are the hearts bursting from the chest of every person who’s awake and living their dream. Get a good whiff, because that could be you. It should be you. It needs to be all of us, especially now.

Like Eco-theologian Thomas Berry wrote, “We will go into the future as a single sacred community, or we will all perish in the desert.”

Going only so far, and not going all the way, is like only reading one book and then thinking you know all that needs to be known. Not going all the way is like living in one place and thinking you know the way the world works.

Going all the way means the more you know the more you realize how much you don’t know. Going all the way means becoming the journey itself and realizing that it can never end unless you end it. The journey is indeed the thing.

Keep going. Keep challenging yourself. Accept that there is no destination. The more we move, the more we become intimate with all things. Sidestep even God if he gets in your way, especially if he’s prepackaged. Keep the wind in your hair and the fire at your back.

Lick your wounds from time to time, but keep going. Go with a full heart that has been sharpened by the experience of stretching comfort zones, shattering mental paradigms, and flattening status quo boxes, and I assure you that a life well-lived shall not elude you. Godspeed!

Richard St. John: "Success is a continuous journey"

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Do not give up
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Keep going

Transforming Loneliness into Solitude

Garima Roy

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June 8, 2014

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I don’t know if I’m unhappy because I’m not free, Or if I’m not free because I’m unhappy – Patricia Franchini, Breathless

Do you truly feel free? Deal with this question genuinely as within the answer resides the truth of your state of mind. Do you feel stuck in this trap of desires or are you genuinely content with wherever and however you are?

You may have found your dream job, partner, house but still you find yourself stuck in the labyrinth of loneliness and emptiness.

You feel restless day after day because your conscious mind wants to rise and grow. It doesn’t want to be stuck in time. Its a sort of isolation; not just from other people in one’s life, but from one’s life itself.

It begins with an existential crisis that encompasses existential loneliness, existential angst, existential fear and existential sufferings; all of it combined is a gateway to existential solitude.

“However vast the darkness, we must supply our own light.” ~ Stanley Kubrick

Loneliness, like fear, is an edgy emotion and you have to pass through it if you want to enter your inner world. It is an emotion that poets, writers, yogis and artist celebrate to undergo transformation. It’s a tool for spiritual growth.

Embrace loneliness – it is an adventure towards solitude. To find profound significance of life is an engagement with the centre that lies within each one of us. And there is no spiritual short cut to being spiritually intelligent.

Anger, fear, disappointment and sadness all arise out of loneliness. Once you transform loneliness into solitude, your sense of peace never gets separated from you. However it’s a long way home and you have to do intense self-inquiry. Realise the thoughts and emotions that fill you with pain and restlessness.

It could be reminiscing past memories, future fears, suffered humiliations, love and friendships denied, failed goals. Accept those emotions. Disassociate yourself with the gloom factor present in those emotions and use it as a stepping stone to become a spiritually stronger and a better person.

Understanding Solitude in context of Ego

“A pale reflection of myself wavers in my consciousness…and suddenly the “I” pales, pales, and fades out.” ~ Jean-Paul Sarte, Nausea

Ego exists in order to be flattered. Your ego carries an identity and identifies with certain sources of joy. Any shift in the paradigm discomforts your ego and that leaves you feeling horrible. But do you realise that the root cause of suffering here is having a fixed sense of identity for yourself? The truth is in order to evolve one has to constantly change.

You cannot cage yourself because of your ego. Your soul seeks freedom, but your ego has a hard time believing that you are not running after an identity.

You actually construct an emotional baggage by trying to maintain an image in front of your friends, maintain a certain kind of influence in office, have perfect social circle and so many other things. Don’t trouble yourself. Freedom means carrying the same self everywhere.

You are exactly what you are when alone. Denying this fact is denying your own existence. Once you embrace yourself with your loneliness, you become free. In that freedom, you experience solitude. Solitude is an opportunity to renew yourself, regain perspective in life and restore the body and mind. No matter wherever you are; in solitude you are at home.

As Walt Whitman said , “Alone…. And the soul emerges.”

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Solitude

The Dance of the Holographic Universe

Life

Ryan Brown

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June 7, 2014

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For more than three quarters of a century now, modern physicists have known that scientific thought based solely on the previously accepted Newtonian view of a mechanical universe is fundamentally incorrect.

What is now referred to as the ‘new science’ has emerged from new understandings and discoveries that were simply not possible by scientific ideas prevailing from the time of Isaac Newton to the early twentieth century. These new realizations have interesting implications on the role human consciousness plays in our understanding of reality.

Before these new discoveries, the world was assumed to operate according to concrete physical laws, and any idea of consciousness having any importance was shunned.

As Henry Stapp puts it in his book Mindful Universe: “Any notion that your conscious choices make a difference in how you behave was branded an illusion: you were asserted to be causally equivalent to a mindless automation.”

As Stapp goes on to explain, even though this incorrect view of human functioning was proven false long ago, its influence can still be seen in all aspects of our society: governments, schools, the media, courts, medical institutions and ultimately, ourselves.

This fundamental flaw in the worldview of a vast majority of people in the world could be the reason why there is so much widespread neglect of the environment, social injustice and the general degradation of humanity as a whole.

What follows from a mechanistic view of reality is a sense of detachment from one’s true nature. If a person views him or herself as having no control over the material forces that are assumed to run the universe, a hopeless state is bound to take hold. If everything is happening ‘out there’ beyond our control, what meaning is there to be found in life and humankind’s place in the universe?

We are now at a point in the evolution of humanity where the new discoveries of scientific research are more accessible than ever, as is the ancient wisdom which has been with us all along. It is becoming obvious that the mainstream media and the majority of the current educational system do not actually have an interest in elevating the consciousness of humanity.

Rather, they are concerned with perpetuating misleading memes and keeping the majority caught in the fatalistic worldview of a mechanical universe.

The new Holographic Paradigm

Elevated states of consciousness, which were once only accessible by the mystic, are rapidly beginning to be investigated by scientific minds of our time.

A new paradigm is emerging: that of the holographic universe. It is a paradigm in which consciousness, once thrown out as a useless imagining, is now acknowledged as the long sought after ‘missing link.’

Researchers like the late David Bohm of the University of London drew on large bodies of contemporary research to formulate a new theory of the role consciousness plays in our understanding of the universe. Bohm viewed thought as an organizational framework by which we categorize our experience of the world.

In this sense, thoughts can be seen as world views, or a sort of filter through which we can understand the totality of the world. These world views are dynamically linked to the energetic fields we resonate with. From this, it stands to reason that the clearer our minds become, the more we are able to see reality as it truly is.

David R. Hawkins, another recent leader in the field of consciousness research, summarizes this new theory as follows: “Our brains mathematically construct concrete reality by interpreting frequencies from another dimension, a realm of meaningful, patterned, primary reality that transcends time and space. The brain is, therefore, a hologram interpreting a holographic universe.”

From this new perspective, it is evident that our conscious intention has a prominent role in determining our experience of the material world around us. If our physical brains are interpreting the energy fields of higher dimensions, then it stands to reason that our thoughts hold far more power over our material world than is currently accepted.

Thought as an Emergence from a deeper reality

Thought itself has begun to be understood as emerging from energetic fields, which are beyond time, space and the material brain. When we think we are tapping into and simultaneously broadcasting these fields into our environment. Thus, we have a conscious choice as to which energy fields we decide to tap into, and each of these different fields has its own world view.

We can tune the dial to pick up the fields of anger and resentment, and adopt its corresponding view of a world of frustration. Likewise, we can tune the dial to pick up the energetic fields of acceptance and peace, and its corresponding view of the world as helpful and nurturing. The choice is ultimately ours.

A basic law of consciousness, which has long been realized by the mystic, is that what is held in mind tends to manifest itself. It is interesting that the direction of contemporary theoretical physics is now pointing towards this exact same realization. Scientific research is now confirming that our minds have the power to shape and create our reality.

This shift in perception changes everything. We are no longer resigned to the hopeless idea that we are too small and insignificant to do anything about the ‘problems’ of a mechanistic world. The holographic world can now be seen as a grand stage on which various energetic fields interact and play with each other.

We are actors upon this stage, and our roles are influenced by the various energetic fields we tap into. Some are the actors of positive, life affirming energies; others tap into the apathetic and pessimistic world view of negativity. Each person gravitates towards an energetic field that resonates with their current level of consciousness.

The beauty of the play is that all of the actors have the choice, in any moment, to adjust the dial and consciously choose which energetic fields to align with. The only way to positively transform ourselves, and the world, is by elevating our own consciousness, and this is done simply by holding the intention to align ourselves with energetic fields of a higher vibration.

When understood in this way, everyone has the opportunity to step into the energetic dance of the holographic universe.

Sacred Anger and the Power of Hard Love

Gary Z McGee

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June 3, 2014

11

“Love does not imply pacifism.” ~ Derrick Jensen

As it stands, all of us are victims of an extremely unhealthy culture. In a culture of conquer-control-consume-repeat we are endlessly conquered, controlled, consumed and forced into repeating and facilitating this diabolical process to no end.

We’re like a bunch of spoiled-rotten, whiny children, taking our vexations out on each other and the environment when we should be digging down deep and transforming our comfortable inertia into courageous action. The question is: how do we break the cycle. One answer may be through sacred anger and hard love.

Here’s the thing: life was not meant to be comfortable. Sure, discover comfort where you can, but you’ll never grow if you don’t get uncomfortable every once in a while.

Just like our culture will forever stagnate and degenerate if we don’t challenge how comfortable and contained it keeps us, especially when those comforts are systematically destroying the world.

Like Anais Nin wrote, “Life is a process of becoming, a combination of states we have to go through. Where people fail is that they wish to elect a state and remain in it. This is a kind of death.”

Let’s choose not to fail. Let’s choose not to give into this kind of death. Let’s choose courage instead. In our culture, anger is seen as politically incorrect. But deep, focused anger can be a boon of sacred energy if we can learn to use it wisely and courageously.

Attentive, meditative anger can even be a form of empathy, as anger is often a natural response to horrific situations. Sometimes anger is not only the natural reaction, but the only moral reaction.

This is the kind of anger that lifts us up and compels us to protect the weak against the overreaching powerful or the poor against the overindulgent rich.

The type of righteous anger that flips over tables like Christ did against the greedy bankers, the type of anger that would rather live a hard life of freedom than an easy life of slavery.

Such anger is sacred precisely because it instills in us an unstoppable courage. We should not be expected to remain calm and happy in the face of ecocide, rape, misogyny, slavery, and greed. Rather we should be compelled toward righteous anger.

We should be obliged to help victims become warriors, screaming from the rooftops, “Take the Goddamned red pill for Christ’s sake! Become a freedom unto yourself! You are your own hero! Allow yourself to be worthy. Allow yourself to be extraordinary! Get angry! Get really pissed off! Then grab the bull by the horns and pin that bastard to the ground!”

Like Gloria Steinem said, “The truth will set you free. But first, it will piss you off.”

But when push comes to shove, we are just too damn comfortable to care, and too damn polite to speak out. We need to get uncomfortable. We need to rediscover sacred ruthlessness, divine anger, and holy rage, leaving nothing to the inertia of chance and everything to the responsibility of choice; otherwise we fail to be responsible with our power.

We cannot consume our way to sustainability. We cannot pillage our way to balance with nature. We cannot lie, cheat, steal, or trap our way to freedom. We cannot tyrannize our way to equal rights. Something has to give. And that something is our overindulgent comfort and complacent inertia.

“What is the real origin of my own anger?” wrote Jean-Yves Leloup. “Is it the ego defending its territory, or is it something that has its source in the desire for the well-being of all?” Sacred anger that spills over into empathy and compassion becomes a very powerful force for moral good known as Hard Love.

Hard love is ruthless love. It teaches even as it destroys outdated worldviews. It educates even as it shatters obsolete mental paradigms. It tutors even as it crushes parochial perspectives.

It reveals the wisdom within all wounds. It forces a mirror in front of our victim-hood, screaming at us to rise above being a victim of the world and to become the world instead. It slaps us with the truth while revealing exactly how often we’ve been kissed with lies.

It mocks our sense of deservedness: that whiny “I deserve a vacation. I deserve a brand new car. I deserve love. I deserve to be rich. I deserve to be perfect.

Wah-wah-wah and woe-is-me!” while exposing us to the absolute fact that we don’t “deserve” anything but what we’ve earned through our own blood, sweat, and tears. And even then we may not get what we want. So it goes.

What we need is a global coup d’état. What we need is to break the trance. What we need is to get uncomfortable. What we need is a Great Rewilding. What we need is to shift the current unsustainable paradigm.

And the way we do these things is through sacred anger and hard love. It feels like an impossible task. But no task has ever been more important. On the detritus of the outdated, unsustainable system, we will create something entirely new and sustainable.

We must, or we doom ourselves to failure and “a kind of death.” WWJD? He would flog greedy bankers in public, for one. So I beseech you all: discover your own righteous anger, become a freedom unto yourself, channel hard love, open the paradigm and ascend.

The world needs you to not be crippled by fear, inertia, and comfort. It needs you to be filled with courage, compassion, and proactive, interdependent love.

The Greatest Speech Ever Made - [Original]

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Yin Yang
Freedom
WWJD

Fractal Enlightenment

Why Thinking Logically Imprisons You

But what if we chose to start approaching our life less from a logical viewpoint and more from a creative standpoint?

Does Logical thinking Imprison Us?

Two Simple Steps Toward Authentic Freedom

1) Starting

2) Going all the way

Transforming Loneliness into Solitude

Understanding Solitude in context of Ego

The Dance of the Holographic Universe

The new Holographic Paradigm

Thought as an Emergence from a deeper reality

Sacred Anger and the Power of Hard Love

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