Topic: Wisdoms In-Between

On one end, we have the experience of tangible, solid, separate mass; the experience of a self removed, of differences, of pleasurable stimuli and hard knocks.

On the other end, we have the numinous experience of infinite oneness.

But what are the wisdoms in-between these polar experiences that leads you to the healthier one?  If there were a "bridge" of wisdoms between one to the other, what would they be?  If separateness is Phase One Wisdom and oneness is Phase Ten Wisdom, what are phases two through nine?

You can't change a tiger's stripes,
but you can avoid its teeth.

Re: Wisdoms In-Between

dreamosis wrote:

what are phases two through nine?

The journey home?

"Beyond the stars a new world awaits me now" - Wintersun

Re: Wisdoms In-Between

At phase one, there is no mutual correspondence observed and everything is physics, laws of the jungle, determinism, dog eat dog, might makes right, you versus the cruel world -- materialism and nihilism to the extreme. 

Somewhere in phase two through nine there should appear synchronicity, destiny, law of attraction, and karma because these involve outer experiences that provide personal proof of there being a mutual correspondence between your inner world and outer. When you experience a beautiful ordering influence that comes from outside time, outside the material world, you can't help but notice there being a greater unity to everything.

Extrapolating this forward, it would seem that by some point you would see the absolute synchronicity, order, and balance of absolutely everything. Maybe that's what enlightenment is. Like viewing a huge mosaic and seeing that each piece is in its perfect place to comprise the whole unified picture.

Another item to contemplate: I have read somewhere (maybe it was McKenna) about there being an inverse relationship between information and meaning. When you are saturated with information, you lose sight of meaning. An esoteric symbol conveys very little information but is saturated with meaning.

The atom of information is 1 0 (see morningsun's post on 1 0) and you can see that here already is evidence of separation, the first separation, which is the beginning of information. How would information and meaning fare during phase nine or ten? Would 0 and 1 no longer be the ultimate separates as information goes to zero while meaning goes to infinity? Would it provide the meaning of the unity of 0 and 1? Is that what enlightenment is all about?

Acquiring fringe knowledge is like digging for diamonds in a mine field.

4 (edited by dreamosis 2007-12-28 13:48:51)

Re: Wisdoms In-Between

Mutual correspondence.  Thank you for the words. 

So the second phase of wisdom lies in the ability to see a pattern of relationship.  Correspondence.  Instead of seeing dog eat dog, or wolf eat deer, you also see a web of being.  You detect the interdependency between unlikes.

Collectively, humans have almost lost this ability.  I'm suddenly reminded of a story from The Beak of the Finch.  In it there's a story about a whole population of finches extincted by a man moving onto a Galapagos island with a cat.

So shifting out of the consciousness of separateness is a matter of looking for correspondences.  Starting, at least, with the wisdom of "everything is related" before jumping to the wisdom of "everything is one." 

There are artists trying now to call attention to the wisdom of correspondence--and scientists as well.  But I'm better acquainted with the artistic endeavor.  The playwright John Guare wrote a play called "Six Degrees of Separation" (many years ago, but still relevant).  The most powerful idea from it is that all human beings--no matter how physically distant from each other--are no more than six degrees apart.  That is, someone you know knows someone who knows someone who knows someone who knows someone who knows INSERT NAME HERE.  Whether this is literally true or not is beside the point.  The idea is that human beings exist in a network in which, metaphorically, no one is ever more than six arm's lengths away.

You can't change a tiger's stripes,
but you can avoid its teeth.

5 (edited by emerald_glow 2007-12-21 11:51:38)

Re: Wisdoms In-Between

Great topic, Dreamosis:-)
For me the connectedness translates as empathy.  On the physical level this probably means being able to transmit and receive a kind of an electromagnetic radiation. One level up: opening the heart chakra. We may all born with it, but many of us has lost this ability. Whole generations grown up without it in the US and UK  due to the culture of "no touch" the lack of compassionate non-verbal interaction between individuals with mother and her baby as the core.
http://forum.noblerealms.org/pics/1391_breastfeed.jpg
(it would deserve a long note how Victorian tradition washes together above act of pure compassion with child molesting: the difference is clear though). If we are lucky enough to get this gift, at some point we begin to feel other people's emotions around us almost as our own. On a second thought not sure if it is so much of a gift though: feeling their pain mostly and sharing less effectively their joy).
Montalk I like the way you put it from infinite information and zero meaning to the opposite: In the state of connectedness no need to inform each other, as we all know what the others know.
This is a continuous process, and  and the empathy goes from 0 to 1 as we are able to handle more and more. On the road we lose things that we held as values: like the spirit of competition: desperate daily actions, efforts for being #1 sound ridiculous after a while.  Also the joy of victory over the opponent or the enemy fades...on the other hand you do things that qualify you to asylum right ahead, like working hard with broom and chavel to free a roach into the backyard instead of simply spraying it, or talking to your cat while your "third eye" chakra touches hers...:-))
For those who missed the "gift" above there are ways to find it again: for many people who I know, so called sensual massage
http://www.bebetterlover.comcan help: using the sex-drive to pick one's interest, going way beyond sexuality.  Interaction with pets is also a joyful way to bring back what were lost on the way.

Re: Wisdoms In-Between

"For those of common understanding or great empathy, merely a gesture is required for meaningful communication. We spend our lives searching for information to entertain our intellects via comprehension to describe for others what our hearts already know. "
~~carefulcarpenter

Fun fact: Great Tits are common in Europe

To know love is to know trust; to know oneself is to know truth
~~carefulcarpenter


1+1=1