ACIM Journal

[Anderz]

To me the fact that the physical body is zero seconds wide is a new perspective. A radical recontexualization. It's of course something A Course in Miracles already has pointed out.

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"The ego has a strange notion of time, and it is with this notion that your questioning might well begin. 2 The ego invests heavily in the past, and in the end believes that the past is the only aspect of time that is meaningful. 3 Remember that its emphasis on guilt enables it to ensure its continuity by making the future like the past, and thus avoiding the present. 4 By the notion of paying for the past in the future, the past becomes the determiner of the future, making them continuous without an intervening present. 5 For the ego regards the present only as a brief transition to the future, in which it brings the past to the future by interpreting the present in past terms.

"Now" has no meaning to the ego. 2 The present merely reminds it of past hurts, and it reacts to the present as if it were the past. 3 The ego cannot tolerate release from the past, and although the past is over, the ego tries to preserve its image by responding as if it were present. 4 It dictates your reactions to those you meet in the present from a past reference point, obscuring their present reality. 5 In effect, if you follow the ego's dictates you will react to your brother as though he were someone else, and this will surely prevent you from recognizing him as he is. 6 And you will receive messages from him out of your own past because, by making it real in the present, you are forbidding yourself to let it go. 7 You thus deny yourself the message of release that every brother offers you now.

The shadowy figures from the past are precisely what you must escape. 2 They are not real, and have no hold over you unless you bring them with you. 3 They carry the spots of pain in your mind, directing you to attack in the present in retaliation for a past that is no more. 4 And this decision is one of future pain. 5 Unless you learn that past pain is an illusion, you are choosing a future of illusions and losing the many opportunities you could find for release in the present. 6 The ego would preserve your nightmares, and prevent you from awakening and understanding they are past. 7 Would you recognize a holy encounter if you are merely perceiving it as a meeting with your own past? 8 For you would be meeting no one, and the sharing of salvation, which makes the encounter holy, would be excluded from your sight. 9 The Holy Spirit teaches that you always meet yourself, and the encounter is holy because you are. 10 The ego teaches that you always encounter your past, and because your dreams were not holy, the future cannot be, and the present is without meaning." - ACIM T-13.IV.4-6

When it comes to time, the ego has a huge conditioning of how to predict and perceive the future. All the past conflict, from personal conditioning, the history of humanity and even billions of years of biological evolution is projected by the ego into the future. This has been a necessary development from an evolutionary perspective, but what ACIM and others point out is that there is a higher level of consciousness possible that deals with time harmoniously instead of with the habitual conflict constantly perpetuated by the ego.

Edited July 27, 2020 by Anderz

[Anderz]

U.S. - China relations are getting worse. And it's not just about Huawei. One idea I got is that this is the last big Hegelian dialectic move towards globalization.

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"Hegelian dialectic, usually presented in a threefold manner, was stated by Heinrich Moritz Chalybäus[27] as comprising three dialectical stages of development: a thesis, giving rise to its reaction; an antithesis, which contradicts or negates the thesis; and the tension between the two being resolved by means of a synthesis." - Wikipedia

In this case the U.S. on one side and China on the other represent the thesis and the antithesis. What the synthesis will be is trickier to predict. It will likely have something to do with e-money as a foundation, maybe a global digital currency issued by the IMF.

 

[Anderz]

I think desire is fine. It's when desire is fueled by suffering it's a problem. And interestingly, A Course in Miracles says that desire is fine too, such as:

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"Vision will come to you at first in glimpses, but they will be enough to show you what is given you who see your brother sinless. 2 Truth is restored to you through your desire, as it was lost to you through your desire for something else. 3 Open the holy place that you closed off by valuing the "something else," and what was never lost will quietly return. 4 It has been saved for you. 5 Vision would not be necessary had judgment not been made. 6 Desire now its whole undoing, and it is done for you." - ACIM T-20.VIII.1.

Desire needs to be aligned with the Holy Spirit, meaning recognizing and actualizing nonduality. The term "holy place" can be seen a wholeness, nonduality (holy means whole).

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"For peace will come to all who ask for it with real desire and sincerity of purpose, shared with the Holy Spirit and at one with Him on what salvation is." - ACIM T-20.VIII.3:2

 

[Anderz]

Shunyamurti said that the ego wants to avoid suffering but that ego consciousness itself always causes suffering. That seems accurate to me. He also said that the higher intelligence comes from the future in the present moment. Exactly!

As I see it, the future contains higher levels of holons, more complexity and therefore more intelligence. So the suffering caused by the ego is a result of limited intelligence. The ego rehashes the past and tries to come up with ideas about what the future will be and how to manipulate it.

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"Healing cannot be accomplished in the past. 4 It must be accomplished in the present to release the future. 5 This interpretation ties the future to the present, and extends the present rather than the past. 6 But if you interpret your function as destruction, you will lose sight of the present and hold on to the past to ensure a destructive future. 7 And time will be as you interpret it, for of itself it is nothing." - ACIM T-13.IV.9:4-7

 

[Anderz]

The complexity of the ego is a mess. What I mean by true complexity is information organized in holons, which are wholes that at the same time are parts. Examples of holons are atoms, molecules, cells, multicellular organisms and societies. At each higher level, the complexity of the holons increases a lot, yet the functionality remains easy and simple. So that's what I mean by true complexity.

The messy ego complexity is something else, which I take it is what ACIM is talking about here:

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"Complexity is not of God. 2 How could it be, when all He knows is One? 3 He knows of one creation, one reality, one truth and but one Son. 4 Nothing conflicts with oneness. 5 How, then, could there be complexity in Him? 6 What is there to decide? 7 For it is conflict that makes choice possible. 8 The truth is simple; it is one, without an opposite. ... There is no basis for a choice in this complex and over-complicated world." - T-26.III.

 

[Anderz]

I think Leo mentioned recently that he will make a video about holons. I very much am looking forward to that video. Ken Wilber said that there is virtually nothing in the universe that's not a holon. I would remove the word virtually and say that all of our reality is made of holons.

To summarize my model, reality is Indra's net in the form of an infinite web of fully interconnected differences. Indra's net can be illustrated as a continuous unit circle (radius 1). And our reality is a point on that circle. Interestingly, that point is similar to what Pierre Teilhard de Chardin called the Omega Point.

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"The Omega Point is the subject of a belief that everything in the universe is fated to spiral towards a final point of unification.[1] The term was coined by the French Jesuit Catholic priest Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881–1955).[2] Teilhard argued that the Omega Point resembles the Christian Logos, namely Christ, who draws all things into himself, who in the words of the Nicene Creed, is "God from God", "Light from Light", "True God from true God", and "through him all things were made".[3] In the Book of Revelation, Christ describes himself thrice as "the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end"." - Wikipedia

In my model the Omega Point is a timeless holon. The Omega Point is the total holon of all that is and we will never reach the Omega Point since that's an infinite number of years into the future.

And it's the Omega Point that "pulls" reality towards itself and that produces larger and larger holons which explains evolution and the arrow of time. Since the Omega Point in my model is a number it can be represented as an infinite string of information. And complexity is that information structured as holons.

[Anderz]

In my model, consciousness is eternal. And this fits with how we directly experience consciousness as timelessly stable in the now. In deep dreamless sleep, consciousness in my modell is in an off state. Consciousness is an on/off state yet it is eternal since it is a result of high enough levels of holons and since evolution in my model leads to ever higher levels of holons there will always be consciousness.

In a sense my model is extremely reductionistic and atheistic, but actually consciousness I believe is what in the Bible is called light, and the Omega Point is literally exactly the same as the Word of God (the point represented as a string of information, a word):

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"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." - John 1:1-5

The phrase "in the beginning was the Word" I interpret as the manifestation of the Omega Point which happens instantly in the now, with the string of information having a beginning but no end. The manifestation of the Omega Point will always be finite while the point itself is infinite (the Father is greater than the Son as it says in the Bible).

Consciousness is the reflection of the Omega Point and the manifestation of the point. Nassim Haramein has talked about consciousness as a feedback loop, and also about reality being information, which is consistent with my model.

 

[Anderz]

Nassim Haramein has an interesting unifying model of physics, and I think it would be great to combine it with The Wolfram Physics Project. Haramein has published some mainstream science papers but most physicists probably consider him to be an alternative researcher which makes it difficult for his model to get more mainstream attention. The Wolfram project is more mainstream but even that has received fairly little attention among physicists it seems.

And it's understandable since mainstream science has huge inertia, and usually that's a good thing too, because it makes science stable although it has become too stable! Haha, and mainstream science has become stuck in dogmas that they need to defend and keep clinging to.

 

[Anderz]

I define the death drive as the total shadow cast by the ego. That shadow is unconsciousness. So one practice to heal the death drive is to fill it with consciousness. The method I use at the moment is inner body awareness practice of feeling my whole body and mind. It's really simple but also very challenging in my experience.

I came to think of the word light in the Bible as meaning consciousness. And darkness is related unconsciousness, and fear is a disconnect, an unconscious attempt to move away from the light (consciousness) into darkness (unconsciousness).

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"As the light comes nearer you will rush to darkness, shrinking from the truth, sometimes retreating to the lesser forms of fear, and sometimes to stark terror. 2 But you will advance, because your goal is the advance from fear to truth. 3 The goal you accepted is the goal of knowledge, for which you signified your willingness. 4 Fear seems to live in darkness, and when you are afraid you have stepped back. 5 Let us then join quickly in an instant of light, and it will be enough to remind you that your goal is light." - ACIM T-18.III.2.

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"The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!" - Matthew 6:22-23

 

[Anderz]

Another reason for e-money I now came to think of again is automatic taxation of automation. In a near future we may even have decentralized autonomous corporations.

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"A decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), sometimes labeled a decentralized autonomous corporation (DAC), is an organization represented by rules encoded as a computer program that is transparent, controlled by the organization members and not influenced by a central government.[1][2] A DAO's financial transaction record and program rules are maintained on a blockchain.[3]:229[4][5] The precise legal status of this type of business organization is unclear.[6]" - Wikipedia

Bill Gates' vaccine agenda seems a bit suspicious to me, but I think it was he who proposed a robot tax. That's a good idea I think, and it will even be necessary probably. Imagine a near future when machines produce over 50% of all products and services, and then year after year automation takes over more and more jobs. Governments need some efficient way of receiving tax from automated production, and e-money will be useful for that.

Edited July 27, 2020 by Anderz

[Anderz]

The e-money needs to be global, or else corporations can just move to countries where they still use regular money. For example if the U.S. starts using e-dollars, then if euros are still regular money corporations can move from the U.S. to Europe.

There are at least four reasons for global e-money: 1) universal basic income due to automation, 2) taxation of automation, 3) government-controlled money instead of private sector money, and 4) taxation of multinational corporations.

[Anderz]

Rupert Spira has this new video about the physical body:

I found it useful in combination with my new perspective of the physical body as being zero seconds wide. Yes, the body is solid in three dimensions yet in the direction of time the body is just a time slice! And the same with all of physical reality, and of course the body and the rest of reality are one.

[Anderz]

Here I found an interesting video by Kyle Cease about how the future isn't real and the past is real. And one trick is to feel the future the same way the past feels. Something like that. For me that's confirmation of my model saying the same thing. The past is information in the now, while the future is still in the unmanifested and not manifested yet.

 

[Anderz]

Gautam Sachdeva like Roger Castillo had Ramesh Balsekar as a teacher and is also a nonduality teacher. Roger sometimes talks about A Course in Miracles and I found that Guatam is also talking about ACIM:

 

[Anderz]

I now believe that meditation is useful. Not necessarily sitting meditation, although that might depend, for some people that will be effective I guess. My idea is that clearing the mind is improving the spiritual practice. Because as ACIM says, all minds are connected, and that's true because everything is connected.

And so the ego mind is connected to all other ego minds and structures. And that's a conflict-ridden morphic field with lots of friction in it. Clearing the mind allows connections to a new morphic field that is a larger holon of harmony and peace.

A Course in Miracles has for example this meditation practice:

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"Peace be to you today. 2 Secure your peace by practicing awareness you are one with your Creator, as He is with you. 3 Sometime today, whenever it seems best, devote a half an hour to the thought that you are one with God. 4 This is our first attempt at an extended period for which we give no rules nor special words to guide your meditation. 5 We will trust God's Voice to speak as He sees fit today, certain He will not fail. 6 Abide with Him this half an hour. 7 He will do the rest." - ACIM W-pI.124.8.

 

[Anderz]

This was interesting. The ACIM meditation practice in my previous post is without rules. So when I tried the empty mind meditation another idea came to my mind. And that was to meditate on money.

The love of money is the root of all evil. Money is the major "glue" in the ego morphic field, so lots of the conflict is in the ego structures related to money. And love of money means attachment to money.

Trying to clear the mind can be a struggle, which in itself is a form of conflict. And just observing thoughts and emotions, that to me is ordinary mindfulness practice. Meditation as I see it are more specific practices. And using money as the object of meditation is easy for the ego mind to do. And it's even possible to proactively resolve the ego structures related to money by training the mind to recognize where there is conflict and friction within oneself.

[Anderz]

Money is a powerful control structure, but it's a clunky and mechanical control structure. And also, money is the typical ego structure of separate control, which ultimately is an illusion.

From a nonduality perspective control is the whole of reality moving as one process. And it's a process caused by both past and future rather than being a mechanical cause and effect from past to future. Otherwise it would be duality.

To meditate on being one with God as ACIM recommended is the examination of the whole process of life from a nondual perspective. It's tricky to meditate on all of reality so meditation on money is useful. For example instead of observing clouds as in Ramana Maharshi's practice one can observe thoughts and feelings about money and let them dissolve.

[Anderz]

Notice that by meditating on money I don't mean like in attracting money or managing money. That's love of money. That's  the camel trying to go through the eye of a needle. That's the root of all evil.

Instead meditating on money here means recognizing that money is the core glue of the ego structure which in turn casts a shadow in the form of the death drive. So money is intimately connected to death!

[Anderz]

I find it interesting to examine the fundamental aspects of reality. It's useful to divide reality into different orders. The first order is that reality is difference. At the first order level there is only one sameness which is that reality is difference.

The second order is relativity. Separate objects exist in relation to each other. On the second level there is no sameness.

On the third order level sameness is the result of comparing relative objects. So sameness between seemingly separate objects appears as third order reality.

As an example, the statement A = A is a third order reality construct. When that statement is examined on the second order level, the first A is different than the second A since they exist at different positions on the screen. And on the first order level the statement is difference (everything is difference on the first order level).

I will compare that to Leo's take on sameness vs difference:

 

[Anderz]

Dividing reality into different orders as in my previous post is similar to Leo's explanation. But I got most of that idea from Leo's videos in the first place. So that was expected.

One tricky variant is how to fit holons into those levels of orders. On the first order level there isn't even any holon since totality is not a part of something else. And on the second order level there are only differences, which is valid for holons, but there is more to holons such as sameness which requires third order reality.