“Out beyond wrongdoings and right doings there is a field. I’ll meet you there.”

A summary of a talk, held at the Jivamukti Yoga Centre in London mid August 2012, based on a 'Rumi' poem.

Once your enquiry takes you further into the depth of the universal teachings, you gradually will come to the conclusion that meditation & philosophy can’t be separated. Together, they can be seen as the two different sides of a coin.

Philosophy gives meaning to meditation and satisfies the mind and intellect, whilst meditation gives life to philosophy and transforms the substance, of which true knowledge is made of, into actual experience.

Higher knowledge is constantly surrounding us everywhere we go, whether we are receptive to it or not is irrelevant. It meets us in specific forms of influences that are acting on us in our life. This particular knowledge can’t be found in mind created life, which nowadays penetrates through almost every corner of this world as well as what lies beyond  our limited world of perception.

This higher knowledge we are talking about, is mainly transmitted through the fine arts & sciences of this world, safely contained and disguised within architecture, philosophy, literature, as well as nature, religion & poetry.

The more abstract ideas of universal teachings that lay beyond the understanding of our conceptual mind and intellect, are often embedded within the powerful influence of poetry. They are mainly directed towards our heart and aim to awaken our finer emotions that connect us with the transformative force of meaning.

Poetry points towards something eternal and can induce a state of self-remembering in us.

If we truly want to absorb these ideas and be nourished by the meaning of poetry we have to keep the door to our hearts wide open.

“Out beyond wrongdoings and right doings

there is a field. I’ll meet you there.”

'Rumi'

      

‘Between wrong doings and right doings’ that form the horizontal line of life, including past, present and future, there is a centre point or a middle, represented as a fulcrum called ‘neutral’, which can take us above our two dimensional way of perception that is mainly active on this horizontal plain in life.

Here - our mind rules in form of a ‘Me’, as subject and everything else, or ‘Them’ as the object, manifesting the ever-changing external world of our experiences.

As a consequence, this leads to the appearance of forces that oppose each other in form of ‘yes or no’, ‘positive or negative’, active or passive, as well as good or bad etc. Those forces are comprising the 'law of opposition'. 

So, the meaning behind ‘wrongdoings or right doings’ is revealing the teachings & methods that re-connect us with, as well as facilitates us to further develop a strong sounding conscience that is alive and not deeply buried by our countless contradictions. Those colliding contradictions form part of the divisions within the ‘Self’, which separate us from all that is noble and divine in us.

This gives rise to the realization that we can’t become more conscious without an alive, clear and fully developed conscience. And the methods that will take us towards this objective are applied ‘self-study’ & facilitated ‘self-enquiry’.

If we choose to stay in a linear state of perception, or are simply not interested or receptive to the transmission of knowledge that is continuously surrounding us, pointing towards a way out of those powerful laws that are constantly acting on us, we will keep bouncing back and forth within the dynamics of those forces in external life, as well as in our internal world. This means that the possibilities to change, transform or further evolve will diminish more and more the older we get, and in time we will become completely immersed by the vale of ‘blissful denial’ that will stay with us to the day we will die.

So, a third force is required to take us out of this linear state of perception, and the teaching that will lead us to this specific force can be found within the meaning of the word ‘doings’.  

‘Doings’, are governed by an active force that can take us into opposite directions, depending on the positive or negative charge of our intentions once we apply the idea of scale to them. Everything around us and everything within us contains the idea of scale. For example, the scale of our emotions, or the scale of our house, or the scale of a mountain range.

So this active force within doings can take us towards right-, as well as towards wrongdoings and the moment we find the equilibrium between both of them, a triad comes into manifestation in the form of an interval in which the possibility of change appears. If change does not manifest during this interval, then at least something else can happen that lies outside the limitations and confinements of different opposing forces and their linear ways of perception.

We have two futures according to the universal teachings, one in time & one in scale. Additionally we have two bodies, our physical body and our psychological body.

As we all know, our physical body moves along the horizontal line of life, hence in time, whilst our psychological body can rise up and down a vertical line known as the vertical scale or the ‘scale of eternity’.

The teachings of this vertical scale, which is literally infinite can be found within the meaning of the words of ‘out beyond’, which contains the teaching of ‘self-observation’.

To be able to observe our selves, we have to remove ourselves to create enough distance and space, by which we can truly see what lies in front of us. We then can see both ends of the pendulum simultaneously and can allow both ends to simply ‘be’. Hence ‘out’ symbolises a neutral place or state that lies above the horizontal line in which things can be seen from their actual ‘Isness’ point of view and can be put into a greater perspective. Whilst ‘beyond’ symbolises the neutralizing force, that can transcend the dynamic of wrongdoings and right doings into a new proposition that lies above all doings, as well as positive or negative connotations.

Within the meaning of ‘there is a field’ we will come across the teaching that man is a self-evolving organism and can further evolve his consciousness & state of being by means of conscious effort.

‘There is a field’, might give rise to the question what actually happens on a field? A field is an environment on which something can grow like the seeds in the ground can germinate and sprout to further grow and develop into crops. Instinctively the sprout is attracted to the sun and by absorbing and assimilating the sunlight it grows and flourishes on all levels.

Similarly, once we can see beyond the limitations of our mind created life, and once the meaning of the finer influences have had a chance to penetrate through the outer layers of our personality and make us look inwards to perceive our internal world of experiences by means of self-study & self-enquiry.

In time we will realize our internal world to be a large a field within that holds the seed of our inherent potential of further growth and evolution. Initially this field requires a tremendous amount of work and constant care and it will cause us a lot of hardship, friction and resistance.

There are many weeds to be eradicated that try to prevent the seed from blossoming, and there is a lot of sticky clay as well, in which we get stuck again and again, slowing our work down. Additionally there are tough weather conditions comprised of storms, fog and floods that are holding us up to complete the work and succeed with our objective.  

With a bit of patience and a sufficient amount of conscious effort, as well as help from others, we will slowly get there.

The more we grow within, the stronger the inner longing becomes. And the more its inherent magnetic pull like qualities take us further into the divided nature of our self, the more our heart is thriving for union.

‘I’ll meet you there’, symbolises the pure nature of real ‘I’, in which the divided nature of ourselves meets the undivided nature of our internal being. We now have come to a place of peace & silence within that vast field of our internal world, in which we are entirely on our own. Stripped & freed of everything we believed ourselves to be, we might be carried away by the universal pulse of consciousness right through the heart of our awareness towards the unchanging nature within, when they see fit.

  

Copyright © Alexander Filmer-Lorch October 2012 all rights reserved

Our History is Stored in Our Connective Tissue

Our History is Stored in Our Connective Tissue

There is scientific evidence that suggests each of our cells has its own intelligence.

One example of this is the research from Albrecht Buehler Ph.D. who says:

“My research for the past 30 years or so was devoted to examining whether cells have such signal integration and control centre(s). The results suggest that mammalian cells, indeed possess intelligence.”

His research documents that cells have the ability to see and respond to light as well as possessing special awareness, and can change their direction towards a different object if required. Other research indicates that each cell in our body contains traces of cerebrospinal fluid and can function like a mini brain containing a definite level of intelligence.

Bruce H. Lipton PhD discusses the matter of intelligence in each of our cells in detail in his book Biology of Belief. In one of his interviews about his book he says:

“We think of ourselves as a singular entity, but the reality is that we are an interactive community of 50 trillion individual cells. It is their technology and their intelligence that created us. The reflection of their intelligence is in their technology—they can manage their environment and manage their world with technologies that we haven’t even comprehended yet”.

As a therapist myself, having specialized in post-traumatic stress disorders for ten years, I am constantly witnessing how much unconscious memory is stored and can be held by our connective tissue, and how intelligent this tissue memory is.

The body’s inner self-healing ability seems to play an integral part within this process, as well as it seems to be an intelligence in action, which aims for a resolution and completion of the bio-emotional process. 
 Every force that is impacting on our body has to be dealt with in one way or another by our physical system. 
If it is a light force, like someone accidentally bumping into us in a crowded department store, we might be pushed slightly off balance, but otherwise our body can easily deal with this impacting force.

The energy of such a nominal impact will go straight through our body and won’t leave any traces behind. But if we happen to walk down a flight of stairs and accidentally miss one of the steps, the impact of the force of that fall might not only lead to a lower back injury and some bruising, but the physical and emotional trauma that fall has caused, will be stored within the connective tissue. The energy of the impact of the fall will enter our body and instead of travelling all the way through it to dissipate on the opposite side again, it will enter and be directed along a certain vector and will get stuck somewhere in the connective tissue.

The place where it gets stuck is usually quite a bit further away from the actual injury. The same is the case regarding the impact of forces like surgery, food poisoning, any verbal abuse or physical abuse as well as sexual abuse or severe illnesses.

Most of these extreme impacts force us into a state of shock and, depending on its severity, we may not remember a thing afterwards. People describe this experience as if a large part of themselves froze in time and was paralyzed during the traumatic experience. What they might be left with after the physical injuries have healed and their life has gone back to normal, are feelings of anxiety, minor to major changes in behavior that can be triggered by certain situations or unexpected circumstances.

Severe trauma causes our mind to blank and can lead to complete loss of memory of what actually happened. This can result in experiences of paranoia, feelings of being polluted within, aversions to touch and affection as well as mood swings and phases of deep depression.

To therapists those areas of trauma are called active lesions manifesting as hardened tissue within the body’s connective tissue structure. And once those lesions are detected and palpated, they usually display a specific movement pattern.

By applying specific tissue release techniques to these active lesions, as well as simultaneously implementing very specific non-invasive therapeutic dialoguing and imagery techniques, the client’s tissue gently will reveal and shift the dormant memory up into the field of the client’s awareness, to enable the person to release the stored energy the traumatic experience had caused in the past. In time, and with regular treatment sessions, the symptoms that had been causing a lot of problems to the client’s wellbeing completely cease to exist.

The capacity of tissue memory is vast and very precise. Nothing is forgotten, yet not everything is required to be remembered. But rest assured, only what we no longer need, and only what is of no further constructive use to us will be brought up to the surface by our self-healing faculty, that forms part of this amazingly intelligent organism called our physical body.

Organ transplantations and obvious changes in behavior of the organ receivers, has attracted the attention of the medical world. Candace Pert78says:

“Memories are stored not only in the brain, but in a psychosomatic network extending into the body, all the way out along pathways to internal organs and the very surface of our skin.”

She discovered neuropeptides79 in all different kinds of tissue and fascia, which gave rise to her conclusion that:

“...through cellular receptors, thoughts or memories may remain unconscious or can become conscious-raising the possibility of physiological connections between memories, organs and the mind.”

Paul Pearsall, MD, a psycho-neuro-immunologist and author of The Heart’s Code, has researched the transference of memories through organ transplantation. After interviewing nearly 150 heart and other organ transplant recipients, Pearsall proposes the idea that cells of living tissue have the capacity to remember.

University of Arizona scientists and co-authors of The Living Energy Universe, Gary Schwartz PhD, and Linda Russek PhD, propose the universal living memory hypothesis in which they believe that:

“...all systems stored energy dynamically and this information continued as a living, evolving system after the physical structure had deconstructed.”

Schwartz and Russek believe this may explain how the information and energy from the donor’s tissue can be present, consciously or unconsciously, in the recipient.80

To summarize:

•    We can say that the ability to store memory might not only be exclusive to the brain and its neurons, but also to different tissue types throughout the body.

•    Then we can say that this newly researched cell memory ability does not only store trauma caused by an external physical or psycho- emotional force, it stores all the memory and the blueprint of different states of consciousness.

•    Furthermore we can say that the impact gamma wave activity has on our cells and different types of tissue requires further research, yet the impact of gamma wave activity on permanent changes in brain function does not require further proof.

•    And finally we can say, that increased memory of higher states of consciousness in our cells, might play a major part in the formation of something, which is not subject to change within induced by objectless meditation.

•    And we can say that regular meditation can have a powerful impact on the way we assimilate and integrate the stored memory, which was brought up to the surface by the connective tissue while it processed towards release.


Suggestion: 
If you have the feeling that you are inhibited by certain Somato-Emotional, or Psycho-Somatic patterns to develop into your full potential, it might be worth considering talking to someone who is specialized in post-traumatic stress disorders. The relief and freedom you might gain out of a few sessions with an experienced therapist can be phenomenal. Throughout this process you only rid yourself of something you no longer need that is not conducive to you and your life anymore. 

Copyright © Alexander Filmer-Lorch July 2012 all rights reserved 

Foreword 'Inside Meditation' by Valerie James

Forward

Inside Meditation - In Search of the Unchanging Nature Within

Who has the time to meditate? Across the globe our conventional boundaries are dissolving and economies are in flux. Virtual organisations and new technologies mean that our certainty about how everything in life works dissolves too. The world is no longer linear and predictable and this gives rise to ambiguity and anxiety.

There are at least two natural human reactions to such spectacular uncertainty. One is to seek absolute assurance. The other is to search for meaning in order to cope in a world of ever-increasing complexity. Alexander Filmer-Lorch’s book is a beautifully timed publication. He teaches us how to find that still point in the centre of ourselves so that we can deal with whatever life throws at us.

Alexander is a virtuoso of movement. A child born with physical abnormalities, he turned these to advantage, dancing with a major European ballet company by the time he was seventeen. He went on to develop innovative syntheses of schools of yoga, Pilates, cranio- sacral and somato-emotional release. In my first encounter with him I physically expanded – my body rediscovered movements on his Gyrotonic machine that I had not been able to do for some 20 years. I had had an amateur training in contemporary dance, Graham technique, and in minutes Alexander had me, effortlessly, back into a level of movement my body had long forgotten. I loathe gym machines but this was working dynamically in all three dimensions with a master practitioner who knew exactly how to unlock me. This was joyful flight!

Alexander is also a sage of the dynamic between body and mind. Now he has written a manual in which he shares his thirty years of deep study and practice of integrating ‘self’ on all planes. Reader beware – this book is not for complete beginners – there is much literature already available for the novice. However, if you are serious about deepening your awareness and all aspects of your life, then you will find an immensely practical resource for a lifelong journey. You will find many inter-linked lessons for finding ‘the unchanging nature within’.

All of Alexander’s learning has taken place, and continues to do so, in the crucible of his own heart, mind, body and spirit. Despite the many schools he has learnt from, he is no eclectic practitioner – Alexander integrates his learning. This means he does not just pull out one theorem, exercise or another as the mood or situation suits. He has a deep emotional, intellectual and physical understanding of the principles from many schools of thought and practice. By exquisite discernment, he brings together inter-relating aspects into powerful new forms. He has achieved this with his version of dynamic myo-fascial flow yoga, working with the body and mind in refined attunement, taking the benefits to new levels – using methods, which suit the western body. I have witnessed the tremendous regard that yoga teachers have for Alexander.

As a corporate psychologist, a key clinical interest of mine is: how do some people learn to thrive, not only survive, in extreme situations? I work with leaders who need to find ways of transforming organisations and people despite greatly reduced resources in ever more turbulent times. As a professional mediator, I observe that those people who are able to tolerate multiple realities are those who are more likely to find creative solutions. I cannot help but notice that those who have a strong, integrated sense of self have a great advantage. The big question is: how does that strength come about?

The research that has come out of the Mind and Life Institute1 arose from the combined efforts of an international community of neuroscientists together with advanced practitioners of Tibetan Buddhist meditation. Their findings reveal that the East has much to teach the West in advancing our knowledge of neuroplasticity and inner balance. It is crucial that we heed these ideas if we are serious about bringing about peace in turbulent times. So many people clamour for a more humane world2. A fundamental and recurring theme is that we need to let go of certitude, surrender to ambiguity and suspend our overly critical minds. Only then will we see the patterns emerge that will guide us to each next step.

Like those scientists from the Mind and Life Institute, and psychologists such as Professor Marvin Levine3, Alexander interprets ancient wisdom for contemporary Westerners facing new challenges. He has been putting this wisdom into practice in his daily life for thirty years. This cross-cultural integration benefits all groups. It is precisely the blend of modern science with foreign knowledge paradigms that creates the potential for new forms of knowledge. This is new knowledge that goes far beyond the sum of the parts of these unusual bedfellows. It takes the lifetime dedication of a practitioner like Alexander to gift us with practical, but deep, teachings.

The point of meditation is not to escape reality or become a superb meditator – but to lead a fully conscious and rich life - one lived with self-awareness, objectivity, equanimity and compassion. A life that offers something back to humanity. Alexander’s approach focuses on just that. He does this with unquenchable curiosity, lightness and infectious humour. My hope is that you become infected with the desire to live a more conscious, more kindly, more fully lived life.

Valerie James -
London, England 2012

1 The Mind and Life Institute brings together many specialists across the globe including: psychiatrists, experimental psychologists, cognitive scientists, epistemologists, theologians, Buddhist monks, affective neuropsychologists, neurobiologists, etc. See for example, Destructive Emotions and how we can overcome them, A dialogue with the Dalai Lama narrated by Daniel Goleman. Bloomsbury, London, 2003 and Healing Emotions: conversations with the Dalai Lama on Mindfulness, Emotions, and Health (ed) Daniel Goleman, Shambala, Boston 1997

2 Dr Karen Armstrong was awarded the TED prize for her International Charter of Compassion. Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life, Bodley Head, London 2011

3 Professor Martin Levine, The Positive Psychology of Buddhism and Yoga: Paths to a Mature Happiness, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers, London 2000

'Inside Meditation' - Book Review

Joanne Sarah Avison on Inside Meditation

There are many books about things. They contain ideas from the author or wonderfully woven stories of fiction and inspiration. Others might list facts and instructions, or present information visually and intellectually – about their subject.

There are fewer books that can actually cause the reader to change how they see themselves and the world around them – and fewer still that can provide the tools to sustain that change. Inside Meditation is one of those rare pieces of writing that simply changes you. The paradox innate to its genius – is that, once animated by you, it can ultimately lead you to discovering that which is not subject to change, within yourself.

It has been a privilege to be a close friend of Alex over many years and watch him in action, developing and expanding his unique ability to express this work. To see it encapsulated in such clear and beautiful language is like holding treasure. For a thirsty being, the gift of a fruit and the taste of a sweet juice is heaven sent. This book is an orchard of fruit trees that has an endless supply of sweet juice – if only we take the care to pick it...and taste it and – literally and symbolically – juice it.

Inside Meditation has life within its pages. The author has lived the life of the work himself over many years of dedication and it is the concentrated essence of that experience. It is a body of work that is presented with clarity – while it contains some of the deepest mysteries about the being of human beings. You, the reader, are invited to join in with this experience and become part of that body of work. It is not an intellectual “download” to be read and learned. It is a profoundly beautiful invitation to walk an authentic path to your Self – while you live your life. Indeed, it deepens and expands the experience of every day life itself. Eventually that becomes the teacher.

Inside Meditation is also a lot of fun! It is written with a lightness of heart despite the very serious nature of the work. That is what makes it so delightful to be in the classroom with Alex. There is as much laughter as there is quiet, inexorable change – accumulating gently over time. This book is like that, if you allow yourself the time to read a little here and a little

there and engage in the exercises. It will not do it for you – it can – and does – provide an authentic and safely lit pathway to walk for yourself, to the point that you choose to travel.

That pathway glows with Grace – and this book is a grace field that will expand with you as you work with it. The true magic lies in the questions it invites you to ask, the observations it encourages you to make and the experiences it invites you to accumulate. The rest just happens as it does.

My profound gratitude to you Alex for the treasure your work has been in my life – and for the difference it has made to me. That means the difference it has made directly and indirectly to all those I have worked with. In Native American wisdom, the Spider is the bringer of writing, of words expressed on a page, like a web woven in an exquisite matrix. May the Grace and elegance with which you have woven these threads inspire many people to see and treasure the jewels at every connection – and share them in the same spirit.

Thank you, with love, Joanne Sarah

Rumi poem on 'being'

No intellect denies that you are,

but no one gives completely into that.

This is not a place where you are not,

yet not a place where you are seen.

If our intellect is utilised accordingly it initially turns into one of the most useful faculties in regards to our own possible inner evolution, as well as changing our state of being. But only initially.

As Rumi teaches, it is a matter of fact that the intellect can't deny that you are, yet there are hesitations in its ability of understanding to except this as an actual fact or the truth. It easily can rationalise that we are our physical body, or that we are our thoughts depending where we have placed our feeling of 'I', yet it is not in the potential of the intellect to be able to grasp and understand the sheer dimension of the idea that you are. 

Only when we rise above our intellect and formative way of thinking, will we be able to start understanding what this means, i.e. we have to rise onto another level of consciousness that allows us to experience the greatness and simplicity of that you are. It is our intellect, which will be required to get us there initially. This takes place by means of exploring and studying all sorts of different influences, concepts and systems until we come across specific universal teachings that work with the idea of self-remembering as well as ideas of different states of consciousness.

After that conscious effort has to be implemented to try to remember to remember to self-remember. Once we have accumulated a sufficient amount of imprints of the state of self-remembering, we will realise that this is not a place where we are not, and we experience that we have become so much more than we had been before. We have risen above a great amount of inhibiting limitations. 

Also we realise that this state of being is not the place where we will be seen, we finally have completely given into that.

Copyright © Alexander Filmer-Lorch May 2012 all rights reserved 

On another note, the content of the article following this link highlights the increasing interest many people have in universal teachings.    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17997163  

 

 

 

Rumi - reading between the lines

There is a channel between voice and presence,

a way where information flows.

Disciplined silence the channel opens.

With wondering talk it closes.

'...between voice and presence' - The moment you not only think about the meaning of this succession of words, but contemplate on them through your feeling faculty, you instantly will be drawn into the deeper meaning of this teaching. You will discover, that the term 'voice' stands for our mind and it's activity that manifests as a constant thought process to which we usually attach our sense of self or feeling of 'I'. Furthermore, you might realise that the term 'Presence' refers to our state of being or awareness and its inherent capacity to simply perceive the 'Isness' of things. If you start looking at both terms from a neutral state of mind point of view you will understand that together they create a state in which both oppose each other, whilst being completely unaware of each others individual existence. This subsequently will take you to the idea that within their silent dynamic they manifest a horizontal scale in which the 'voice' stands for past and future and the 'presence' for the actual 'now' or a given present moment in time. 'Voice' and 'Presence' in their linear or two-dimensional  interaction contain the whole range of manifestations of consciousness in man's ordinary waking state of everyday life that unfolds along this horizontal scale.

'...there is a channel' - a window or gateway leading to unprecedented opportunities that might transcend that state of  friction and frees us from this two-dimensional state of perception. Nothing much can happen or change within a two-dimensional interaction that consists of two opposing forces, as long as there is a third quality that carries the potential to neutralise this static state. This third quality or force lies dormant in form of a channel between voice and presence. The channel has to be understood as an opening, an opening of possibilities or potentialities that can be accessed via '...a way where information flows'- 'a way' can be symbolising a process, path, approach or an environment within which there is the potential to evolve, to transform or change. '...where information flows' - symbolises 'Great Ideas' or 'Universal Teachings' that are not produced by mind created life, but are constantly surrounding us unrecognised. This flow of information or stream of 'Great Ideas' is freely available in abundance, yet is rarely recognised as such. It's specific scent only can be appreciated by the one that has refined his sense of perception that is not entirely based on giving attention to the incoming impressions of life but can look beyond this linear view of perception.

'...Disciplined silence the channel opens' is the key that opens the door to 'a way where information flows'. '...disciplined...' stands for conscious effort and regular practice without expectations. '...silence...' describes the method that tames the voice. Sitting motionless in silence by means of conscious effort while being drawn into the gaps between our thoughts, will open the channel i.e. consciousness will expand the moment the 'voice' and the 'presence' are in perfect balance, an opening or spaciousness in which both are equally content in their existence. Then this channel will open and connect us to a vertical scale under which we are in-formation, hence a process of change or transformation that is graciously facilitated by the meaning of 'Great Ideas' and Grace that reach us through this vertical scale that manifests within the spaciousness of our thought patterns, hence a state of absence of thoughts in which simply nothing happens.

'...with wondering talk it closes' - the moment the voice in our head becomes active our consciousness will diminish again and will be confined and caught within the linear dynamic of opposing forces '...voice and presence'.

Copyright © Alexander Filmer-Lorch April 2012 all rights reserved

Thoughts on Identification

There are two different kinds of identification. We can identify an object like a tree, a person or a chair without attaching any connotations to it, as well as identification can be seen as a psychological process whereby the subject imitates and assimilates an aspect, a property or an attribute of the other and transforms wholly or partially after the model the other provides. The initial development of personality is constituted and specified by means of a series of identifications. That is I repeatedly identify myself with a characteristic of my father and gradually assimilate this particular characteristic into my personality by means of reinforcing the particular information into the mental makeup through repeated association and imitation.

Simultaneously with the acquirement of personality our history develops as well as that the identification with our physical body increases to such an extend, that the physical body becomes un-separable from our actual sense of self. The trinity that is comprised of our individual personality, the history it can reflect on and the identification with our physical body is the ideal foundation for the growth of imagination. This is that external influences are not perceived by us as such as they actually appear or what they truly represent, but are more or less enveloped in the story we attach to them or imagine them to be, i.e. we more and more will perceive the world and others through our own lenses that are subjective opposed to objective lenses that would be more conducive for establishing a realistic orientation and objective in life.

 

In most circumstances identification leads to loss of true sense of self and the connection with our centre of gravitas, that is we become what we associate most with. Hence we are caught in a two dimensional interaction between sense of self as subject and external impression or what we do as the object that particular dynamic creates a so-called binary condition or state. The moment we identify with pure awareness within, which is without structure, shape, form or motion - identification annihilates itself due to the fact that there is no concept, idea or connotation attached to pure awareness. How can one possibly identify with something formless that simply only perceives the ‘Isness’ of things.

This brings us back to the great philosophical idea of placing ones sense of ‘I’ or placing ones voice. Wherever we place our sense of ‘I’ or our voice most mechanically that is what we will identify with and become. So we have to step out of the binary state by further removing ourselves from what we have become to be able to see what lays in front of us. This takes us into a three dimensional dynamic, or a so-called ternary condition or state. The ternary state puts us under a much better condition in which we can consciously place our sense of ‘I’ or our voice. This cant be done mechanically or in a state of identification. Consciously placing ones sense of ‘I’ or voice into our true sense of self or centre of gravitas evokes a transformative process that is manifesting as an active potential or so called quaternary condition or state, in which something magical can happen.

We only need to be attentive as well as remember where we have placed or are placing our sense of ‘I’ right now and we instantly will gain more freedom of choice. Hence we choose to identify with our true sense of self or with a multitude of possibilities in form of external impressions and events that surround us and meet us. 

First published: 29 March 2012

Copyright © Alexander Filmer-Lorch 2012 all rights reserved