Sunday, October 08, 2006

Nine Ways To Help Others Awaken To Consciousness

Nine Ways To Help Others Awaken To Consciousness

1. Living by your values allows you to become a positive source of inspiration for others. Don't hide - express yourself and embrace life without reservation. By simply being yourself, you can help the people in your life see how one person can make a difference by being a living example of consciousness.

2. When you communicate your views, do so casually and in a nondogmatic manner. Allow the people you speak with to ask questions. Offer only as much information as they are ready to hear.

3. Igniting the spark of consciousness can be as easy as giving someone a gift. A favorite book, a medicine bag, or a beautiful gemstone can pique your loved ones' curiosity and prompt them to begin an exploration of the soul.

4. Teaching a friend, relative, or colleague to meditate or chant can put them on the path to consciousness while simultaneously reducing their stress levels.

5. Others may want to know more about living consciously but are unsure of how to begin. Starting a discussion group - even a virtual one - can help you reach out to individuals that are eager to learn.

6. By recognizing and acknowledging the inherent value in everyone you encounter, you can teach them how to value others. Sometimes, the easiest way to encourage people - even challenging ones - to respect others is to respect them first.

7. Invite people from your personal and professional lives to join you in attending a ceremony or ritual. The experience may touch them in a profound way or introduce them to a new spiritual path.

8. Casually point out the interconnectedness of all living beings using concrete, everyday examples. Many people are unaware of how their actions affect the world and are intrigued when they learn of the power they hold.

9. Introduce your loved ones to conscious living in a lighthearted and enjoyable way. Serve delicious organic recipes at gatherings, volunteer as a group, and show them how wonderful it can feel to be truly aware and connected to the universe.

source : DailyOM

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Know Thyself

Know Thyself

Dreams are one of this worlds greatest paradoxes with lucid dreaming being the ultimate of paradoxes. When you are dreaming you usually arent aware that you are dreaming so in effect, your dream is your "reality" at the time. You act and react in dreams as if they were real, but at the same time, they are often filled with illogical happenings. It seems that we accept the inconsistencies in a dream because our mental faculties of critical analysis and logical thinking do not usually carry over into the dream realm. They seem to be suppressed or else we all would notice the inconsistencies in our dreams and realize that we are dreaming every night. Due to our diminished analytical ability, we usually do not question what is happening because we are experiencing it, and as far as we are concerned if we are experiencing it then it is real.

Along the same lines, we have never been taught to think and react in a questioning manner in regards to our "reality". We may react to other peoples opinions and to certain ideas in a questioning manner, but when it comes to the nature of our "reality" most people dont consider it something worth questioning. Reality is something that is taken for granted. It is taught to us from such an early age that we eventually fail to explore our "reality" with the curiosity we once possessed as a child. It appears that Albert Einstein agrees on this point also, "The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one merely tries to comprehend a little bit of this mystery every day." So as we nibble our way through this manual lets remember to keep an open mind to what is possible and what isnt possible. Through our dreams we can access whole new realms of possibilities that may be considered impossible in our waking world.

Lets look to the roots of where we learned our definitions of "reality" in order to determine what it is that we consider possible or impossible and why we came to these conclusions. In another related quote Albert Einstein went on to say, "It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education". These seem to be very strong words coming from someone who represents our ideal of genius and intellect, but it is a sad but true indictment of our current phase of civilization. Ever since the day we were born we have been slowly but consistently receiving cues as to what is appropriate and what is not. Some things are accepted by our society while others things are de-emphasized or even downright dismissed as being impossible. At an early age we are taught what is make-believe and what is "real", but in the grander scheme of things this results in a process of being "made-to-believe". We are told and taught how to exist in a "reality" that everyone agrees is "real". The fact is that "reality" as it is commonly referred to is a misnomer. The "reality" referred to by most would be better expressed as "consensual reality".

Although I acknowledge a difference between "reality" and consensual reality, Im not implying that we should stop attempting to differentiate between what is generally agreed to be "real "and what is not. Consensual reality has its time and place, but the problem occurs when these accepted views begin to infringe upon your "reality". I believe that the distinctions between the two are a lot less defined than many people imagine, and as you develop your dreaming abilities you will have the perfect opportunity to experience this first hand in the dream realm.

Is an imagined fear any less frightening? Is the subjective experience of a dream any less real than its waking counterpart? In both cases, the experience is determined by the awareness of the beholder. It takes a visionary who can transcend the limits of our consensual reality to describe what is or is not real. I would side with Pablo Picasso when he stated that "everything we can imagine is real". If we can conceptualize it then it exists as a comprehensible thought, and thought is the master building block of each and every one of our versions of "reality". In your dreams a flying blue elephant is as real as the thought that created it. You can see it, hear it and touch it, but as youve learned, flying blue elephants dont exist. Or do they? It seems that our consensual reality comes in conflict with these thought-induced elephants. This discrepancy is one pitfall of our educational process.

The process of socialization that takes place in the name of creating a civilized world has a well-founded initial purpose, but sadly, it outlives its usefulness. To teach children how to operate in our consensual reality is a necessity, to teach them morality and other truths is imperative, but the extent to which we impose our limiting views of "reality" upon these children is downright silly if you ask me. My "reality" is most definitely not your "reality" because you have your own belief systems and your own interpretation of all the events that surround you. Due to the inherent and unavoidable subjective differences associated with the term "reality", it ranks as one of the few words in the English language that should always be surrounded by quotation marks. "Reality" is far too subjective to be pinned down to one definition especially at this point in our development as a species.

For starters, who really knows what "reality" is? Can anyone ever really know its entirety without uncovering more questions along the way? With these two points established, and believe me, I could find a great many more as we will soon discuss, how is it that we pass on all this knowledge about our concrete "reality" as if it were fact? At best our current views are merely workable theories that to this point has been a useful way of making sense of the world around us. We have a fascination and a fixation with having to prove everything in order to accept it as truth. We want to bundle and classify everything and then place numerical values in order to prove it exists. George Bernard Shaw summed it well when he said, "Crude classifications and false generalizations are the curse of organized life." Even Einstein tossed in his two cents by saying, "As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain, and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality." To help us understand how little we truly know about even the very basic foundations of our "reality" at our present state of scientific development, lets take a look at some relatively current developments and discoveries in our sciences.

The entire fact that our "reality" is stable and concrete has been proven to be an illusion. Sure, it may seem stable and concrete, but this is just how we perceive it. In actuality, our "reality" is best described as a complex web of dynamic interconnections. Quantum physics has come through with some remarkably eye-opening discoveries. Most importantly, it has been established that our relentless scientific addiction to reductionism has been an excursion in futility as illustrated by the beautifully ironic presence of wave-particle duality to the equally profound "observer effect" and "uncertainty principle" to groundbreaking data that supports the non-locality of time/space. Laymans translation: We are beginning to realize that the more we know the less we actually know. By the end of this section hopefully you will become familiar with all of this seemingly technical jargon. The bottom line is this: The scientific search for the Holy Grail, the quest to find the ultimate building block of matter, has brought about some remarkably eye-opening discoveries.

For a long time, the quest was to reduce nature to the one ultimate building block that could be quantified and analyzed in attempts to finally figure out natures ancient secrets. As the atom was dissected into particles and then into sub-particles and so on, some amazing phenomena began to unravel. When looking within the atom which is supposedly one of the stable building blocks of nature instead of finding stability, they found constantly swirling, dynamic surprises. Even more surprisingly the deeper they looked the more inconsistencies they uncovered.

First of all, scientists began to realize that the smallest building blocks that they could monitor showed some remarkably unsettling characteristics. It seems that these curious little quanta were both a particle and a wave at the same time. They possess what scientists refer to as wave-particle duality. That means that these tiniest parts of matter were both stable and fluid simultaneously. Impossible, you say. Well, that was probably the first reaction, but test after test confirmed it, and thats nowhere near the end of this monumental "reality" check. These quanta seemed to manifest as either a particle or a wave depending on how you looked at them. If you wanted to see them as a particle you would set up a certain experiment whereas if you wanted to see them in waveform you would have to set up another type of experiment. In effect, they seem to be both, yet their appearance depends on the type of view the observer chooses. This intriguing fact led to the discovery of the "observer effect". The "observer effect" means that the observer plays a direct role in determining what data will be collected based upon his participation in the data collection. The perspective of the observer will directly influence the results. In other words, what you are looking for often determines what you will find.

Science has long assumed that our world exists like a separate object that can be prodded and probed and examined as if it were an unconnected external object. With the remarkable discovery of the observer effect, it is now a fact that any involvement will play a role in affecting the overall outcome. Just by looking at something from a certain angle you are engaging it and transforming it according to the parameters of your experiment. In fact, the whole term experiment needs to be revamped because the whole process is better described as participation instead of experimentation. The experimenter is now a participator or an "observer" whose existence needs to be factored into the overall equation and analysis.

Another interesting finding made by physicist Werner Heisenburg is the "uncertainty principle" or indeterminism. It states that if you want to determine the exact location of one of these subatomic particles then you have to give up any hope of knowing its exact speed, and likewise if you want to know its exact speed you cannot determine its exact position. This "uncertainty principle" has been tested and holds true in every trial. If you want to determine the exact speed you need to set up a particular experiment and if you choose to determine the exact location you would need to set up an entirely different approach. You can choose to know one, but by doing so you negate the ability to know the other. Just like the observer effect, it is an either/or situation that leads me to believe that what really matters is how you look at it.

So weve covered wave-particle duality, the observer effect and Heisenbergs uncertainty principle, but no pun intended, how does this apply to the matter at hand? It means that the idea of a solid, concrete "reality" is false. Our "reality" may appear to be solid but in actuality it has been proven otherwise. In fact, the only way to discuss the actual fabric of "reality" is to speak in terms of probabilities. In classifying and trying to quantify these curious little quanta, scientists now converse in what may sound like a language based on chance. For example, when describing the location of these tiny bits of matter, they now say, "the odds are a certain percent that this subatomic particle will be found within a certain range, and there is also a certain percent chance that it will not be within that range at all." Very surprising indeed, in a field that is fixated upon exactness to begin using a language of possibilities. Maybe the message for science and for us is that this "reality" of ours is actually a realm of possibilities, an ideal foundation for exploring the impossibly possible.

Is this all starting to fall into place? It means that our consciousness, our awareness, has a direct influence and a proven interconnectedness with our "reality". It means that the "reality" we have been handed is not some end-all, set-in-stone actuality but instead it is just one version that has been useful to this point, but it now appears to be in need of some serious updating. How ironic that the enormously one-sided know-how of science has been brought back to the drawing board by the smallest known things in the universe? Or is it poetic justice?

As if this werent enough there was yet another discovery that sent shock waves through the scientific community. While observing these subatomic particles, it became apparent that they were somehow either interconnected or capable of communicating over vast distances that defied the current laws of physics. When two related subatomic particles where shot in two different directions the observers noticed that if the direction, speed, or spin of one particle was altered it would affect the corresponding characteristic of the other particle. Despite the vast distances that separated them, these particles still seem to be interconnected. They exhibit characteristics that contradict some of the most basic of scientific fundamentals like the "fact" that nothing can move faster than the speed of light. If in fact nothing can travel faster than the speed of light then it would be impossible given the distance between these particles for them to have this instantaneously synchronized behavior. This perplexing discovery is known as the EPR Paradox and was theorized by Albert Einstein, Boris Podolsky, and Nathan Rosen in 1935. As is often the case, it took the development of more advanced technology to prove this paradox. In 1983 a French physicist, Alain Aspect, conducted an experiment which proved this seemingly impossible interconnectedness.

This insight not only exposed a puzzling scientific quagmire but it helped pave the way for a paradigm shift that is still in its infancy. At this point, there is no one conclusive explanation to this dilemma. One thing we know is that our current views of time and space are incomplete. It is possible that our views of a solid, stable structure known as space may fall far short of the mark. The actual nature of the time/space continuum may be exceedingly more complex containing potential for interconnections that we have no knowledge of at this present time.

Just as we once so ignorantly clung to the belief that our world was flat, we are now in the infancy of a new paradigm shift that will eventually result in the rewriting our views of "reality". Joseph Chilton Pearce who has written extensively on paradigm shifts makes a good point when he says, "We are shaped by each other. We adjust not to the reality of the world, but to the reality of other thinkers." These amazing scientific discoveries are forcing todays most innovative thinkers to rethink our views on the nature of "reality". How can we describe the interconnectedness of these subatomic particles which violate (or "transcend" may be the more appropriate word) our current scientific facts and expand our current theories of "reality"?

The theory that best explains this phenomenon is aptly and paradoxically referred to as the non-locality of time/space. It proposes that our whole view of linear time and space is actually an illusion which brings us back to Einstein saying, "Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a persistent one". The findings now indicate that our linear, bounded world is far more multi-dimensional in nature. There will undoubtedly be some very important discoveries in the future that will add more to our growing knowledge on the topic.

To better describe our current views on "reality" and the underlying cause of this thinking, lets start by examining two different points of view. The way that most people commonly view "reality" is linear. Linear thinking is governed by the rules of cause and effect. We are addicted to an "X causes Y and Y causes Z" type of mentality. This type of thinking helps us draw conclusions about our world and it helps us develop a highly functional approach to understanding our physical universe, but as you will see it does have its drawbacks when it comes to accessing and expanding into new realms of thought. Now, imagine that you have a piece of paper. Lets draw a line on it and this will be used as an example of how we linearly perceive our "reality". We can look at this as if it were a time-line. Im sure you remember studying time-lines during your school days. Every point to the left takes place before any point to the right. Every cause would be to the left of every result it causes to the right. Just as the words on this page flow forward, they connect each other into a sentence that leads to the next, and hopefully, has a coherent connection as it sets up the path to the next point. When we want to recall something or make sense of something we will be drawing on experiences, memories, and things that we have learned from the past. In effect, we actually are always on the end of the line as it extends into the future with each passing moment.

Now, take something that doesnt follow this pattern like intuition. Intuition appears to be a hunch or a feeling about what will happen or how one should act which is based more on impulses in either the present or even the future as opposed to being based in the past. If it were based in the past it would merely be a form of reasoning not intuition. So based on the rules of our time-line, this violates our linear thinking and in turn as a linear thinking society we have de-emphasized the importance of intuition. Now, lets apply this to our material world, to get from point A to point B you must travel the distance, starting at A and ending at B. As far as traveling, communicating, and just about any other action will always flow from the left of the line to the right. If it doesnt act in this manner then it is illogical or more likely it is considered impossible. But the previous example of subatomic particles being interconnected somehow at vast distances is a direct violation of the time-line. It cannot happen according to this model, but it does. It is theoretically impossible, but in actuality it is a fact.

How does this happen? How can we explain this discrepancy? To clarify this we must look for an entirely new approach since our linear thinking has failed. There are other ways to view "reality" which are not linearly based. A nonlinear view is much harder to describe since we have been raised for so long with our linear thinking that it has almost become hard-wired into the mental circuitry of our thought processes and has become embedded into our belief systems. Linear thinking like socialization has its advantages and its purpose, but it also drawbacks as we will see in this next nonlinear thought exercise. On the same mental paper, right below the linear timeline, imagine drawing a small circle with a dot in the middle. This is the new nonlinear model of thinking. Now, imagine that you are the dot in the center of the circle, and the surrounding points on the circle represent all of your experiences. In this case, you are the center and everything else exists as surrounding, equidistant points. The distance between you and your birthday is the same as the distance between you and yesterday. Every experience, every thought, absolutely everything is equally far or equally near when "observing" from the center of this circle. All points on this non-linear model are equidistant in both space and time because you could access any experiences equally.

It is also nonlinear so there is no apparent cause and effect, it just IS. Imagine looking out from the inside of the circle. Even if you were to imagine all of the points on this circle as being all of your experiences arranged sequentially, it would be impossible to view multiple points on the circle in terms of causation. No matter which direction you look, everything is equally accessible. There could be no X causes Y reasoning because there is no chronological timeline of events. You would have no linear frame of reference as a basis for making any causal ties. This mental exercise is not intended to prove or disprove anything. It is merely an example of how your perspective can change if you allow yourself to explore new modes of thought. Linear and nonlinear thought both play crucial roles in processing information in our waking and dreaming worlds.

Now that youve conceptualized the framework of this new model, what are its advantages? Our consciousness is the ultimate factor that determines our "reality". It is much easier to understand how our consciousness works by using this nonlinear model because it is closer to how our consciousness functions. This nonlinear model is obviously a simplified version, but in light of how our mind operates, it is not that hard to see how one could benefit by being a nonlinear thinker. By thinking nonlinearly you can increase your processing speed by having better access to all the informational points. Once you acknowledge and practice your nonlinear thinking you will be strengthening the interconnectedness and overall performance of your brain. Your brain operates much like the muscles in your body. The more you use it, the more it will grow. Literally, you will be building new neural networks within your brain as well as strengthening already existing ones. This increase in neural networking produces faster and more efficient thinking. All thoughts exist as a conglomerate of electrical pulses that race along these neural networks, and if there are more networks then there is more efficient thought. Better recall and quicker processing speed are two direct benefits.

Imagine a congested city that only has a few major roads. By increasing the number and quality of the roads, a city would improve its ability to travel, trade and transport within its city limits. Just like this city, your brain counts on its neural networks to relay information, and with more pathways and more interconnections your brain can work more efficiently. All this development strengthens the brain and in turn expands the mind and produces a more maneuverable consciousness.

Now, to get a better view of how our subconscious as whole operates, lets expand our nonlinear model a little further. This next step may require you to stretch your conceptual skills and that is always a good thing to exercise. Imagine this circle again, but now imagine that each point on the circle is also another circle that has all of its corresponding points being equidistant to itself and yet this points circle is still interrelated to the original circle. Now that we have this more developed model, it is much easier to see how our thoughts are linking and flowing at subconscious levels. All the points are circles in themselves so by activating one point you in effect have access to an infinite set of new points.

Here is an example of how this process may work. Someone mentions the word red, and you activate the storage point on your circle of experience that is labeled red. This opens access to the red zone and you may then link to apple which has its own circle as well. From apple, you could flow on to tree or any other associations that are accessible from each zone. The possibilities are obviously infinite for at each point there are nearly infinite potentials. For example, when you were in the red zone you could just have easily thought about a stop sign or a rose, and these choices would have opened a whole new pathway. This seems to be the most effective way of explaining how and why our memories are stored as informational objects which can be accessed by literally activating them into existence by placing our awareness upon them. It closely parallels the old Chinese saying, "Energy flows where attention goes." In fact, this process has been increasingly viewed as a means to develop new supercomputers which are capable of greatly increased processing abilities as well as being a model for new approaches in creating computers with artificial intelligence capabilities.

This helps explain why are dreams are often so illogical at times because when we sleep we deactivate certain critical regions of our brain that normally override the presence of nonlinear thinking. Having decreased our linear thinking, our nocturnal adventures are a haven of nonlinearity. We have thoughts that seem to evolve and freely associate from one linked thought to the next. Without the dominance of logic and linear thinking holding the reigns as is normally the case during our waking state, we can wind up jumping between seemingly unrelated thoughts that may rhyme, or be verbal puns, resulting in haphazard jumps from one dream scene to the next one. Although it may seem chaotic, it is actually quite logical if viewed from the nonlinear approach. There I go, trying to make sense of it all. As a matter of fact, during our waking state we are always trying to make sense of everything and fit it into a linear mold. This is because we are products of a linear thinking society.

Try as we may, we have been instilled with a tendency to doubt and disbelieve that which does not conform to our linear thought. As functional as our beliefs and even our facts may seem, they may prevent true progress when we adhere to them too rigidly. New and provocative thoughts must withstand the battering of deeply entrenched beliefs that in some cases have been proven to be absolutely inaccurate. Since we have been talking about science, think of all the examples of monumental discoveries that were not accepted because they did not conform to the beliefs at the time. Jean-Jacques Rousseau mentioned that "Nature never deceives us; it is we that deceive ourselves." The world being flat, the world being the center of the universe, and now, the world being solid and stable. These are all perfect examples of how easily we convince ourselves that we know something when in fact we are only beginning to know.

If I were to bet on any one thing it would be that our current understanding of "reality" is still in its infancy phase. It is almost a certainty that some new discovery will come along and shift our whole perspective on "reality". "Nothing endures but change" said Heraclitus, an ancient philosopher centuries ahead of his time. If history repeats itself as it so often does, those who perceive coming changes as a threat to their comfort zones will adamantly oppose the discoveries that will bring about our next impending change. We all have set up a perceptual comfort zone that is highly influenced by our belief systems. This comfort zone is both created and protected by our belief systems. Much in the same way that we enjoy being home after a strenuous day at work, we also have a comfortable mental respite to retreat to whenever our beliefs are threatened.

"A scholar who cherishes his comfort zone is not fit to be deemed a scholar," said the wise man, Lao Tsu. If you think you dont have a comfort zone, think again. We all have our comfort zones as surely as we all eat, sleep and breathe. Perhaps it is a universal human phenomenon like fear of the dark or fear of the unknown. It is a direct response to our not wanting to be fearful and wanting to have a sense of security and stability during times of stress. We want to be safe physically but we also strive to be safe both mentally and emotionally. When we are faced with an insurmountable fear or insecurity we try to nullify it by discrediting it with the weapons we store in the arsenal of our comfort zone.

Retreating into our comfort zones may help us to feel secure but always remember that even though a boat is safe in the harbor, boats are not built to remain idly docked on the shore. Overcoming and consistently expanding our comfort zone is one fundamental requirement that we all must face if we are interested in actualizing our true potential. If you do as you have always done, you will be what you have always been so take a good honest look at yourself and your beliefs, and then act accordingly to make a change for the better. In your dreams you will have every opportunity to expand your horizons and your progress may just depend on you expanding your comfort zone in order to chart new territories.

We have covered the mysteriously interconnected nature of our "reality", our need to be questioning, our addiction to linear thinking, the importance of nonlinear approaches, as well as our tendency to remain in our comfort zone, but how does all this relate to the stuff that dreams are made of? It is intimately related and directly applicable. Dreams are made up of thoughts and thoughts are the building blocks of our "reality". All that we are is the result of what we have thought up to this point. You are what you think, literally. We have heard this from as far back as Descartes and beyond. We are the creators of our thoughts so in effect we are the creators of our own "realities".

Someone once said, "The ultimate security is your understanding of reality." If we were to analyze this in light of our knowledge of comfort zones, I would suggest modifying this quote. The ultimate security is in understanding your "reality" and realizing that a sense of security needs to be kept in check in order to prevent stagnation. We do create our own "realities" because it is our outlook on life that creates our experience of "reality". Im always amused at people who say, "It made me so mad!" when in fact no one can make you mad but yourself unless of course you either are not aware of your thought processes or you do not take responsibility for your own thoughts. Aristotle summed it up quite simply by saying, "Happiness depends upon ourselves."

It is a crucial step in ones development when they take responsibility for their own thoughts and stop the incessant blaming of other people and events for their lack of mental and emotional control. In order to make any positive changes in our lives and assume any degree of control over our lives or our dreams or anything for the matter, it is essential to accept the fact that we are the root cause of anything pleasant or unpleasant that we experience. It is our process of interpretive thinking that subjectively labels this event as good and that one as bad. It is our reactions to others and our response to events that create either a pleasurable experience or a painful one. If you have failed a test or failed at getting that new client at work, do you waste your valuable time and energy dwelling in your misery? Or do you realize that you tried your best, pick yourself up, brush yourself off, and get back in the game? And if you didnt give it your best then what did you expect?

Obviously, if you place your hand in burning water you will feel the pain, but this is inevitable unless of course you have some phenomenal control over your mind and body. In fact, there are many people who have such inconceivable control over their minds. For example, some martial arts masters or yogis can perform feats that would injure any average person like breaking bricks with their hands, withstanding punishing blows, piercing their bodies and even pouring molten iron on their tongues. To make matters even more unbelievable there is absolutely no physical damage caused to these masters after these feats are performed. I wouldnt believe it if I had not witnessed it myself on television.

Obviously, if you or I placed our hands in boiling water we would get burned, but they do not. Could it be that they have such a firm control over their beliefs and thoughts that they actually bypass the bodys natural response systems? By not allowing their body to process the pain and the injury itself, somehow the pain and injury never occurs as if pain and injury were merely byproducts of our mind. If this is the case then we are far more responsible for our own pain and suffering than we currently allow ourselves to believe. This concept is in keeping with everything we have discussed thus far, and when you think about it open-mindedly it seems to be the only logical explanation. This is a highly unlikely example since most humans have not developed such mastery levels of mind control, but there are some related tie-ins that can be applied to the average everyday person.

If an average person placed a hand in boiling water, the sensation of pain and a resulting burn would normally follow. The lasting effect that is not inevitable is how you care to react. How do you choose to react to this situation? Are you going to yell and scream? Will you be in a bad mood for the rest of the day? Will you tell everyone how this happened and how you cant believe someone left boiling water on the stove? Or will you accept it and move on without wasting your energy on such self-indulgent behavior? Take responsibility for all your actions including all your thoughts and your reactions, and realize that life is what you make it. "Any fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius-and a lot of courage-to move in the opposite direction," commented E.F. Schumacher. In other words, follow your reactions and your interpretations to their ultimate source, you, and your relationship to the world around you.

Once you develop your awareness, you will monitor your thoughts, actions, and reactions in order to take a more active role in your life. Imagine if we could transform all the time that we spend blaming others and making excuses and convert it into positive action and insightful introspection. As we go through the educational system we are told what we "should know", but we are never really taught how to think. We are taught to act responsibly but we are never really taught how to think responsibly. Not teaching our children to think responsibly is one major reason why we have so much confusion in this world.

Something as important as thought and it is never mentioned until we are old enough to take psychology classes. It is as foolish as sending fleets of students through medical school without teaching them how to deal with death, yet until recently this too was the case. There may be a stigma attached to teaching people how to think in a culture that prides itself on individuality. When you consider the fact that your mind is the one place where you should be allowed to have free reign, it is not so surprising that people arent that interested in being told "how" they should be thinking. The sad fact though is that this fear of having ones ultimate inner space violated prevents most people from actively developing a healthy mental life. The grips of consensual reality often creates people who consciously, or more likely than not, unwittingly adopt a consumer driven mindset.

Having few options from which to choose, the typical thought processes usually become programmed to want "things", and once these things are attained there is the desire to have more and more of them. This consumerism spurs the economy and is a boom for those looking to make money to buy more things, but in the grander scheme, it results in a culture plagued with separatism, violence, mental illnesses and other stress-related maladies. The status quo is maintained at the expense of our societal wellbeing. If we could harness the daily amount of negative thoughts that are scattered around our country by its citizens and transform it into electricity, we could probably power the whole world for the day. It is this kind of wasted time and energy that could have been avoided if society were taught how to think more holistically and more responsibly.

Aside from taking responsibility for your thoughts and being aware of your thought patterns in order to correct them when they stray, continually examining and testing your belief systems helps prevent stagnation and allows you to transcend where you may have remained shackled had you left your belief systems unchecked. Belief systems are basically mental structures that help us make some rational sense out of a seemingly irrational world. They help our awareness filter all the stimuli in our surroundings and in turn they help us interpret our experiences, and to a large extent, they help determine what we will actually experience.

Just as with the observer effect, our perspective is based upon our belief systems and both will affect our experience. Emerson sums it up concisely by saying, "People only see what they are prepared to see." If you do not believe something will occur the odds are you would be less likely to notice it even if it occurred right under your nose. A good example of this occurs whenever you learn a new word and then see or hear this new word several times within next few days or weeks. It is not that this word suddenly came into existence, but rather it suddenly came into your awareness. It existed the whole time but you unconsciously overlooked it. I know at first glance that it may sound inconceivable that some underlying mechanism is screening your surroundings and allowing you to experience certain things while keeping you oblivious to other things, but upon further examination it is simply the easiest way to describe how you can function at all. With all the external stimuli that surrounds you at every moment, it only makes sense that there needs to be some kind of filtering system. Imagine a radio that played all channels at the same time. The broadcast from this unfiltered radio would be as impossible to understand as trying to interpret our physical world without some form of a fine-tuning system. In "reality" this fine-tuning takes place through your awareness, and your belief systems play a crucial part in the direction of your awareness at any given moment.

Another of my favorite quotes that deals directly with beliefs systems is from the brilliant mind of John C. Lilly. He was a pioneering scientist who conducted many ground-breaking experiments with dolphins, explored and mapped his exploits into inner-space, and invented the sensory deprivation tank (or float tank as they are commonly referred to today). He said, "In the province of the mind, what one believes to be true either is true or becomes true within limits to be determined experientially and experimentally, these limits are beliefs to be transcended." This is one of the most profoundly true statements that I have ever encountered, and it should be committed to your memory and acted upon daily. If you dont believe in something, your belief systems will react like a filtering process that alters your awareness so that you are less likely to see or experience things that you dont believe, and more likely to find something that fits in with your present beliefs. Whether you are aware of these beliefs consciously or not, they are guiding your awareness as surely as you are reading this page, right now.

The most obvious example of this filtering process can be found in the world of the eternal pessimist or the eternal optimist. Take the pessimist as an example, I would bet you know someone who is always complaining and always looking at the negative side of things. The reason for this is because they live by the belief that the world is generally a negative place filled with annoying people and unfortunate events. In their little pessimistic worldview, they wear a set of perceptual blinders. If someone they knew won the lottery they wouldnt see it as a blessing instead they would be conditioned to go on a rant about how this person doesnt deserve it or how theyll probably just squander all the money anyway. If they themselves were to win the lottery, they would most likely gripe about the amount they are taxed on their winnings. It becomes an entrenched mental pattern that literally takes over ones thinking processes. Their ability to perceive objectively becomes distorted and their actual mode of perception becomes altered to coincide with their negative expectations. An ill-based mental cycle such as this one creates a self-fulfilling pattern of negativity that will manifest the worst scenario. With the observer effect locked on negative mode, it is nearly impossible to see the light of day.

The power of thoughts and the strength of belief can be directly experimented with while in the dreaming realm. In an atmosphere where thoughts actually manifest into your "reality", you must gain control of your thoughts or suffer the setbacks that your lack of control will produce. In a realm where your beliefs either expand or limit your experience, you may need to overhaul your belief systems in order to gain better control of your dreaming awareness and maximize your experience. While examining your current beliefs and expanding your current comfort zone, you may find that you have your work cut out for you, but the results will definitely outweigh the work.

Once you start working on it in the dream realm, you will find one undeniable truth. Thoughts do have power and can become just as real and just as alive as anything you have encountered in your waking state. What you think consciously and subconsciously will directly affect and create the dreamscapes that you will be exploring. Chaotic and fearful dreams are the results of chaotic, fearful thoughts. The more you become attuned with your dreams, the more you will realize how much impact our daily thoughts really have on both your dreaming and waking consciousness.

You will be delving into a region that is directly governed by thought, feeling and imagination. It may be a dream realm but the experience while you are in it is no less real than your waking "reality". A perfect example of this interaction is the power of flight while dreaming. As you learn various ways to fly around in your dreams, you will notice that the first obstacle will be overcoming the belief that you cant fly. I will cover this more in depth when we discuss flying techniques but the idea is that you will often be grounded and unable to fly merely because you have doubts as to whether you can fly or not. You may even think forcefully, "I know I can fly, I know I can fly", but if you possess doubts you may not even be able to make it off the ground. There is a subtle difference between thinking and believing and knowing, and these nuances will be the fine lines you will be exploring as you literally work your way towards getting your wings in the dream realm.

Ivan Pavlov, a master of behavior modification, stated, "perfect as the wing of a bird may be, it will never enable the bird to fly if unsupported by air." Through your dreamwork you will experience firsthand that your belief systems are analogous to the necessary air that Pavlov mentions. Without an open-minded and highly fluid belief system, your thoughts will lack the support needed to carry you upward and onward to brighter horizons. No matter how strong your intentions if you dont whole-heartedly believe, you are fighting an uphill battle that you cannot win until you modify your beliefs accordingly.

A word to the wise: some things are true whether you believe in them or not, and by not believing in something you are in effect making efforts to prevent yourself from experiencing it. . Someone once stated that, "Reality is that which refuses to go away when I stop believing in it", which at this point should be expanded to include the reverse. The other side of the coin would be saying that certain experiences in our "reality" must be believed beforehand to be experienced. It is not surprising that most skeptics are the first to disbelieve and the last to admit close-mindedness. What great irony that it usually takes an overwhelming amount of other peoples experiences to convince the hardcore skeptics who then and only then take their first open-minded attempts at experiencing it themselves.

If anyone chooses to remain self-righteously shackled within a comfort zone, so be it. We each have the right to construct our own "reality whether it is open-ended or limiting. Let each person be his or her own creator but dont ever be swayed by someone who attempts to limit your beliefs. If someone mentions something beneficial that is empowering and uplifting then by all means, experiment with an open mind and see if you can experience it, but if you encounter people who have nothing to offer but doubt and cynicism, dont be swayed.

One ancient quote still echoes a profound message and will continue to echo throughout the halls of time, "Know Thyself." It is short, sweet and simple, but it holds a perennial truth that should be the basis of any inner or outer development. You should not become stirred by anothers skepticism nor should you need to look for comfort in anothers approval, find your strength in yourself. Find strength in your beliefs, in your knowns, and in your experience. Hans Margolius put it in these words, "Only in quiet waters do things mirror themselves undistorted. Only in a quiet mind is an adequate perception of the world." He was a wise man indeed.

Skeptics and pessimists are common obstacles that you will encounter on your journey, but they exist only when you give them the time of day. Personally, I find it more productive to help those that are willing to learn instead of wasting time on those skeptics who probably never would believe it even if it were plopped down right in front of their faces. The only way to truly know something is to experience it, and I am not sure if it is a sad thing or if it is poetic justice that the skeptics doubt themselves into never being able to really experience and truly know. In any case, it makes complete sense considering the power of belief systems and how they filter ones experience.

Now that we have covered the ever-important effects that our thoughts and beliefs have over our awareness and the effects that our awareness has upon our ability to perceive our "reality", hopefully you have started reexamining your own personal belief systems. These are such crucial concepts to grasp, but luckily it is inevitable that you will not only be able to think and believe these concepts hold their water, but through your dreamwork you will experience it and get first-hand knowledge. Hopefully by now you have a deep understanding of how intricately interwoven our thoughts, our perceptions, and our "reality" really is. So maybe the next time someone makes some closed-minded comment about "reality", you will be thinking along the same lines as Alan Watts when he said, "But my dear man, reality is only a Rorschach ink-blot, you know".

This is an excerpt from "The Lucid Dreamers Manual: From the Basics to Beyond" by Marc VanDeKeere