Post 20

In order to be aware of experience and reality in the way that we are we need to isolate, divide and thus circumscribe aspects of it.

Take the experiences of space and time. We circumscribe areas of space and call them countries, towns, planets, solar systems, atoms - feeling that one area of space is closed off, separate, from all other areas, that one area of space is locally stuck and disconnected from other areas.

We divide time into minutes, hours, months, years and more broadly past, present and future - feeling that the past is separate from the present and future, that it has been and gone and has no more effect or existence.

We divide ourselves from each other too. We see ourselves as separate from our environment, from our neighbours, from our dead ancestors, and have done horrific things because of this.

These feelings we have of things being separate are just the result of us laying constructed abstract rigid grids over reality and not being aware of the effects such grids have on us.

When one thinks receptively and clearly all the constructed separating grids that we forcefully impress upon reality start to melt away, they may still be apparent in some superficial sense but you see far beyond them, understanding that nothing is actually separate or isolated.

Post 19

We are conditioned to automatically and unconsciously think and perceive in certain ways. I believe the individuals who implement and maintain such conditioning are themselves largely unaware of what they are doing, for they themselves were and are conditioned. Thus the vast majority of people are caught, stuck, in negative imprinted thought patterns, unable to perceive beyond the limits imposed on them by culture.

A powerful thought revolution or paradigm shift occurs in culture and society when individuals directly express ideas, insights, that go beyond and thus challenge the picture of reality impressed upon them. I thus find that largely what I am trying to do is think beyond what and how I have been taught to think. I feel like I am constantly trying to think on a level or plane different, alien, to the level I have been encouraged to think on, trying to find words or ideas to ground and become more aware of my particular ways of perceiving reality. This is a difficult task but one which is necessary for development and growth.