What do you think?
THE SECOND ANSWER TO THE
21 QUESTIONS POSED HERE

Recently I asked 21 questions to which I invited answers from visitors here. I also promised to offer my own answers. Here is my second installment in the keeping of that promise.

Questions: Do our thoughts have anything to do with creating or producing our reality? Is there such a thing as collective consciousness? Is there such a thing as “consciousness” at all — collective or individual?

NDW Answer: Yes, yes, and yes.

I should really just stop there, but I feel such simple replies deserve a bit of explanation. So here goes…

I experience thoughts as energy. To be specific, I understand them to be energy transmissions. Energy projections. Energy transferrals. Energy exchanges.

It is my awareness that all of Life is energy. Nothing more, and nothing less. It is my further awareness that energy is not only the fundamental element of Life, but that it impacts upon itself. Energy affects energy through the processes of Energy Itself.

I see Life’s every expression as merely an exchange, or a transfer, of energy between the countless particles of energy that exist, each of which emit energy in the form of vibrations or oscillations that send out “waves,” not unlike a pond sends out ripples when its surface is shaken.

Our thoughts, then, are a shaking of the surface of the Universe. They send out ripples, which have their effect on the whole pond (to speak metaphorically). Or, if you please, on the quantum field (to speak scientifically).

My life has shown me that particular kinds of thoughts produce particular kinds of energy, which I would describe as generating particular kinds of ripples in the slipstream of collective consciousness. The Rev. Dr. Norman Vincent Peale authored a book on this subject in 1952, titled The Power of Positive Thinking, and French psychologist and pharmacist Émile Coué described, years earlier, a process he called optimistic autosuggestion.

There has been much other writing and teaching offered on this subject, including a seminal book, As a Man Thinketh from James Allen (1903), The Law of Attraction from Esther and Jerry Hicks (2006), The Secret from Rhonda Byrne (2006), Psycho-cybernetics from Maxwell Maltz (1960), Essays of Ralph Waldo Emerson, first series (1841), Philosophical Conceptions and Practical Results from William James (1898), and others.

(I owe this list to author Mitch Horowitz, who declared that “positive thinking is at once the most widely embraced and the most frequently reviled philosophy in America” in this 2014 book, One Simple Idea: How Positive Thinking Reshaped Modern Life, which purports to answer the age-old question—Does it work?—and says that it shows that, yes, positive thinking can change the world.)

If my own life had not demonstrated to me the power and efficacy of thought (both positive and negative, by the way), I would never be making such a point of all this — in spite of the fact that Conversations with God does.

The dialogue’s 3,000 pages offer a virtual treatise on energy impacting energy, and on every sentient entity in the cosmos being a source of such impact, both individually and collectively. But I needed to try it in my own life, and see affirming and confirming results, before I was willing to embrace and adopt Focused and Intentioned Thought as a dynamic force and creative tool.

I have seen such results, over and over again. I see our world at large, as well, as striking evidence of the power of collective consciousness — and of the need to raise and shift that group consciousness if we ever want to see real change in humanity’s experience of itself.

My awareness and understanding of this was firmly corroborated and substantiated in Conversations with God-Book 4: Awaken the Species, the newest dialogue with Deity, release just last March. There is no question in my mind now that the thing we call “consciousness” exists. I think that is a three-syllable word referring to the collection of energy particles, magnetized by their similarity to each other, surrounding both individuals and collectives throughout the cosmos, and having a direct effect on the milieu in which those particles swim.

I could, of course, be wrong about all of this. It is merely my own understanding. The journey in life is about reaching one’s own understanding, coming to one’s own conclusions, acting on one’s own awareness, and expressing one’s own convictions. I’m sure I don’t have to advise you not to take my word for anything.

Comments

138 responses to “What do you think?
THE SECOND ANSWER TO THE
21 QUESTIONS POSED HERE”

  1. Spiritual_Annie Avatar
    Spiritual_Annie

    I don’t have a simple answer, either, so I’m going to break it down a bit.

    Do our thoughts have anything to do with creating or producing our reality?

    I believe this is a “truism” on more than one level. First, there is the fact that our thoughts shade what we see of reality. When I am thinking positive thoughts, I see more around me which is positive. When I am thinking negative thoughts, I see more around me which is negative.

    The same can be said for how our cultural thoughts shade what we see. As a 57 year old white woman, I don’t necessarily see the same things as, say, a 35 year old black male. My experiences as a white woman are different than the experiences of a black man, not to mention a generation gap, which shapes each of our thoughts differently from each other. There may be commonalities within groups, such as tribes or nations, that are similar to anyone within that group, but each is unique.

    I also believe that All is One, and that this one thing that all of existence is created from, the irreducible building block of existence, is energy. As all of us are connected in Oneness, and my thoughts have energy, then my thoughts affect the Oneness. I see this Oneness in my mind as a giant sphere, in which all things are connected and, when I have a thought, the energy of that thought affects the whole. I like the ripple in the pond metaphor, but would have to expand it to include the affects happening on many planes within this sphere I envision. In fact, on all possible planes of the sphere.

    Is there such a thing as collective consciousness? Is there such a thing as “consciousness” at all — collective or individual?

    I believe that there is individual consciousness. I believe that the energy from which all things are created is a conscious energy, so I see all things as having some level of consciousness as all things are created from the same conscious energy. As human beings, our level of consciousness is different than the consciousness of a tree or a cat or a rock, but still I believe there is the energy of consciousness present.

    I believe that, as in most things, like attracts like. If my consciousness–or the thoughts and energy that make up my consciousness–matches that of another part of existence, I believe they are attracted to each other, creating collectives of consciousness. The largest of these is the collective consciousness of those of the majority as there is quantitatively more energy and consciousness that is alike. However, I don’t see that as something that is unaffected by large minorities.

    I don’t believe everyone is aware of the different levels of consciousness, though. I see it in four levels. There is the unconscious, or those things so buried within us that we do not consciously think of them, although they can and do affect our thoughts, emotions and actions. There is the subconscious, which I see as those things not as deeply buried that often come into our awareness when they are triggered. There is everyday consciousness, where our thoughts are readily available to us. And there is what I call the supraconscious, which is the consciousness reached in meditative or ecstatic states when we are tapped into Divinity.

    I have read some of the books listed, but it’s been quite a while. It was at the beginning of my healing process, when I looked to philosophy and self-help books to try to figure out why I felt so different from everyone else I met. So, they were at the beginning of a journey that began decades ago. I found myself looking more towards “the law of gratitude” as Melody Beatie presents it rather than “the law of attraction.” I’ve found that, if I am so grateful for what I have that I share it with others who don’t, I end up with more than I started. I’m sure that puts out positive energy, but it’s not with the power of thinking, but rather the power of the heart.

    Very thought-provoking column. I may have to add more later as it’s a complex and deep subject.

    Love and Blessings Always,
    ~Annie

    1. Raphael Avatar
      Raphael

      Indeed consciousness works on different levels…and one of the most intriguing is the unconscious, which might have a lot more influence on our conscious thoughts and actions that most people realize or are willing to admit.

      One way to reduce the separation between the conscious and unconscious, supposedly, is to have the same amount of sleep but for lesser periods…such as sleeping 4 hours twice rather than 7 or 8 hours once in 24 hours.

      I think the unconscious is ultimately the “boss”…we can try to manipulate and control our thoughts and emotions, but what lays beneath it all, in the unconscious, is the root, and the root, the foundation, always determines the direction of growth.

      Think of it as the ocean: we can try to control the surface waves, but deep in the ocean depth are movements that cannot be understood unless we become aware of them.

      1. Marko Avatar

        The way to directly get in touch with the unconscious is through lucid dreaming. Here you can talk directly to your unconscious and by pass all the dream symbols and dream figures. You can talk and ask questions to the “Awareness behind the dream”. We are co creators of the dream world even as we are co creators of the world we are in while awake.

        As the leading lucid dream researcher Robert Waggoner put it, “The sailor does not control the sea” that is, your consciousness is the ship that navigates through a subconscious ocean. We have some control but not full control. This is where you get to explore the depths of the iceberg below the sea.

        A lot of spiritual and human potential can be had through the technique of lucid dream as yet another tool to use to learn/understand more of our larger selves. Dream Yoga is the art of using lucid dreaming as a means to enlightenment.

        1. Raphael Avatar
          Raphael

          I totally agree with Robert Waggoner…good analogy.

          Lucid dreaming is indeed very interesting. I seem to be able to do it spontaneously but I also want to go further. I can change the outcome or storyline of a dream, consciously but without waking up. Most of my current dreams are no longer symbolic, and very real, as if the unconscious was becoming conscious.

          I once had a very interesting experience with my ex, who was psychic: we had the same dream. It was spontaneous.

          I just started reading the book The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche.

          1. Marko Avatar

            Robert Waggoner went as far as to eliminate the dream symbols and dream figures to have complete audience with the “Awareness behind the dream.” What he got was wise and pithy statements in the black void. After a few weeks he missed the dream imagery and fun that came with the visuals.

            It seems fascinating that perhaps we enter the physical for similar reasons? I’ll have to check the The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche. book out.

            I’m reminded that CwG talks about being co creators with the collective. It seems we are co creators with our dreaming self as well. Though I add a 3rd collective that is the outer Universe, the stars and planets as the cosmic collective. What is the energy that keeps the planets rotating? The invisible awareness behind physical reality?

            I seem to remember that you stated that you don’t really have a regular inner dialog going on inside your head? Is that correct? I’d like to hear more.

          2. AKA Patrick Avatar
            AKA Patrick

            A wonderful, small, very deeply spiritual book from DeVorss Publishers, is: “The Impersonal Life”. In this book, the “God Self” describes “How It Is” with Him. The Self describes creation and fully explains how we (His creations) were brought into Being and why. Very simple, straightforward explication. Well worth the read. Also inexpensive. A good book to carry around in the pocket.

          3. Marko Avatar

            Thanks Pat. I found that is was published in 1988 there are no reviews on amazon.

          4. AKA Patrick Avatar
            AKA Patrick

            Not really. Just undiscovered. There are many undiscovered nuggets of wisdom in the World.

          5. Kristen Avatar
            Kristen

            Funny how new ‘wisdom’ quickly gets ‘taken’ by psychiatry, science, the new age, knowledge or religion.
            It seems theres no allowable place for just wisdom in the world anymore.
            I like your almost sassy, strong attitude in here!
            K

          6. AKA Patrick Avatar
            AKA Patrick

            You’re not the first woman to see me as “sassy”.

          7. Kristen Avatar
            Kristen

            Haha. Just dont wave your finger at me, that crosses the sassline (new word for ya).

          8. AKA Patrick Avatar
            AKA Patrick

            NEVVER!

          9. Kristen Avatar
            Kristen

            Good….cos that needs 6 inch heels! And a talk show.

          10. Spiritual_Annie Avatar
            Spiritual_Annie

            Maybe you should have been named Sophia!

          11. Jethro Avatar
            Jethro

            strange and suspicious…. No LOL, inexpensive and not popular.

          12. Kristen Avatar
            Kristen

            Marko,
            Can you please tell me what you mean by an inner dialog inside your head? I remember the chat but never got around to asking what you and Patrick meant by that? Is it like thinking in words? Or almost talking in thoughts like in a conversation with someone else?
            Thanks,
            K

          13. Marko Avatar

            It was not Patrick, but Raphael. Inner dialog is the self talk, the inner conversation we carry on with us through the day. What we tell ourselves about ourself and the world. We all have self talk going on within us constantly. Raphael, if I recall correctly said he didn’t have a self talk dialog going on. So I wanted to inquire on that.

          14. Kristen Avatar
            Kristen

            Yip, I read Patrick does it, but Raphael doesnt. Im curious what it means though, although Im sure I can Google it. Do you literally talk words in your head, and answer yourself, like pros and cons of something, thinking aloud in your head? I dont notice it if I do it, I think in pictures or writing, never words. Although that could explain forgetfulness, I forget to get milk and things although a memory picture often pops up.
            The only time Im aware of talking words in my head is when I pray or talk to Godm but wait until I get a tingly hand or face as a signal He or an Angel is listening, after white lighting my room and sending a white ball of light firing up to Him.
            Raphael and I both have a guide or teacher who use telepathy, a brief wordless thought that you immediately ‘know’ rather thsn others who often hear guides or someone with words. Maybe we just arent used to thinking in words so our brains and minds just dont do it. Its something Im just curious about, something I never thought about until you mentioned it (but I wouldnt think of it my thoughts are visual I guess).
            Thanks,
            K

          15. Marko Avatar

            “Do you literally talk words in your head, and answer yourself, like pros and cons of something, thinking aloud in your head?”

            Yes, I think most all people do, they simply are not aware of it when they do it. It’s mostly unconscious.

          16. Craig Avatar
            Craig

            I also do it, then others ask what am I doing as I do not restrict this to when I am alone…
            You should try it it does clear your own perspective of things…
            Then again we all start mentally cracking after 50, these may just be signs of how far we have lost a few scews…

          17. Kristen Avatar
            Kristen

            Nearly 50…maybe it will kick in!
            But seriously, its not something I want. Google ‘fish thinking or speaking’ thats how I think, I dont even have decision making thoughts, Im spontanious and ‘just do it’. The sign of the fish used for Y’shua means that thought process, bypassing a normal thinking process. Lots of improv actors or comedians do it as well, its fast. I’d write if I needed to clarify things more, using two different characters having a conversation, and I sort of listen to them as I write. Could be a GP talking to a minister, or whomever I want to listen to.

          18. Craig Avatar
            Craig

            Thank you for the reply. Fish thinking first I heard of it or did I forget I knew it… Whatever the reality this is the first time I heard referencing to the first century followers as thinking of Yeshua thought patterns or communications as such. Although it is possible as he often referenced his discussions to be spiritually concerned or not of this world.?

          19. Kristen Avatar
            Kristen

            Hi,
            It sort of referred to people like him who bypass thinking so no matter what questions were fired at him, he could answer straight away, or if the thought people were ‘dumb’ he would answer the question with a question fired straight back. Einstein was the same, always making students answer theif own questions if they should have been able to.
            The fish for Yshua, is from the Latin letters that make the word Christ and savior (or similar) which is how he became identified as Jesus Christ, and how Kabbalah and all the things Neale now speaks of, like Laws, all started. They identified a Christ is one whom understands the workings of the universe, ie Laws, and has the authority to teach as a form of bringing those Laws down to Earth.
            Kabbalah, Einstein teaching, Buddhism, Krishna in Hinduism are all based on the ability to process information without inbetween thinking, with a clear mind, or to teach people to learn for themselves as Jesus did, which frees your mind to allow intuition through and ‘knowing’. They revolutionised human thinking, steering us away from dictatorships and needing ‘orders’ from those older in order to built societies, all insanely revolutionary opening minds and brains up.

          20. Craig Avatar
            Craig

            Thank you for more information. The ability to understand and respond without working through a load of memory. Now I find this is the attribute of Hebraic Rabbi’s who apply the principle of reflective inquiry. Getting people to answer their own questions by paraphrasing their question with a question towards previous communications…

          21. Kristen Avatar
            Kristen

            Correct….they were huge educators, therefore brain developers, but not just unique to them, its a trait of all Christs and the leaders back then, now people are lost in receiving information rather than learning.

          22. Craig Avatar
            Craig

            And how do we reverse the process. I mean life is about gaining wisdom not knowledge as wisdom saves while knowledge empowers. Eve wanted knowledge and power and was willing to sacrifice all for attaining it… Are we from her seed? Or are we from the incorruptible seed Christ the wisdom and power of all life forms… Created unto the image of perfection.

          23. Kristen Avatar
            Kristen

            I dont think Eve was in a position to make informed choice at all….would anyone make that choice for humanity if they knew of the curses that would follow, especially suffering in labour and childbirth for everyone? Although scriptures and many other teachings use labour as a fundamental for hard work, time and pain in bringing new things into fruition, everuthing in scripture will follow through and have a double meaning.
            Yes life is about wisdom and life…living a happy life, NOT knowledge. Knowledge and most education is the Tree Of Knowledge, under the Angel identified as Metatron, and Solomons followers, the Freemasons and Illuminati. What is often misidentified as the Tree of Life in Kabbalah is actually the Tree of Knowledge. The end of Revelation even talks about the top of that tree where the Sun (The Source) is no longer needed THEN people can access a Tree of Life when Eden is restored.
            I think people are mixed, everyone is different and have choices to make. For myself personally, Ive forsaken the Tree of Knowledge, and only study psychology and things that are on the Tree of Life, ie life itself. I choose right over wrong consciously where possible although ‘right’ includes karma and consequences. In telling the Serpant and Tree of Knowledge to pee off, no thanks, in my choice for my family, just as everyone can make since all females are Eve in potential, and all males Adam in potential, things changed….I react really badly to a lot now, things generally defined as wrong including mess, chaos and drama. The Universe and God work with our choices, mine was to go back to Eden, understand it all, and make a different choice. But in saying that, I never say anything negative about ‘Eve’.
            I think we are all original human AND Christ in potential, we are all Adam or Eve with the same choices. As you said, wisdom of the Tree of Life, with self learning, understanding, experience and life skills where Gods spirit will dwell again, OR knowledge from the Tree of Knowledge, with academia, pedantism, governments, ego and education from others…..there are perfect examples in here of both!
            Sometimes people can’t tell the difference, but language used will make it clearer. Wisdom uses simplified language like common speech at a teenage level so all can understand no matter the age or IQ or teach people to learn for themselves. Knowledge quotes science, complexities and uses words not a part of common speech, or that a teenager would not understand.
            The ultimate goal is for everyone to get back to the state of the perfect human, or human soul, the Vitruvian Man of humanity, and restore us to how humans were intended to be. Mentally, emotionally, visually and personality…..but we dont have the blueprints, it cant be faked or cheated….a different labour and childbirth process, but without the curse, a pleasurable one back to Eden.
            Its Sunday morning here…Sermon over!

          24. Craig Avatar
            Craig

            Thank you for the sermon. If I recall correctly Eve saw the fruit was good for food, delightful to look at and desirable for obtaining wisdom… Now those are the things that make us tick. Delicious exotic food, eye catching realities and progress fashion… And knowledge to get wisdom through. This is making a choice for a purpose so not necessary bad but necessary for improvement. Don’t we all desire that in life. But the secret is they only change life for the better when husband and wife agree. If either half heartedly submit we have suppression and greed slipping in. So it is not what we gain it is how we use it that makes the difference.
            Just my reflective thoughts.

          25. Kristen Avatar
            Kristen

            Yip…humans were designed to work as couples for the best results, like many other species.
            But the word ‘wisdom’ in many Christian bibles is a misinterpretation of the word knowledge. Its actually the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil…your eyes will be opened and be like a God knowing good and evil, and it was desireable for attaining knowledge NOT wisdom. Wisdom uses thinking, knowledge from books. Id actually ban all non fiction and the internet if I was to come up with one way to restore humanity to its best, to allow us to focus on wisdom and others.
            Most Gods acknowledge they are part evil, righteousness has no concept of stealing, causing suffering, greed etc. Knowledge rather yhan free thinking and wisdom go hand in hand with the Tree of Knowledge….it builds ego and obsures whats really important…..love, relationships, humanity, joy, kids, and life, more the basics rather than the games of who can discover, read and remember the most facts.
            But its peoples choice, thats what freewill is for.

          26. Craig Avatar
            Craig

            Unfortunately everything is here we need to harness the tools and use them wisely rather than just add to the confusion.

          27. Kristen Avatar
            Kristen

            Exactly…when the toolshed is too full, its easier to just walk out and not bother sometimes.

          28. Craig Avatar
            Craig

            Then there is but one place to make the difference myself… And may this difference be an example unto others.

          29. Kristen Avatar
            Kristen

            Can you rephrase that, I cant quite follow?
            Tjanks, K

          30. Craig Avatar
            Craig

            I think we were taught to become the change we wish to see…

          31. Craig Avatar
            Craig

            That is one way to deal with over load. The other is to chunk it into manageable portions. I think the latter is what we need to do. Simplify the overload. Our clean out the shed and hold a free for all give away rally…

          32. Raphael Avatar
            Raphael

            I am not sure how to describe it, but no I do not have an inner dialogue…just straight thoughts…or visuals. I do not talk to myself, I just think, if I have to resolve a problem or do something, or if I have ideas (it can happen ha ha).

            Otherwise my mind is relatively “clam and clear” as they say in Buddhism…no endless and useless inner chatter, I am relatively present and open, centered and responsive. I was not always this way, as a teenager I was not, but many different factors contributed to permanent changes…I worked on these changes at all levels, physically (being in the best physical shape I can be and keeping a high energy level are I think very important), emotionally, spiritually…and the mental aspect followed, from a strong healthy foundation.

            Contrary to most, I reversed the equation. Most people think the mind is or should be the master, in control (“mind over matter”). I did the opposite…I let the mind be changed by states of physical and emotional health and balance, and spiritual experiences and insights. I did use my mimd to direct my energy while exercising outdoor (because of negative ions or prana), as yogis do while doing asanas…especially concerning the breath. I did all this instinctively, in a way that made sense to me and worked fast.

            I am saying it again because it is very important: I do use my conscious mind as a tool, but I don’t let it be the master…I put my trust in the subconscious, unconscious and in my physical, emotional and spiritual connection with the universe. The mind is transformed and “cleared” by these other factors, without any mental efforts or struggles, because I never struggle against the mind.

            One thing that I have always sought, in my life, in my pursuit of truth, is to always go to the core, the root, the foundation, the essence (of anything, god or bad, a problem or a solution), and discard the superfluous. It also helped me think differently than most people…

            Kristen is totally right, I do not get verbal message from my guide (s), just instant telepathic knowing, and this can be multi-layered, with many different levels of understanding.

            While dreaming and without dream symbols, I do not get verbal statements but very deep and very real feelings that are attached to deep insights…so deep that they would be difficult to put in words.

            There is indeed a dimension or state of being that is beyond words. In this state words appear to be like static…they are little more than noise as compared to this dimension, this “beingness”, they are a disturbance that gets in the way of the full experience.

            The world, today, is full of words, with very little experience. To have experience, we need to integrate the mind, heart, body and spirit in the here and now, in full unity with all life, with the universe or cosmos.

            I am not sure whether I truly have answered your question about an inner dialogue…Have I?

          33. Kristen Avatar
            Kristen

            Hey,
            Thanks for trying to explain this, its really hard to define things that differ, just as I cant imagine sort of talking aloud in my head.
            Our type of thinking is called ‘fish thinking’ that people can google…the means to sort of bypass the conscious thinking process.

          34. Marko Avatar

            My search on duckduckgo brought up nothing.

          35. Jethro Avatar
            Jethro

            ‘fish thinking’ Due to a short memory, as fish go around the fish bowl, they think they are passing a different bubbling castle every three seconds. They get to experience a new place no matter how many times they circle. It’s like being insane only different.

          36. Kristen Avatar
            Kristen

            Damn….no wonder Im a piscies and my birthday is an 8….round and round in circles everywhere I look. Oh well, at least I havnt crossed that fine line to insanity, according to your definition Dr Jethro.

          37. Jethro Avatar
            Jethro

            A figure 8? Kristen, that’s insanity. You keep running into the bubbling castle! A circle goes around it.

          38. Kristen Avatar
            Kristen

            Heck no…Im gifted. My castle has an arched doorway through the middle, I think I go through it to make a figure 8 everytime….but I cant remember.
            What castle?

          39. Jethro Avatar
            Jethro

            LSHMSFOIDMT!!! An arch? Cheater!!

          40. Kristen Avatar
            Kristen

            Hey…Im not a Princess for nothing!
            Dont tell me you have the commoners version with no arch?

          41. Jethro Avatar
            Jethro

            Mine is a mere square with a tube running to it.
            Laughing so hard my sombrero fell off and I dropped my taco.

          42. Kristen Avatar
            Kristen

            Pauper! Typical uncreative boy….guess you started on your castle but kept forgetting to finish it as you swam your laps!
            Thanks for translation, Annie apologised in realising the error of her ways!

          43. Spiritual_Annie Avatar
            Spiritual_Annie

            Sorry, but I’ve been busy this past week. Otherwise I would have translated Jethro’s post for you. And I probably would have been close, but not exact, so it’s good he did it for you. Vickie has one too, I think about spitting out her taco, but I don’t remember how it goes. My biggie is ROFLMFAO APIMP! ? (Almost Pissed In My Pants).

          44. Kristen Avatar
            Kristen

            Boy, Im just glad there’s an almost in there, things could get really awkward otherwise!

          45. Jethro Avatar
            Jethro

            Vickie’ son comes up with those. LSHMSFOIDMT is set on my phone to show up when I type LMAO. I had forgotten about it.

          46. Spiritual_Annie Avatar
            Spiritual_Annie

            Yeah, when I use my virtual keyboard, I’ve got shortcuts. My bluetooth keyboard doesn’t have the ability to do that, though, which I miss but sometimes a girl’s got to sit up without leaning over quite so far. I use the virtual one whe I’m laying down.

          47. Jethro Avatar
            Jethro

            I have my phone when I’m out and about, my iPad for quick stuff or… bathroom duties, my laptop when I’m setting at the couch. My phone is the only thing that converts things so its easier to do things while driving as I do business on the fly. Now that’s funny, people do business on the fly and flies congregate to piles of business. I think I’m on to something here….

          48. Spiritual_Annie Avatar
            Spiritual_Annie

            I hope you’re not actually “on” the “business”! That could be messy, and stinky. Better wear a wetsuit and have a clothespin handy for your nose.

            I have a large WiFi tablet (a final gift from Christie) with a bit of a cracked screen, and the “giveaway” cheapie, small phone with practically no memory that I despise typing on because the keys are so tiny. And I have narrow finger and thumbs! The Bluetooth keyboard is great as I type much better with ten fingers and thumbs than I do with just two thumbs or pecking with a finger, but there aren’t any shortcuts and no autocorrection for spelling. Sucks when my fingernails get too long, too.

            One day, I intend to have my back surgery so that I can sit longer, and then a laptop will be great. Maybe even a (*gasp*) real computer!

          49. Spiritual_Annie Avatar
            Spiritual_Annie

            Being an individual who is different from the majority isn’t cheating. It’s a blessing!

          50. Jethro Avatar
            Jethro

            Annie that is a beautiful observation and I totally agree! …. now go mind your own business. That is a sweet and sour answer. LSHMSFOIDMT.

            Love and blessings

          51. Kristen Avatar
            Kristen

            LOLOLOLO…fish babble for LOL with a few too many bubbles!

          52. Jethro Avatar
            Jethro

            LOLOLOLO = Laugh out Laugh out Laugh out Laugh out. Fish never get loud.

          53. Spiritual_Annie Avatar
            Spiritual_Annie

            Wouldn’t that be more like LOOooo..? (Can’t make them go up–darn fonts!)

          54. Kristen Avatar
            Kristen

            I got the first one by email, I get what you mean. Remember Jethro said Im the really thick forgetful fish.
            I think its something like LOL oooo supper bump oooowwww LOL oooo supper bump oooowwwww LOL…..a bit like your banging your head against a brick wall exercises!

          55. Spiritual_Annie Avatar
            Spiritual_Annie

            Being of German ancestry, something both sweet and sour is totally on target! Ahh… my Granny’s sauerbraten. Or potato pancakes that were nearly half onion, seasoned with lots of pepper, smothered in applesauce. German food. Nothing quite like it.

            BTW, Mr. Jethro, broccoli is absolutely delicious without drowning it in cheese sauce! As are brussel sprouts and asparagus and spinach (actually, most greens). No overcooking, just a bit of salt and butter. Mama never had to argue with me to eat my veggies, of which we always had two on our plates–a green leafy, and an additional one. When I’d go for seconds, the veggies are what I grabbed when everyone else was fighting over the meat and carb (only one carb per meal–never potatoes and bread on the same table unless it was a holiday). A woman ahead of her time when it came to nutrition, my Mama.

          56. Kristen Avatar
            Kristen

            Exactly…..and a really polite way of saying some people like me are useless with normal so have to ‘adapt’…..a polite way of saying cheat!
            Whats your castle?

          57. Spiritual_Annie Avatar
            Spiritual_Annie

            I’m not much for castles. I like shipwrecks, coral, and treasure chests with moving parts. Also those oysters that open and close. So if I were a fish, I’d hopefully be out in the ocean. But if I were forced to live in a tank, it would be one where there’s lots to explore, rather than swimming around in circles. In fact, I insisted on it when my ex moved to a larger tank. Got rid of the castle and got a wrecked ship instead. Told him fish need stimulation, too. Plus, the females needed places to hide from the males relentlessly pursuing them.

          58. Kristen Avatar
            Kristen

            Nice.
            Im too forgetful to remember whats in my tank, as Jethro said I just go round and round in circles but my figure 8.
            I dont think Id notice if my castle is actually a shipwreck….could be a lego house for all I know with my peabrain.
            Id rather be in a big tank than the ocean, thats far to scary for me. And as an Israelite, shellfish is banned…that could be a bit awkward in the ocean!
            Hopefully the ex had one of those unfortunate fish flapping on the floor or flushing incidents!

          59. Craig Avatar
            Craig

            At least you have the vertical infinity and the horizontal…

          60. Kristen Avatar
            Kristen

            Its the diagonals I struggle…really, whats the point in diagonals? Or are they merely Jethros straight lines he draws with his tongue?

          61. Craig Avatar
            Craig

            Jethro’s lines short straight to the point. This can work. As we sometimes need shortcuts…

          62. Kristen Avatar
            Kristen

            Hell no, thats cheating!

          63. Craig Avatar
            Craig

            Is progress not cheating. Even windows was the result of a cheating relationship between colleagues…
            The cheating is not the problem. Cheating is unfortunately the seed for greed and that is were the problem starts.
            Let no sun shine for others I need all the light….

          64. Kristen Avatar
            Kristen

            Exactly. Life goes so fast I lose track, a month feels like a week to me. I just dont get peoples greed, cheating, cravings for irrelevant knowledge, competitiveness over money or trying to get ahead taking the light from others, as you pointed out. They just seem so pointless, whats the end result? People paid their bills and found time to enjoy life when not working…the same as everyone else does, or tries to do. Its all just a waste of time that I cant process. Like sitting reading anything that bores you for the sake of knowledge or progress….cheating makes it even more pointless. Cheating is akin to losing, and cant give a sense of acheivement…why bother? Just one other stupid word under the umbrellas of greed and self glory. All ego driven factors are a form of psychological compensation, like a child finding a new cuddly blanket…..to me, even certificates represent that, I loathe them. As for titles, fame, self promotion and anything more than business cards…..dont even get me started! People sure know how to air their psychology and dirty laundry publically…looking like dicks!

          65. Spiritual_Annie Avatar
            Spiritual_Annie

            Personally, I prefer meandering with no particular “point B” to arrive at, except for home–that is, when I could meander. But if I’m a fish, darn right I’m going to meander. All over the place!

          66. Spiritual_Annie Avatar
            Spiritual_Annie

            Hey! My birthday’s an 8, too! Only because my Mama refused to have me on Pearl Harbor Day. Literally. Being kid #6, she knew which meds would increase her labor and refused them. I was born minutes after midnight. But, that was before Vatican II, and it was a High Holy Day on which we had to fast until after evening mass. Good thing they changed the rules because I wasn’t allowed to celebrate at school with my elementary classes like everybody else—just one more way I was “different.”

          67. Kristen Avatar
            Kristen

            LOL, crazy Mama!
            Nowadays an anorexic fastong starvation birthday party could be the in thing, you could have started a trend! Then been uber different!

          68. Spiritual_Annie Avatar
            Spiritual_Annie

            ROFLMFAO! As if I’m not “uber different” already…

            I’ve had two birthday parties my entire life. The first was after my father left. I think I was turning nine. Mama invited the whole class, as was normal in her day. It was a disaster. The kids showed up because the invites went to the parents, and most were forced to be there. (Keeping so many secrets, plus being a geek, I had only a couple of friends.) But at least Vatican II had by then changed the rules and I no longer had to fast on my birthday. I asked her to never do that again, and she didn’t.

            The other one was thrown for me by my favorite ex. She’d heard the story of my only other one when she said she wanted to throw me a party. I told her I didn’t want one. She didn’t listen, throwing me a surprise one. Even more, she threw me the party I would have liked to have had as a kid.

            It was a theme party, based on my favorite Disney movie as a kid, Bambi. We lived in a tiny studio, but she (actually, those she enlisted, like one of my sisters, because she took me to dinner while they set it all up) rearranged the room so that eight people could actually sit comfortably. And it was with all the trimmings–streamers, balloons, Bambi plates and cups and napkins, and of course the cake as well. All the presents were Bambi related. She even bought the video and we all watched it. One of my fondest memories.

            We had such a good time that one of the neighbors knocked on the door to complain because we were “laughing too loud.” She was politely told by my sister that it’s impossible to laugh too loud at a birthday party at 7:00pm, and had the door not quite slammed on her. And then we all burst out in loud laughter as soon as the door was shut at the absurdity beause we weren’t playing loud music, and had no alcohol so weren’t obnoxious, and “quiet time” in the building wasn’t until 10:00pm.

          69. Kristen Avatar
            Kristen

            Cute!
            Now you can have a birthday party every year, empty plates to look at and have a fasting party!

          70. Kristen Avatar
            Kristen

            Mmmmm, same result. I only have a tablet at work so will try later. I first read about it in a book about the Da Vinci Gene, as the writer called our type of thinking, then my teacher directed me to a couple of sites about it. Ill see if I can find anything later.

          71. Marko Avatar

            …also see my reply to Raphael above.

          72. Marko Avatar

            Yes I think you have. I’m seeing that I have a conversational dialog going on with myself as well as just visuals and sometimes, so quiet all I’m doing is listening to say the outdoors, like leaves crunching, bikes going by, birds, sometimes it’s almost blank. But I’m very aware that many people have a lot of negative inner dialog going on that is not helpful or healthy.

            I found an article on it and here is something interesting. According to this 60 % people have an inner dialog going on.

            “Researchers from Durham University found that around 60% of people report that their inner speech has the to-and-fro quality of a conversation.”

            Now I will be asking friends and people about how their inner dialog works.

          73. Kristen Avatar
            Kristen

            Thanks Marko, Im asking people as well. One friend has told me she started it a couple of years ago, it freaked her out a bit that she was becoming schizophrenic or having brain alterations from long term anti seizure medication, but she was able to pinpoint it was at time when brain changes made her more indecisive and forgetful than usual so automatically started it. Someone else has said she almost has one part of her in the role of an interviewer when she needs to nut things out and sort of gets a ‘public’ view of her own thoughts. Im dying to ask customers as a lot seem to stand and stare at things for a while when making decisions, and a few do talk to themselves quietly aloud.
            If anything, my mind is full of songs, I have a radio on all day, or just blank ‘in the zone’ of nothingness, where I dont actually think what I do even makes it to my memory or brain, like funtioning on autopilot much of the time woth no thoughts at all, a bit like being deaf.

          74. Marko Avatar

            Songs playing in your head is very common with people and some songs get stuck in an endless loop. I can usually shut them off or change them. Sometimes I wake uP with lyrics playing in my head and decide if they have a message or seem random.

          75. Kristen Avatar
            Kristen

            Cool. I do similar. I started writing a fiction book about a world I wanted to be in, uploading my subconscious, although didnt write myself as a character, generally an observer or the one that makes things happen. When it was all underway and completely automatic and spontanious, I switched to dteaming it, its my dream world. Sometimes I remember details when I wake up, others not, but I know Ive been ‘in my book’ all night.
            Its fun, like my own tv series to watch in my sleep….I write or decide what I want last thing at night and it sort of gets written in or design things in my head, or listen to songs I want, then voila, it happens.
            Mine are all very real now as well, other than symbology that I already know.
            Take care,
            K

          76. Raphael Avatar
            Raphael

            We can resolve many things in the dream state, and create endlessly…I once “moved through” a universe of colors that do not exist in real life…an endless variation of the richest and most beautiful, incredible colors imaginable!

            I used to dream with symbols (such as flying, etc) when I was much younger (about 500 years ago), but now everything is real, which doesn’t mean that it is not, at times, otherworldly and visionary.

            I love having visions…and dream visions. All of them are characteristically Native American, I don’t control them, that’s the way they come. That’s my inner “language”, my heart and soul’s way of relating to life, to the universe. I think we all come from and belong to different “families” of consciousness, and everyone of these “family” has a gift, a unique worldview, a contribution to make.

          77. Kristen Avatar
            Kristen

            Yip, I agree about different ‘families’ or I call them soul batches, all souls are ‘fertilised’ by a male and female, parallel to physical babies.
            Part of everyones journey is to first fibd ‘home’ as we called it in here years ago, then everything else follows, and we are at home within ourselves, even if we dont physically live there….it will be something in our physical bloodlines as well. Your journey ‘home’ was a tough one, some are, almost like a test. Its only when we find home that visions, reality based dreams, real physical goals, an almost political drive for our ‘home’ and our lifestyles will all somehow entwine and work to complete us. We become one whole person, the sub sonscious is uploaded into your conscious mind, there is no seperation within yourself.
            My ‘home’ is sort of the town manager of a small Wild West style town, 70s based, that would almost look like a huge gated community, and somewhere like Tekapo in NZ where my family is from. Theres a little chapel there, the Church of the Good Shepherd (google it, its very cool and was the church my family attended), that almost calls to me, so much so that I think at ‘home’ I would possibly be a Rabbi or Ministers wife. But I also have a second one that would be in a beautiful fashionable part of France.
            When I combined everything together, my fiction world was incredibly easy to write, draw building plans for, and fill with ‘people’, and everything I dream or want sort of fits around that. ‘Home’ is fun, I wish everyone knew about it, and was aware that its the main key for unlocking everything within yourself, whether they create it in fiction, an imaginary world, or can physically get there are you were able to.

            Huge changes in NZ…finally have a government, the Rights got the most votes but not enough to lead with. The Lefts, Labour, are in, with a coilition govt with two minor parties, NZ First who are anti immigration and foreign land ownership, and Greens. Should be interesting, very modern and progressive. Our new PM Jacinda is a 37 year old female, who appeared a few weeks before the election, taking over Labour, the Lefts, tak7ng their polls from 25% up to the 40s. A huge wow, and very cool….girl power at its best!!! The Rights, National, could have formed a coilition with the Greens but they wouldnt agree on a thing, so one man, who started NZ First got to negotiate with both before deciding who to go with last night…how crazy that one person’s vote ultimately forms a government.
            Take care,
            xx

  2. Patrick Gannon Avatar
    Patrick Gannon

    “Questions: Do our thoughts have anything to do with creating or producing our reality? Is there such a thing as collective consciousness? Is there such a thing as “consciousness” at all — collective or individual?”

    I agree. Yes, yes, yes… but how is consciousness being defined? Is it being defined as an emergent quality, or is it being defined as a property of the natural world? Neale is being very careful here in how he writes this.

    Yes, thoughts are energy – synapses firing, electrons being released, etc., and yes, it’s fair to say that the entire universe is made of energy in different forms.

    Agreed that our thoughts are like ripples, but they aren’t communicated across quantum fields, other than those fields like electromagnetism, that contribute to ways to communicate thoughts to others in order to form a “collective consciousness.” That “collective” is not something one picks up from an intelligent universe manipulating quantum fields. The collective is something we create ourselves through a sharing of our thoughts, emotions, etc.

    Positive thinking, like meditation, is about creating new neural connections, new pathways, new ways of thinking in the brain. Positive thinking doesn’t require any quantum assistance from the universe, per se.

    ” I think that is (consciousness) a three-syllable word referring to the collection of energy particles, magnetized by their similarity to each other, surrounding both individuals and collectives throughout the cosmos, and having a direct effect on the milieu in which those particles swim.”

    Hmm. Collection of energy particles (electrons in the brain) magnetized by their similarity to each other — not sure I get that. Surrounding both individuals and collectives throughout the cosmos – now that is starting to sound like woo; like a self-aware, conscious universe. Sentient beings are conscious. Photons aren’t. If we say these particles swim in a milieu of communications between individuals, then we’re back to shared consciousness.

    1. Jethro Avatar
      Jethro

      So, Neale said it “almost” correctly. That’s progress.
      “I agree. Yes, yes, yes…” I fell back on the couch when I seen that… Well, had I been standing I woulda fell back. I was on the couch though.

      1. Patrick Gannon Avatar
        Patrick Gannon

        I know you didn’t care a lot for the last Sean Carroll video I directed you to. This one is shorter and more succinct. I hope Neale watches it.

        Google The Case for Naturalism (Sean Carroll) youtube

        Note that this clip took place before the Higgs boson was announced, an event which confirmed his insistence that we know all there is to know about the atoms that make up our natural world. There’s a fair amount of reference to our oneness with the universe, which can work into Neale’s template, if he’s trying to adapt it to the way things really are, and step back from the woo….

        1. Jethro Avatar
          Jethro

          Not only was it succinct it was short and sweet! Yes it was a nice video and I enjoyed the things he said. Neale is no fool. Sean is no fool and I like believing that we are not fools. The greatest explanations were given to those with a higher degree of understanding. Things are kind of meeting in the middle aren’t they… sort of.

  3. Jethro Avatar
    Jethro

    “The journey in life is about reaching one’s own understanding, coming to one’s own conclusions, acting on one’s own awareness, and expressing one’s own convictions.”
    Yup!! That would be merely my own understanding as well.

    1. Patrick Gannon Avatar
      Patrick Gannon

      I would prefer a journey in life that is about reaching the truth of whatever it is we wish to know. One’s “own understanding” or “own conclusions” are not necessarily correct understandings or conclusions. That is what I would prefer to search for.

      1. Jethro Avatar
        Jethro

        Truth is, broccoli tastes terrible, but I have concluded that if you put cheese on it its pretty good stuff. My own understanding of how to accurately draw a straight line without a ruler is to stick my tongue out a little and squint my eyes… “not necessarily correct” being the key phrase? I was just explaining to that new employee that he would do best to develop his own understanding in several things we do as there is more than one way to do certain things, he should search for the way that brings him success.

        The post is about more than woo my friend. Each person should find their own best way. We are all the same but different. The trigger on my sawsall is at the top of the D-ring handle but I use the saw upside down a lot and pull the trigger with my little finger.

        1. Raphael Avatar
          Raphael

          Jethro, you draw a straight line with your tongue? That’s amazing, I I will have to try it.

          1. Jethro Avatar
            Jethro

            It’s easy and fun but the super glue that holds the pencil in place takes some getting use to. Oh, don’t close your mouth no matter how bad you drool until the glue dries. ESPECIALLY if your nose is plugged!!!

  4. Jethro Avatar
    Jethro

    “Do our thoughts have anything to do with creating or producing our reality?”
    Our thoughts “are” our realities. We cannot have an awareness without thoughts about something. Being conscious/aware of things around us is the reality. Our understanding of everything however small or large defines how we think about anything and everything. We may live in fear because our experiences tell us we will lose everything we work for and we will never have anything, or we can live in love knowing our experiences are part of life as life is, and all people face the same life in our current timeline. We can share a sense of togetherness or we can see ourselves as alone regardless of the number of people around us. In our minds, the possibilities are endless, because we can believe in that which is true or we can also believe in that which isn’t true. We will decide one way or the other, and then we will live according to that belief… a creation of our own reality.

    “Is there such a thing as collective consciousness?”
    The actions of one person effect the thoughts of another through interaction, the thoughts create another action and the more interaction there is, the more the interaction is experienced. We as individuals can decide how far a positive or negative interaction is passed on. In a small environment such as an office of employees, one persons actions can conduct the collective consciousness whether negative or positive. The person in charge is usually the person with the most power to conduct the collective and their thoughts in the moment or a greater length of time. If one person is acting negatively (a larger collective consciousness would be in charge of that definition), the rest of the office will then react to that, typically with negative attitudes of there own. An entire day can and may carry on in a negative due to the actions of one person. One person can also change the thoughts of the collective consciousness of the office to a positive. For this reason a positive attitude is desirable and positive thinking can improve the lives of many from just one person thinking positive. Every day we survive is a day with a positive outcome, if we choose to see it that way.

    1. Patrick Gannon Avatar
      Patrick Gannon

      I agree. No woo in your post… You’ve described consciousness as an emergent property.

      1. Jethro Avatar
        Jethro

        It is an emergent property. Consciousness and a reaction to a reaction could be compared at a stretch. I can see it that way. I can get what Neale is saying, I’m just saying it the way in which you see it.

  5. Patrick Gannon Avatar
    Patrick Gannon

    Speaking of consciousness, and its relation to the universe, have a listen to Max Tegmark, a very prominent physicist and mathematician.

    Google Big Thnk The Meaning of Life: It Could Be Just a Quirk—or Quark—of Consciousness

    He discusses how we give the universe consciousness, rather than the other way around.

    1. AKA Patrick Avatar
      AKA Patrick

      Question is: Who or What gives Us Consciousness?

      1. Patrick Gannon Avatar
        Patrick Gannon

        Nobody “gives” us consciousness. It is an emergent property, not fully understood by any stretch, but it’s not something we’re “given.” It’s something that emerges just as particles emerge from quantum fields, atoms emerge from particles, molecules emerge from atoms, cells emerge from molecules, tissue, nerves, etc. emerge from cells, and consciousness emerges from the brain. Shut down the brain, and consciousness goes away.

        How does it work? That’s still debated. Popular theories posit a sort of ‘working outline’ or ‘series of drafts’ that the brain creates in order to address incoming signals. If you think about it, we “assign” consciousness to inanimate things all the time – from cartoons, to puppets to TV characters that are simply images. We assign consciousness to them in the same way we assign consciousness to real people; and our brain, some think, assigns consciousness to itself in the same way.

        Consciousness is not like a radio signal that you tune in. There is no “consciousness channel.” Photons and other particles don’t have states or degrees of freedom that include happy/sad or awareness states. Consciousness emerges from what lies beneath it. An example is temperature. It is an emergent property. Individual quarks and electrons do not have temperature, but from vast numbers of them, emerges an average temperature. In the same way, from the vast numbers of connections across our brain – physical particles doing physical things – consciousness emerges. We’ll figure it out – but we’re certain there’s no “consciousness” field that affects us.

        1. AKA Patrick Avatar
          AKA Patrick

          Who is the “YOU” and the “WE” who is so certain about all this?
          And where did this you and we come from? And how did they come to be?

          1. Patrick Gannon Avatar
            Patrick Gannon

            The “we” is the scientific community – physicists who have formulated the Standard Model of Particle Physics. Don’t feel bad. Most people have no idea what science has accomplished, and it will take a generation or so of teaching students what we’ve learned; and what we’ve learned is that there is no possibility for personal gods or woo forces to affect the particles of which we are made.

            Our origins are still unknown, but there is no need to postulate a god in order to explain either. We are making great progress towards understanding the beginning of life. It will take longer to figure out how the universe came into existence, although there are a number of viable hypotheses.

          2. Kristen Avatar
            Kristen

            I’m certainly not in your primitive scientific only version of that ‘we’. I much prefer having a spirit, mind and soul thanks.

          3. Spiritual_Annie Avatar
            Spiritual_Annie

            Me, too! I love my Soul and my mind. And I love being spirited from time to time (play on words).

            I also think it’s a bit… umm… misleading, maybe(?)… that Patrick doesn’t point out that he, himself, is not a part of the “we” of that scientific community, specifically physicists, when he is not one himself. Granted, he is very well read (or is that “heard,” when the books are audible?) on material sciences, but the actual physicists in the scientific community worked hard for their advanced degrees, and even harder on their theories. I’m not sure they’d appreciate his use of “we” in the manner that he does. But, that’s just my reaction to your reaction.

          4. Patrick Gannon Avatar
            Patrick Gannon

            We = the whole of humanity. We know some things.

            We = groups we associate with. When your team wins, or your candidate is elected, you yell, “We Won!”

            We = the scientific community of which I consider myself a part. I am in a technical/scientific industry, I am much better versed in the state of the art than many, and I do include myself among the “we” who seek to understand the natural world.

            I have little doubt that any of the authors whose works I have relayed here would have the slightest bit of difficulty with my way of expressing what they have taught me. What would concern them is that otherwise intelligent people have willingly decided to deny what they have learned.

          5. Kristen Avatar
            Kristen

            Your original ‘we’ defined humans as a whole.

          6. Spiritual_Annie Avatar
            Spiritual_Annie

            It’s not the presentation of the material of scientists that I was referring to, and I’ve no doubt that you present it honestly from your perspective. What I was referring to was your use of the word “we” when you do so, especially as newcomers here do not know that you are not a physicist. I understand that you work in the telecommunications industry, which involves the inclusion of scientific discoveries by others, but your use of “we” in some instances implies that you are part of the community of physicists who have made those discoveries.

          7. Patrick Gannon Avatar
            Patrick Gannon

            My meaning is more towards the “we” of humanity. Humanity discovered that it wasn’t the center of the universe. Humanity discovered when the universe as we know it began. Humanity discovered cells, and molecules and atoms and particles and fields. I consider myself to be part of the humanity that has made these wondrous discoveries, and I make no excuse for it. My pride in being human is strongly linked to the discoveries we have made and the knowledge we have acquired about our natural world, and if my use of the word “we” in my posts offends anyone…. tough.

            Any newcomer here who wants to ask me about my credentials will get an honest answer.

          8. Kristen Avatar
            Kristen

            Tbose plays on words are actually a huge thing…as we progress new things kick in..at some point every word will ‘work’ in every context of that word, its a Universal Law thats strongly kicking one, one that can bless or curse. I love seeing it, I love spotting ‘real majic’ from above. I have a couple of really cool dresses I love from a brand Invisible, no idea where I even got them as I have so many clothes. But I cant find the label anywhere, nothing online at all, no amount of detective work gets me anywhere. The label is literally Invisible.
            Had to LOL at this post, you’re bolder than me sometimes, you can have the big balls of the week award. Hang them proudly like baubles.
            Yip….we can all read if we want to! Or listen! Im waiting to see if the new NDE studies are bought up in here, since doctors and scientists actually believe their patients. Is believing someone as a starting point permitted in the world of Professor Gannon? I think not…although oddly thats where most human sciences start. What if they were all like Professor Gannon, and I went to hom as a doctor in the year 400BC saying my head hurt behing an eyebrow. Is his reply that Im lying because no one had studied that occurance, therefore it doesnt exist? But he’ll let me know when scientific studies are done, a meeting is held, and his entrusted peers can physically determine such a thing exists?
            Sorry Neale….sometimes the inner child just cant help coming out to play! Ill go back to being a grown up now!

        2. Craig Avatar
          Craig

          Patrick this reads something like forming the tacit mind frame through experience be it imaginary or actual, the mind does apparently not differentiate as it just absorbs. The muscle memory is created without muscle movement and we respond automatically in certain situations… Would that imply that consciousness is the result of thought processing which includes reflection on what happened. Because what ever happens can get buried by thoughts of easier acceptable memory patterns we can never wipe out what is absorbed by the brain unless we kill that part of the brain…
          Or am I missing something.

          1. Patrick Gannon Avatar
            Patrick Gannon

            Experiences and memories are input, just like vision, smell, taste, touch, hunger, etc. It is posited that there is an “attention schema,” a working outline that manages all the things contending for attention, from within and without. It is the process of managing these multiple requests for attention, that may be responsible for creating what we refer to as consciousness.

            I do not think it is correct to say that “we can never wipe out what is absorbed by the brain unless we kill that part of the brain.” Memories are patterns of neural connections in the brain. Your memory is not tucked in a cell somewhere. When you recall a memory, the brain goes into the same, or a very similar state as it was in when the memory was formed. Thus all the same neurons are connecting to all the same places in the brain. This is called the “connectome.”

            In the process of going into the same state as when the memory was formed, we are writing a brand new memory. Things that might be going on at the time, can be inserted into the memory – anything from incorrect information, like getting witness testimony wrong, to having emotions added. If you’re feeling sad and recall what was once a happy memory, and make the same connections in the brain, you can alter the memory. The next time you pull it up, it may come with sadness instead of joy.

            Neurologists say that if we don’t recall memories, they eventually go away. The brain is a use or lose it, organ. Damaging the brain, can indeed affect memories, particularly if the connections across the connectome go to areas that are now damaged or gone. The same firing patterns can’t be replicated, so the full memory is gone.

          2. Spiritual_Annie Avatar
            Spiritual_Annie

            I have a serious question. You said: “Your memory is not tucked into a cell somewhere.” What, then, do you make of body memories, where the body is acting as if an event is happening in the present rather than the past, even though the mind is not (and may never have) recalled the memory to which the physical sensations are attached? Or how is it that, with our cells being replaced continuously, we still have the same physical conditions, or even scars or disfigurement, if the cells have no memory? (OK, that was two quetions.)

          3. Jethro Avatar
            Jethro

            Can you elaborate on “body memories, where the body is acting as if an event is happening in the present rather than the past, even though the mind is not” or “we still have the same physical conditions, or even scars or disfigurement, if the cells have no memory” I can’t seem to grasp it. Do you have an example?

          4. Spiritual_Annie Avatar
            Spiritual_Annie

            Often, people who have experienced trauma compartmentalize the experience and therefore carry no memory that can be accessed. However, there can be what are called “body memories,” where one feels as if the trauma is occurring in the present–the touches, the smells, the tastes, the sounds–with no visuals to explain the sensations. It’s actually extremely disconcerting, if not downright crazy making. I suspect it’s the unconscious memory acting out in our bodies when this happens, but I haven’t ruled out that our bodies, or the cells themelves, maintain a memory of the sensations even without the mind.

            Our bodies are constantly regenerating our cells. I think I remember reading that over a seven year period, all of the cells in our body have been replaced and the old ones sloghed off or turned into fingernails and toenails and hair or otherwise disposed of. If a person has something like a scar, or a minor deformity (I hate that word, but can’t come up with a better one), it doesn’t go away with the regeneration of our cells. To me, this speaks of some kind of cellular memory, or else the regenerated, brand new cells wouldn’t carry forward the scar or deformity anymore.

            Make sense?

          5. Kristen Avatar
            Kristen

            I understand what you mean Annie, I call it imprints since I couldnt find the right word for it, and it was a group of things I put in the same catagory when studying Laws. I think its more a soul or energy memory (please dont argue Patrick…Ive used the word think rather than define it as known fact to me), rather than starting as biological BUT life everything about us, its then manifested to the body via chakras, aura, energy memories etc.
            Someone spoke of amputees. A friend lost her entire arm in a mining machine accident, ripped off backwards behind her shoulder. She had dreadful ghost pains altho trauma and oain suppressed memories. When we went to an aura reader, they could still see that arm in her aura, and I could feel it as a buzzing pulse like I generally can if people are relaxed. When strong quartz crystal was placed there her pain subsided, this was about a year after her accident.
            All physical ailments are a manifestation of that persons life and personality, many rape and sexual abuse victims get gynaelogical problems with a lot of pain, uptight people get bowel problems etc. I think anything ‘strong’ stays with us or on Earth including imprints of trauma, generally fear or where people would scream, often felt as ‘ghosts’ or hauntings, plus many so called ghosts are imprints the same where the event in imprinted in the building or place that some people can see happening over and over again, assuming its a ghost. So many people are reincarnated with baggage and memories that the feel things for no known reason as well, like a fear of stairs, falling, may develop moles or something where their spirit body has scars etc.
            I think all those smells, sounds and memories you spoke of are stored in our souls, rather than a physical cellular memory.
            Take care,
            K

          6. Jethro Avatar
            Jethro

            “the unconscious memory acting out in our bodies” The brain is involved in the process of everything that happens to the body. The body doesn’t act out on it’s own. Our brains can tell our bodies to do things it cannot but the body doesn’t ask anything of the brain. The central nervous system is the body and the brain is the body in that manner. The brain remembers and forms the action of the body.
            Deformity is not a bad thing, it’s a word that describes unusual or abnormal, or not like everything else. It shouldn’t be accepted as a “bad” word. The cells do not know deformed from normal. The cells know nothing. The body gets damaged and the cells do what they must do pertaining to the damage. If the middle toe on your foot is a little shorter and bent compared to the rest of your toes and it formed that way in the womb, the body is complete, without damage, even if your mind says you are not. You don’t get to decide, If you did, plastic surgery wouldn’t exist. If you cut that toe (or have plastic surgery) the chemicals in the body react by forming new skin in the damaged area. If we remove too much skin or muscle or bone, it wont be completely replaced. The thin skin forms over the damage and closes the wound minimally. Muscle will be built back up if it can due to use of the appendage and the bone is just gone. Two bones can be put back together, The damaged bones will be fused together by the body. If a bone is broken and left alone until the fusing process is over, the two bones will have to be damaged again and put together to heal properly. In the same fashion, If you cut both of your forearms and bind them together, the cells will not know the difference between the two arms and they will heal together as one wound creating a connection.
            When the body receives a foreign object, like a splinter or a pigs heart, the body may or may not accept the object. If the chemical reaction between the object and the flesh are not compatible the cells of the body will continue to try and correct the wound and create undesired waste in the area known to most as puss or infection which can kill us if enough of it is left in the body. Something as simple as an ear piercing can create the problem and most anyone who has had their ears pierced knows the problem. The cells have no idea or thought or understanding of anything.
            Can a person have so much control of their brain that they can control any of those actions? I have no idea. It may be possible, but it’s not common.

          7. Patrick Gannon Avatar
            Patrick Gannon

            I’m afraid I don’t understand the question. “Muscle memory” which takes place in the brain, is a word that refers to the constant repetition of a task such that it is more or less permanently wired into the brain. The neural connections put into place, again and again and again, have been reinforced. The “muscles” aren’t remembering anything; it’s the motor skills in the brain that direct the activity.

            If you’re talking about your body doing things you don’t seem to be consciously controlling; that’s still a product of the brain. When amputees feel pain in missing limbs, that’s the brain; and we’re learning hot to trick the brain in order to solve such things.

            While our body cells are constantly replaced, that is not true of our neurons. We’ve learned recently that some neurons can be replaced, but for a long time it was thought that what you have is what you get, and that’s it.

            While cells in the epidermis are constantly replaced, scar tissue made of collagen, is not.

          8. Spiritual_Annie Avatar
            Spiritual_Annie

            I’ll be more specific. I was raped at knifepoint by my live-in partner, but my mind so compartmentalized the incident that I had absolutely no memory of it–no flashbacks, no dreams, nothing. However, one day when I was at work, my body began feeling like I was being raped–the touching, the pain, the smells, the sounds, even the tastes–with no visual memory to go along with it. They are called, in the healing community, “body memories.” As I mentioned to Jethro in my reply to him, I suspect it’s the unconscious memory being acted out in the body, but I haven’t entirely ruled out that the body itself, or even the cells that were involved, have their own memory of such events. Kirsten has mentioned this as an “imprint” that the Soul maintains, which is another possibility.

            The second question has to do with illness and injury. Even though new cells are constantly being generated in our bodies (and I understand cell replication), the new cells carry forward the illness or damage. As I see it, this is a form of cellular “memory” or else the new cells replacing the old cells wouldn’t replicate the illness or damage.

          9. Patrick Gannon Avatar
            Patrick Gannon

            When the incident occurred, your brain had a network of neural connections active. For reasons I don’t pretend to understand, your brain hid that memory from your consciousness. I would agree that the memory remained in your unconscious or perhaps more properly, subconscious mind. The memory made no demands for “attention” which seems to be linked to consciousness. Consciousness, neurologists suggest, seems to be a process, a schema, a series of drafts, that manages all the things that require attention from the brain.

            Something sparked the memory – perhaps a smell. If I recall correctly, all our senses pass through multiple parts of the brain, but smell goes straight to one place, and as a result can have a pretty major impact on our ability to pull up old connectome patterns, i.e. memories.

            It may be called “body memory” and perhaps that’s because physical sensory input sparks it, just like olfactory input. As we’ve discussed before, there is no soul in which to maintain an “imprint.” If this soul thing existed and was capable of “imprints” that would mean it was interacting with the particles that make up our natural world, and if that was happening, we’d know it.

            I’m not going to pretend to know biology at the level we’re diving into, but cells contain DNA, and that can be considered a memory. When a cell replicates, it splits the DNA strands, and if the DNA is corrupted, so too will be the offspring. Usually such corruption is bad, but on rare occasions, the corruption (mutation) can lead to an evolutionary advantage. However a number of cells in the body don’t contain DNA in the nucleus, but the DNA that tells our bodies how to do things, is still active throughout the body. Blood cells have DNA and they are the ones carrying things to and fro within the body to produce new cells. I understand that skin dermis has stem cells that permit the creation of new cells. I’m afraid I’m out of my league at this point, but you’ve sparked my interest in learning more. Skin does heal, after all. Scar tissue, I assume has no stem cells, so no way to replace itself.

          10. Spiritual_Annie Avatar
            Spiritual_Annie

            I learned the hard way (from having bedbugs before I moved to Florida) that skin is remarkable in what it can do to heal. When an organ of the body is attacked, it responds as an organ. So, too, can the skin when large portions have been attacked. Periodically, I could look at my skin and see what appeared to be a waxy substance all over it. Within minutes, that waxy looking substance was attached as a layer of skin cells over my skin and scabs, when usually skin forms from the inner layers while the outer ones are sloughed off.

            It’s called a “body memory” because there is no recall of a conscious memory to go with the physical sensations, not because it’s triggered by a physical sensation. They can and do strike “out of the blue” and without warning. Some I had at my desk while at work, with nothing out of the norm. Sure, there may have been a waft of someone’s scent as they walked past my office, but often my door was closed. We disagree about whether or not Souls exist. I’ve personally met mine, and stay in connection with it.

            While you’re looking into it, there is also mitochondrial DNA and rDNA to consider. Happy hunting.

        3. Jethro Avatar
          Jethro

          “we’re certain there’s no “consciousness” field that affects us.” It’s all transferred through actions. Mostly verbal communication, but we tend to also pay attention to peoples movements as anything one human does, another is watching and forming judgements about it based on their own actions, and how they see themselves, or they compare it to experiences of their pasts. No mind reading, it’s all comparison to experiences.

      2. Jethro Avatar
        Jethro

        Anything that must chase it’s food down must have a level of consciousness. Nature has provided that for survival. While not only being aware it must also have a level of self importance. All animals Have it. Humans are the only species of animal asking why.
        So the real question is: Why do we need to know why we are conscious?

  6. Spiritual_Annie Avatar
    Spiritual_Annie

    “If my own life had not demonstrated to me the power and efficacy of thought (both positive and negative, by the way), I would never be making such a point of all this — in spite of the fact that Conversations with God does.

    “The dialogue’s 3,000 pages offer a virtual treatise on energy impacting energy, and on every sentient entity in the cosmos being a source of such impact, both individually and collectively. But I needed to try it in my own life, and see affirming and confirming results, before I was willing to embrace and adopt Focused and Intentioned Thought as a dynamic force and creative tool.

    “I have seen such results, over and over again. I see our world at large, as well, as striking evidence of the power of collective consciousness — and of the need to raise and shift that group consciousness if we ever want to see real change in humanity’s experience of itself.”
    ——————————

    I knew that I’d probably have more to comment on. ?

    I think these three paragraphs make some important points.

    First, I don’t believe in accepting things just because someone else has said them. When I read articles or watch YouTube videos or hear others express their ideas, I don’t accept what’s shared as the truth, but rather as another’s experience of their truth. I only accept it a my own truth if I see that it correlates with my past experiences, or if I try it for myself to see if it works in my present experience.

    Second, I see these ideas as very powerful beause it places us in the position of the creator of our own experiences, not a victim of them. When our thought and energies are expressed, they have an impact. Certainly they impact our own experiences as our thoughts and energies color what we perceive as reality. They also impact those who hear our thoughts and feel our energies. One only has to laugh in a small group to feel the energy change, and to find others laughing. In this digital age, we are able to share our thoughts and energies with large collectives of people, if we so choose. Because of this, our ability to create change has expanded exponentially.

    I also believe our thoughts and energies affect everyone and everything through the connection we have in being created of the same irreducible building block of all
    of creation. And if everything was once part of the one thing from which all things are created (as I believe), then we are connected with all of creation. I don’t see this as a connection that can be broken. Like a single human body has different cells that have become our eyes or our arms or our spine, all of us are both who we are as individuals and a part of the whole. We each have different purposes, but just like when the physical body experiences a trauma or pleasure and reacts in harmony, we are also in harmony with the whole and can effect change to the whole with our thoughts and energy. Whether we do this unconciously or consciously seems to be a choice we can make with every thought we have.

    I believe that, with the natural connection that we have, added to the ability to share our thoughts and feelings globally, we have a great deal of power in how the future will look. By focusing our energies through things such as meditation and visualization (especialy in groups) and by sharing our thoughts and energies with the rest of the world, each of us can have an impact.

    I call that potential impact “hope” beause it means that if we choose to do so, we can change not only our own lives, but the world.

    Love and Blessings Always,
    ~Annie

  7. Christopher Toft Avatar
    Christopher Toft

    Ooh how topical for me! I’m having a life transforming time of it right now. Just back from a walk and here’s my take on this “new thought” business(which I’ve been trying to get my head around for years, always feeing like I was missing something. Here’s my fresh (for me anyway) perspective: we are all living our lives back to front. We live our lives helplessly watching our experience happen to us, an event occurs, followed by our interpretation(like this, love this, feels good good!, ouch hurts, bad bad! This means good, that means bad and then we experience the feelings of the meanings we place on the external events around us ” It feels bad because I am bad or there is something wrong with me. It feels good because I have “been good” and god is giving me a big kiss(This is true but actually in both cases?)

    If I’m (I hope finally) understanding what Neale and others have been trying to tell us, as I said, we have it back to front. Like Frank Sinatra we all singing “Do be do be do” when we’d all be much better off singing “be do be do be”. Here’s what I’m learning: if I would like to feel joy, embody it, become it. Be the source as Gandhi said.

    Here’s a real world illustration from my own life: At the end of last year a did a powerful workshop called the quest for gay men, with the aim of healing the trauma of growing up invisible and despised in a heterosexual world. One excercise we did was embodying. I was invited to step into the skin of who it would feel to be “Mr lovable”. I had to really think about this, what it would feel like and then I really was Mr lovable. I felt worthy, whole the source of love and able to give love joyfully(I’m remembering jumping into this guys lap and hugging him. Emotional now!)

    It’s taken me nearly a year of further therapy and self development to finally get I can have that experience right now. I just let myself feel love, feel joy, happiness and it’s there. This is not to say negative feelings don’t pop up that I don’t have to notice and understand or be ruled by. I am ready to live, I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I know life will guide me.

    1. Craig Avatar
      Craig

      So what I understand is that you say we must choice an emotion and live it out…

      1. Christopher Toft Avatar
        Christopher Toft

        I think so but I want to add there are rules and boundaries. We can only choose what we believe is possible within the bounds of our belief system. For example years ago I had a period of depression where I held the unconscious belief that life’s meaning or seeming lack of meaning is dependent upon whether science proves or disproves if the universe “cares about us” or not. (Materialistic or naturalistic philosophy seemed to me to imply we were an insignificant and inconsequential accident of the universe) I experienced the universe and nature as having an “attitude” towards humanity and life in general of pitiless indifference. I felt hollow , empty and utterly soulless, just a thing. Fortunately for me a was seeing a wonderful kind therapist who I see now looking back modelled and communicated me me my value and worth. I was at uni studying psychology and religion and I was learning to think critically and reflect upon my experience. One day at the beginning of my final year at uni it occurred to be that there is no absolute context free “meaning of life, out there” and that meaning is created by humans. Suddenly, I felt alive, I felt joy, wonder and release of intense healing. Suddenly the experience of “meaninglessness” was no longer true for me.

        If it were really true that how we feel is dependent upon external events then experiences like this would not be possible at all and we really would be mindless puppets, or gene spreading machines(perhaps the selfish gene theory is correct, but we are so much more than this, fairly insignificant in human terms at least, scientific theory. Human beings are much more like sleeping actors unaware we are play a role and just telling stories.

        1. Craig Avatar
          Craig

          No absolute context for free meaning of life… Interesting as for me this can be viewed as we are puppets on a string dancing to a mystical creature which would not add any value to life irrespective of what we do. It could also mean we have free will to chose and the free will creates my life and or eternity depending on my boundaries of faith. Or it could mean freedom in life is dependent on how someone else responds to my actions be they good or bad… None have any real benefit for the now.
          But when we chose to add emotions to our chores this changes the experience and creates a conscious awareness of my perception of the experience. This implying perception determines freedom in life, attitudevis then perceptions applied…
          But yes the only truth in life is “Truth is no man’s slave,but lies what magnificent slaves they make.” Thereby making freedom or free will measurable by the amount of my truth I add to the situation.
          I agree with rules, boundaries, emotions, knowledge etc but none set us free except if we utilize them to our benefit. Freedom is not ignoring or suppressing but rather rising above the occasion. Turning it into value added to life.
          I got frustrated with anthropology so I doubt if psychology would have helped me. Logic plus action is what I found works for me to set myself free.
          Back to living our life in retro. That is the greatest burden we set upon ourselves. Making our convictions and perceptions out to be truths when they are in fact just as you said our impressions of life. Now Kirsten was reflecting on the mindset of bypassing our cognitive awareness by only dealing and responding to the incident as if the response is the most natural and normal thing to do… Very close to becoming like that innocent none caring child that will grant us access to understanding and entering the kingdom or sovereignty of everlasting creative life contributions… Wait I have a lot to reflect on as my response does not yet make any sense…

          1. Christopher Toft Avatar
            Christopher Toft

            Hello Craig, I guess it means whatever you decide it means, which is the overall point I’m making in these posts. I’m off to work now but I would like to consider your thoughts and reply later. Have a great day!

          2. Craig Avatar
            Craig

            Thank you Christopher. I think Kristen has the answer live in the moment…

          3. Christopher Toft Avatar
            Christopher Toft

            Hi Craig, I am discovering at more and more profound levels as I go deeper into myself and the world around me that meaning is something we feel, not a thing somewhere “out there” we need to get or have. For me, what gives my life meaning is expressing what feels meaningful to me, things like joy, laughter, caring for myself and my fellow human beings. I am observing that human beings are too hung up on what meaningful experiences look like (Boyfriend, girlfriend, big house , holidays etc) what we are looking for is feelings right? Let me know your thoughts and I hope this helps?

          4. Christopher Toft Avatar
            Christopher Toft

            Hi Craig, I am discovering at more and more profound levels as I go deeper into myself and the world around me that meaning is something we feel, not a thing somewhere “out there” we need to get or have. For me, what gives my life meaning is expressing what feels meaningful to me, things like joy, laughter, caring for myself and my fellow human beings. I am observing that human beings are too hung up on what meaningful experiences look like (Boyfriend, girlfriend, big house , holidays etc) what we are looking for is feelings right? Let me know your thoughts and I hope this helps?

          5. Kristen Avatar
            Kristen

            Hello (British accent) Christoper Toft from England!
            You were in here a year or two ago, bravely embarking on a new relationship, and about to take the scary plunge into leaving your job to find something more fulfilling, just back from a Buddhist retreat I think. How did everything pan out? As planned or hoped?

          6. Christopher Toft Avatar
            Christopher Toft

            Hi Kristen,
            I had a wonderful time experiencing my first love relationship and then it ran its course and ended in a way that broke both our hearts, but also woke me up a bit, to the limits of my own worldview. I got a new job, had the experience I mentioned above and gradually moved away from the idea of love as something we can possess. And here I am, about to start a new chapter. Things are going to get very interesting! How are things for you Kristen? X

          7. Kristen Avatar
            Kristen

            Hi,
            So glad you had a good few years, changed jobs and made progress with the soul searching bus you chose to jump on. Yip, love is a tough one, 50% chance of a broken heart, crazy how we are prepared to risk our emotions, but not much else, psychologically deciding its not a gamble at all, emotions are a part of life. Nice attitude in you seeing it as a wonderful time, at the same time as facing reality. Scars are good, and its nice to be able to take them as memories with us once they heal a bit, and hopefully the love scars never morph into psychological battle wounds. Its nice to be able to hold them dear like we do with lost pets.
            I hope the new chapter goes well, change is always good although the catalyst for it may suck, stay on that bus, who knows where it will take you.
            Life is boringly the same here in New Zealand, other than our weather is now like England….more wet days than dry, its crap! Thanks climate change…not!
            Havnt done much interesting other than writing fiction so I can read it…I can never find books to hold my interest long enough so pretend Im writer and entertain myself reading as I write. I think that entire concept may earn me a loser card! Haha. Oh, and my daughter took an OE to your neck of the woods, her dream since she was 10 has been to go up to the Titanic Museum. She did a couple of months Contiki tour as well, a real tourist, while I held my breath until she arrived home with the token Toblerone. It didnt help that the attacks on London Bridge were when she was on the plane. I cant comprehend having to even think about terrorism, any more than you or I have to think about people walking around with guns! It was a actually such an eye opener at having to worry about anything at all, a scary insight into what others must live with 24/7, and think nothing of as it all becomes the new normal. Wierd.
            Anyway, take care, and nice to see you are alive and well.
            xx

          8. Christopher Toft Avatar
            Christopher Toft

            Hello Kristen, I think scars are important. Scars we learn nothing from and deny are dangerous as we can all too easily deny pain and spread it to others around us, or just keep re inflicting upon ourselves. This has been my experience anyway. He was my first true love and for all it’s faults and disfunctions we shared something valuable. I envy you a bit, living in New Zealand away from the worst of the world’s dramas. Terrorism is something we have to live with in Europe? I am glad your daughter is safe and well and enjoyed England. About that writing: Some years ago I enjoyed writing my own stories, they weren’t very good to be honest but they made me happy and expressed aspects of myself that had no other outlet at the time.(I was a real life Walter Mitty in my younger days!) If writing makes you happy and expresses who you are I’d say that makes you a winner?

    2. Marko Avatar

      Thanks for the share Chris.

    3. Spiritual_Annie Avatar
      Spiritual_Annie

      Christopher,

      First, thank you for risking being “out” here (which I really don’t think was a huge risk, but coming “out” anywhere can be), and for your insights. I’m glad to hear that you had such a good therapist. I did, as well, when I was ready to do my own healing.

      Some of what you describe is what I also do. I decide who I am going to be, then I am that, often ending up with more than what I started with because of others’ reactions. I can choose many things to be–unconditionally loving, compassionate, grateful for what I have, and more. The only times it fails me is when my brain chemistry goes haywire or I have successive high pain days. But even on those days, I can minimize the effects of how much I allow those two things to affect who I choose to be by eliminating the idea of suffering.

      Love and Blessings Always,
      ~Annie

  8. Marko Avatar

    I could see writing a book called “The Power of Negative Thinking”.

    Yes, negative thinking is also a divine tool used on our journey on this planet. Except, we most often use it unconsciously and for deleterious effects we don’t desire. However, we can turn this around to see that negative thinking can actually benefit us greatly.

    Negative thinking and experiences simply show us what we don’t desire to feel and experience and thus such frustrations, if channeled correctly, will help us move toward something better as we define it, more quickly.

    Negative thinking and experiences for most of us are undesirable. They do teach us valuable lessons that we can learn from and remember. That’s good! They are also the fast track and course correction to getting us to our more desired state if we use it for that purpose. Used in such a way, negative thoughts and situations are another tool to use for positive effects. That’s all good news.

    Couple that understanding with positive thinking and we have some great if not awesome tools to use in gaining the life we desire more.

    The down side of negative thinking is when we use it to cover uP or ignore darker thinking or behaviors. The late shadow side explorer Debbie Ford told me and others in a workshop that it’s like putting poop on an ice cream cone. Sure you have the nice ice cream on the top, but sooner or later you will get to the poop and have to deal with that.

    My patented response is we “Don’t airbrush or ignore negative feelings/ thoughts, but embrace them and work through them, thus finding and getting their gift.

    When it comes to negative thinking, most simply see it as a harmless passing of thoughts with no real harm. I suppose superficially, this is occasionally true if not much feeling or attachment to it is there. Otherwise we are setting up creations and experiences we don’t desire. The constant repetition of negative thoughts is mostly habit.

    Our self talk and inner dialog is often habitually going over negative judgments and thoughts about ourselves, others and life itself, that it will often manifest in many undesirable ways.

    Practicing positive self talk, practicing deep gratitude and appreciation along with using the fabric softener of compassion are tremendous tools in creating the life we desire.

    We don’t realize the depth and repetition of our negative thoughts, feelings and energies and their effects. But now we can know better, and can be and do better and allow our lives, our self love, self worth, self esteem to grow, expand and positively create our more desired dreams.

    Again, we don’t ignore or airbrush over our problems but embrace them as best we can, we work through them and find the gold behind them.

    1. Craig Avatar
      Craig

      Maybe PEP talk versus PREP work…

  9. Christopher Toft Avatar
    Christopher Toft

    Did I break site rules??? My posts keep being deleted.

    1. Spiritual_Annie Avatar
      Spiritual_Annie

      Christopher,

      Often newcomers to WordPress sites (like this one) are automatically “moderated” for their first few posts. Also, links will generally throw a comment into moderation. I don’t know if you included any links (or foul language), but my guess would be that you’re simply being automatically moderated as a newcomer. Just continuing to post will help resolve that issue.

      Love and Blessings Always,
      ~Annie

  10. Jean Avatar
    Jean

    If our thoughts create our reality, why there were so many spiritual masters in human history who have been persecuted or even killed ? These spiritual masters had unconditional love in their heart. My understanding is that we create our inner reality, but not totally our external reality. Even if the wave knows that it belongs to the ocean, it doesn’t control the ocean.

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