Shaping Spacetime

“The important thing is to be able at any moment to sacrifice what we are for what we could be.”  – Charles Dubois

What we can infer from our consciousness model is that the mind truly is all that there is on either side of the reality divide: what is physical in a manner of speaking being a projection only perceptible by the mind. Thus that this side – the physical side of reality - is in fact really part of that side –the imaginary side - to begin with. Therefore, all that is perceptible truly only exists in the Unmaterial Realm, hence nothing tangible truly exists at all.

We therefore must appreciative that we are part of the greater dynamic that formed us and our ordered universe in the first place. While I may be contradicting myself, I once again want to stress that this is how we should intellectually approach our understanding of reality, not the living of it. This is because the projected world of our senses is the world we have to live in irrespective of how we understand the nature of reality to be, or else face the hard physical reality of its consequences.

This appreciation, albeit an intellectual one, therefore ought to turn our notion of our self-insignificance on its head as we consequently have far more power over the chaos and uncertainty around us than we previously may have thought possible. The only limitation is that we only have power to affect our future reality, for as mentioned in Understanding Existence, our past is past, never to be repeated, corrected or erased. As a consequence of this understanding, to truly have power within our respective environments we have to literally learn to work with time itself.

In more colloquial terms, we need to develop patience. Conventionally we more than likely would be reacting to the events in our lives, with the world around us defining who and what we are, and not the other way round. This is because we tend to live backward in time, in having to catch up to the consequences of past events. As a result we end up living anxiously, fearing the consequences we had created for ourselves from our past actions. In this way we become so busy fighting the fires of these events that we are left with very little time to focus on creating any deeply desired future.

As Steven Covey had indicated in The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, we become reactive, becoming consumed by our ever piling in-basket, allowing its consequences to dominate our every moment.

However, if we can develop the means to comfortably manage our past – to be rest assured that these events are adequately dealt with by not demanding an overwhelming amount of our attention – we can begin to focus our attention on shaping future reality.

Relating this to our understanding of quantum science, having an optimistic future orientation appears to loosen up the quantum states associated with the unfolding of one’s life. In other words we are enabling the material aspect of our being to be in the state of its infinite possibilities. It is opposed to wastefully contending with our past which has already taken on a very definite solid quantum state. 

This then creates the opportunity for us to become co-creators able to change the dynamics of the universe in our unique God-given way. We can do this by merely having a clear and focused vision about a realistic future world for our selves and others, knowing that the details are largely taken care of in having made the commitment.

When considering these issues – which ultimately is about how we constructively relate to the world around us – we have to be mindful of the fact that we do live simultaneously in two worlds. And despite the fact that our intrinsic being resides in an unmaterial unmanifest realm, and from that end can orchestrate any future reality, our perceptive world nonetheless demands that it not be ignored.

Therefore, living a productive life is very much like walking a tight-rope where we have to appreciate that life has its own course irrespective of our actions. Yet to be mindful that we also are part of the greater dynamic that can change the direction it is to take. Not to abdicate one’s power by engaging life carelessly and irresponsibly, and so to be helplessly dragged along by life’s tumultuous flow.

We however must not as a result of this understanding become starry-eyed dreamers pretending that our lives are to be shaped by magic. That in the not too distant future our life will conform to our dreams and desires, where the worries of today will simply fade away for such an idealised future destiny to replace it. That is simply by thinking or dreaming it so.

This most definitely is unrealistic. For in engaging our life we must be vigilant as the physical world we are overwhelmingly exposed to – and indeed living in – can be incredibly cruel and unkind, having dire consequences on our delicate beings if it is to be ignored.

Despite these necessary concerns, if we are responsible, we can be the masters of our destiny as we are the most essential part of the greater mind of all Existence; and that our greatest challenge is to find our unique purpose in its grand scheme.

If anything must be grasped from this and the general Framework of Existence, it is the following.

Karma

“Suffering follows an evil thought as the wheels of a cart follow the oxen that draw it. Joy follows a pure thought like a shadow that never leaves.” – Buddha

The religious concept of Karma we can infer as being a particular Law of Consciousness. As we understand our consciousness model, it would emanate from the Observer, the part of consciousness responsible for guiding us and humanity to greater levels of human integration. From the Christian perspective it is the law of “what you sow you will reap” and can also be seen as a spiritual cause-and-effect of sorts.

The complication in understanding this dynamic is that it indeed is interpreted from a cause-and-effect perspective. It is that we want to see physical punishment for misdeeds, and see bad things happening to bad people—preferably while they are alive to see justice actually served. Failing this, to believe that heavenly retribution will take care of the matter when we are long gone. In this way at least having a sense of peace that the matter will be taken care of by the great arbiter of universal justice.

Though from a deeper perspective, the killer is already being punished for his deed. The punishment being that they had such a tortured frame of mind capable of committing such a gross act to begin with. And should they not meet some or other form of physical punishment, further dynamics of Consciousness will ensure the momentum of their thoughts become even more tortured.

To understand the general dynamic, the rule one should bear in mind is this. That in life, one tends to get a return commensurate with what one has invested in.

So if you invest in oil as Aristotle Onasis did, you will tend to get more oil in return. If you invest in meditation, you will get peace and tranquillity. If you invest in destroying the lives of others, you will gain enemies. If you are a compulsive liar, you will not be trusted. If you invest in others, you build relationships. If you invest in family, you leave a legacy. And if you invest in living, by diversifying your portfolio so to say, you will gain abundant life as a return—that is in this lifetime, but perhaps even in the next, whatever it may be.

So we inadvertently will continue investing in what we are getting the biggest return in. That is until it meets a force, such as illness or financial crisis, which compels us to decelerate our pace and to re-evaluate where we are heading. And hopefully to change the course one is taking for the better. 

This almost sounds like Newton’s Laws of motion, does it not?

Irrespective of how it may sound, we cannot similarly claim that there are such definite Universal Laws of Consciousness that absolutely rules the interactions of all living beings as are the very definite scientific laws of the physical universe. The best we can do is speculate that aspects of it appear to be so in its unfolding.

Though in my estimation much of it merely is a matter of chance in that the more we repeat a negative action, and perhaps the more brazen we become, the greater the chances are that it consequences will eventually catch up with one. Unfortunately, those who are really clever in their deviousness may always find ways to cover their tracks. Therefore since it is not always the case, it is convenient to believe that Universal Justice will somehow be served in some yet to be realised lifetime. 

Generally those who believe in karma mentally believe that they will experience negative circumstances for their misdeeds. As a result they mentally orientate themselves fearfully towards the choices they make. For instance I once heard a woman say that she and her companion will never cheat on each other since both of them believe in karma and that bad things are likely if on does not act accordingly. She also believes very strongly in passing her karma to the next life, as well as acknowledging that her current rather unhappy life with her partner is the result of her previous karmic misdeeds. Therefore she has vowed not to behave in ways that will make her next life even more of a tortuous morass than her current one is. Rather preferring to return as some or other animal next time round than to face another torturous human incarnation. 

In a way what she is saying when giving her reasons for her continued fidelity is that, though she may at times be tempted, she would rather not enact on any of her pent up sexual desires out of the fear of the potential consequences on her next life. And therefore her current unfulfilling relationship appears to be more of a cross she feels compelled to bear, than even considering the option to free herself that she may perhaps pursue a mutually fulfilling union. It therefore is suggestive that the misery she is experiencing is more a factor of her mental orientation than necessarily having a potentially unfulfilling life.

And should she indeed commit the dreaded deed, what she then unconsciously would be setting in motion, are dynamics of mind which will cause the negative circumstance as had been predicted by her belief, and will be even more mentally tormented than before.

On the other hand a far more mature mental approach would be to know that to cheat on somebody you have made a commitment to, brings you out of integrity with your core, and you will become increasingly out of alignment with your deeper sense of Truth. For in this scenario a lie usually begets another lie, and soon you and those around you, and particularly if one has children, will be engulfed in the confusion and decay of your own life force that has dreadfully gone astray. That is despite you in the long run causing immeasurable hurt to someone who once may have been very dear, but who may in all likelihood will bitterly resent you for the rest of their life.

So in a real sense the forces of heaven are not conspiring against you because of your cheating, but that in cheating you have conspired against yourself and all that should have been dear to you.

It therefore appears that the dynamics behind karma may in fact be influenced by having the belief in it in the first place. Therefore the greater dynamics of mind that responds to our fears and intentions plays out the mental dynamics that manifests the events of our life. In this way our life plays itself out conforming to our deeply held beliefs about its nature.

Evil

“Conscience... is the impulse to do right because it is right, regardless of personal ends.” – Margaret C. Graham

One can truly only be in integrity with oneself and one’s greater environment if one has a conscience to begin with.

It must however be added that the example of the woman mentioned before does indicate some level of conscience, though the supposed morality that results unfortunately merely is a consequence of the belief orientation than from her necessarily having a truly moral core. As such her morality largely emanated from the Reactor Mind than from the Observer which is responsible for ordering our integrated sense of self. This is very much the level of moral development of a child in that their morality often is a product of what their parents may allow or disallow. It therefore also cannot truly be considered one’s deeper conscience either, but rather is attributable to one’s fear of consequences—whether it be real or imaginary.

Nevertheless the overriding emotion associated with feeling bad over the negative things one may have done, primarily guilt, or the prospect of a better next life, does force many to orientate those with such a view reasonably responsibly towards the greater world they are a part of. This we also must accept as being the predominant paradigm of our times, and without it most of humanity would not have the inner motivation to have a significant moral code towards others whatsoever.

This is iterated by the following quote by a 19^th century Hindu spiritualist, Swami Vivekananda, “It is good to love God for hope of reward, but it is better to love God for love’s sake.”

In my view though, except that we may be motivated to conform to be a productive member of society as dictated by our religion, on an intrinsic level it nevertheless cannot be the ideal to strike such a bargain with God in order to receive supposed heavenly redemption or more favour in the “next life”. In reality we are not striking a deal with God at all, but deep within what we are mentally doing is tantamount to striking a deal with our personal devil. In other words, we are being drawn into our shadow side in that we are not the master of our motivations. But also away from our enlightenment as our motivations as a result are not reflective of our intrinsic sense of Truth.

Notwithstanding my opinion on this matter, there certainly are many who unfortunately have for some reason or other not developed even the slightest degree of conscience at all; and therefore also not any constructive moral compass to speak of.  The reality though is that we all are born with the potential to developing such a deeper sense of Truth, but that for some reason or other it becomes so obscured, being of no consequence in the lives of those so afflicted.

To make sense of how conscience applies to our lives we can view our individual lives by equating it to a single living cell, and that we similarly are part of some greater living organism. Our conscience therefore can be viewed as a cohesive force that guides us along a path that nourishes us as the cell in such a way that it also benefits the greater life it is an intrinsic part of. The obvious payoff in nurturing the greater body being that the strong and healthy body in turn becomes better capable of nurturing us.

But for some reason or other, some cells become diseased. Instead of working for the benefit of the greater whole, they for some reason end up feeding off it. This of course is when we develop pathogenic diseases such as cancer, where these cells are notoriously greedy, and inevitably the body becomes consumed by it and dies because of their insatiable appetites. As a result, so the cancer cells will eventually die off as the greater body dies.

Similarly anyone with a life orientation predisposed to consume without any regard for how they may give back to the greater universal whole, are cancerous as well.

Usually those who develop such a greedy pathogenic predisposition are known as narcissists. And in the severe form of disassociation, are referred to as psychopaths. Narcissists though, generally are merely passively self-possessed individuals, but may yet exhibit some form of moral behaviour.

This however does not appear to emanate from an intrinsic sense of morality at all. In some cases their apparent conformity to the norms of society merely being motivated by the fear of one day burning in hells fires of damnation or some other religiously espoused punishment.

But for the greatest part narcissists are motivated by the advantages they gain from the carefully crafted persona they project onto society. Because of this they largely are motivated by approval and the associated payoffs they foresee resulting from their supposed exemplary standing. Either way, this then is derived from a sense of self-preservation and self-aggrandizement than being motivated to do the right and noble deed.

Though at times many such narcissists become so consumed by their rightness and need to preserve their self image, that when it is accompanied with significant power to control the lives of others – as for example with a Hitler – do not feel compelled to morally account to anyone other than to themselves. As a consequence their behaviour can become so destructive that it truly has the potential for great evil.

M. Scott Peck – the author of The Road Less Travelled – described such individuals as People of the Lie, and specifically used this phrase with reference to human evil. It then stands to reason that such individuals are against Truth. The important aspect to note here is that Truth is an aspect that is within the domain of the Observer which in turn is responsible for nurturing authentic human expression. It therefore stands to reason that those who are supposedly evil actively seek to avoid Truth. And by doing so, also avoiding being integrated within the greater scheme of life.

Nevertheless while narcissists may be prone to evil action they generally are not evil but merely pathologically self-possessed, evil in the conventional sense being a product of one’s actions and not merely one’s thoughts. 

Unlike narcissists though, psychopaths simply have no moral compass to speak of, tending to be pathologically consumptive in their behaviour—in other words, they are human predators. In the ordinary course of referring to them and their actions, are rightly or wrongly described as the evil ones amongst us. Why I say rightly or wrongly is that they truly are mentally diseased, and unlike narcissists have very little sense of what is morally right or wrong. For them it is not even a choice. Their striving merely being to engulf goodness by whatever means, without unnecessarily causing any harm to themselves while doing so.

And while they for the entirety of their lives may have left a trail of bitter devastation, they often never have to face any form of punishment for their actions. While at their deathbeds will look back on their life without a single shred of remorse for any of the wickedness they had done.

Though if you were affected by such a person, not that it should bring you any consolation, but maybe some peace in knowing this, their life would have been an empty shell, devoid of anything that truly matters.

In fact ‘evil’ is ‘live’ spelt in reverse. They therefore represent the absence of life, and can be seen as being anti-living. This I believe is no coincidence. They nevertheless more often than not are not murderers wanting to kill the physical body as they would be too afraid of the negative consequences for themselves, but usually are destroyers of the human spirit. As a consequence they are great manipulators and as such cannot have power over us without our conscious or unconscious consent. They therefore thrive on our own relative lack of wholeness, usually preying only on the weak and the innocent.

So besides one’s legitimate attempts at bringing such an individual to justice that they may cease to be a menace to society, the realisation one must nevertheless have for sanity to prevail on this matter, is that the life they are leading which appear to be serving their perverse ends, is already their punishment.

In my own experience with a psychopath at a vulnerable time, while he was incredibly intimidating at first, once I stood up to his onslaughts, I discovered that he in fact was a frightened and confused child. By his apparently evil exterior was attempting to scare the world around him from hurting him even further. And as a defence, hurting others before they even as much as touched him. In this way going to incredible lengths to avoid exposing his wounded-ness to the world.

Despite the turmoil it engulfed me at the time; this encounter nevertheless was one of my greatest learnings.

However, instead of rejoicing at their unenviable existence, we should view it an absolute tragedy. For to have had such a scavenging existence is never to have been human at all, one’s every moment dominated by the fear of being hurt again. And the saddest part of all is that they were not born this way, but raised to be the monsters they had become. So I suppose if anyone has to be punished, it ought to have been their parents and significant others who had nurtured their destructive disease. Though once again, this is not a simple issue as some certainly appear naturally more prone to become this way than others.

Who do we then blame? God! For is it then not She who allowed such a monstrous aberration within our lives!

Despite the many permutations this line of reasoning can take, what it all comes down to is that we accept that there is inherent order in all things despite the chaos and destruction on the surface of our lives. And so there also must be some form of universal justice at play, perhaps to some extent as proposed by the laws of karma and other views as well, though it is not reflective within the dynamics of a singular life. And when viewed from such an isolated singular individual perspective, can only at times be construed as incredibly unfair. 

That though – as unfair as it often may seem – is the lottery we know as life!

Extract from Paradox Lost and Found

© Newton Fortuin – 2006