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Thread: barriers to expanding consciousness

  1. #1
    sleeper Guest

    barriers to expanding consciousness

    i've been writing today (almost 4 pages worth) about something that's been bugging me for a while. I haven't shared it with anyone. But it really concerns me in a lot of ways for a lot of reasons.

    basically it's this: i'm concerned about future generations of children (and adults) being able to find their way to the spiritual path. Movies, cartoons, video games and more are using (abusing, IMHO) spiritual language in their fantasy-world entertainment-media and it's "poisoning the well" of spiritual knowledge. it's not only blurring the distinction between fantasy and reality, but I expect it to also make spiritual attainment seem like a delusional fantasy. In other words, people who are raised on cartoon-media are being predictively programmed to dismiss things like "chakras" and "spirits" and "avatars" as cartoon-media nonsense. so a rational person who seeks spiritual truth will have a convoluted conception of what spiritual truth is and will dismiss real spiritual truth out of hand.

    a couple good examples are the kids who join various forums and demand that they be taught how to gain psi powers now, or the kids that advertise them as spiritual warriors, etc.

    does anyone else feel this way? i'm feeling the waters before jumping in, so to speak.

  2. #2

    Re: barriers to expanding consciousness

    I doubt they are doing any more damage than religion has in the past.
    Sin nada (Nothing is impossible)

  3. #3
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    Re: barriers to expanding consciousness

    There are always barriers. If it's not one thing, it's another, but awareness happens no matter what barriers and stumbling blocks are theoretically in the way (but there actually are none; Consciousness is All, so any barrier or block is generated by Awareness, anyway).
    May the light surround you, may you be blessed. May the light surround us, may we be blessed. May love and light surround us all, and may we all be healed and blessed. And so it is, and so it shall be, now and ever after.

  4. #4
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    Re: barriers to expanding consciousness

    I Don't Ever Give Up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktpTyT1Wj_I

    "I'm no fighter, but I'm fighting, this whole world seems uninviting..."

    Avatar: Passion Baby!

    Making Love Out of Nothing @ ALL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyFsyC4LqK4

    Az for Me, of my Self, I am Home

  5. #5
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    Re: barriers to expanding consciousness

    I agree what everyone has said in principle.
    If you look back at history, you'll see that the stuff we talk about is nothing new under the sun, it has been talked about and 'discovered' time and time again, and given different names by the cultures that came upon these ideas.
    The natural progression seems to be as following:
    Ideas are 'discovered', explored, shown to produce x result.
    They are then shared and used by a given group.
    They become popular, and organized, until they turn into a religion or discipline.
    The religion subverts these ideas and uses them for social purposes.
    They become 'lost', 'occult (hidden)' or simply forgotten.
    Back to square one, the next group or culture 'discovers' them.

    What's different now is that mainstream culture is now being exposed to these ideas when in the past they were usually cultivated by a smaller group. And as usual, these ideas are being subverted by different groups for different purposes- so nowadays the mainstream culture is doing what religion used to do, so instead of becoming 'hidden' for fear of harm, they are becoming 'hidden' for fear of ridicule- but the result is the same, eventual undergrounding.
    What comes next is possibly new- because when most people are exposed to ideas that possibly liberate their minds (I said possibly), then the collective consciousness may be changed, making for a very interesting future; Maybe.

    So cheers, you were born at the right time.
    -----------
    https://linktr.ee/CoralieCFTraveler
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    "Stop acting as if life is a rehearsal" Dr. Wayne Dyer.

  6. #6
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    Re: barriers to expanding consciousness

    I Don't Ever Give Up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktpTyT1Wj_I

    "I'm no fighter, but I'm fighting, this whole world seems uninviting..."

    Avatar: Passion Baby!

    Making Love Out of Nothing @ ALL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyFsyC4LqK4

    Az for Me, of my Self, I am Home

  7. #7
    Join Date
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    Re: barriers to expanding consciousness

    I Don't Ever Give Up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktpTyT1Wj_I

    "I'm no fighter, but I'm fighting, this whole world seems uninviting..."

    Avatar: Passion Baby!

    Making Love Out of Nothing @ ALL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyFsyC4LqK4

    Az for Me, of my Self, I am Home

  8. #8
    sleeper Guest

    Re: barriers to expanding consciousness

    Quote Originally Posted by wstein
    I doubt they are doing any more damage than religion has in the past.
    that's a good point. in this post i have been talking about cartoon media and how it might impact the future, however, i'm much more interested in other words and phrases and how they have impacted the past.

    for instance, how do we know what the words celestial, heavenly, heaven, above, ascendance originally meant? obviously they could be referring to myriad of things. the word firmament is also very intriguing to me.

    i'm also concerned with the weird conclusions that are extrapolated from modern memes such as "i am pure consciousness therefore i dont' exist." etc.

    Quote Originally Posted by CaterpillarWoman
    There are always barriers. If it's not one thing, it's another, but awareness happens no matter what barriers and stumbling blocks are theoretically in the way (but there actually are none; Consciousness is All, so any barrier or block is generated by Awareness, anyway).
    yes but awareness isn't what needs transformation or enlightenment - it's the physical mind/body that does. the physical mind/body needs to attain high levels of realisation, then through effort, become liberated from the illusion/maya/samsara of the world by the illumination of the father-aspect of our soul. so i do declare that there are physical barriers and they are important to the transformation and realization of the human being.

    Quote Originally Posted by Tutor
    i notice when i look in the mirror, that the birthmark on my left wrist is on my right hand. so, if we set the whole wide mediated world before such a mirror, we might see that the 'birth marks' of culture/ethnicity/race/religion/philo/politic are all changing hand.
    tim
    That's exactly what i'm concerned with: the world is not what is appears to be. As terrence mckenna said: (forgive me if i get the quote wrong, it's from memory) "the world is not only stranger than you imagine but it's stranger than you can imagine." furthermore, i want myself and others to see the world as it is. not it's reflection, not it's inverse, not it's appearance but as it is.

    Quote Originally Posted by CFTraveler
    And as usual, these ideas are being subverted by different groups for different purposes- so nowadays the mainstream culture is doing what religion used to do, so instead of becoming 'hidden' for fear of harm, they are becoming 'hidden' for fear of ridicule- but the result is the same, eventual undergrounding.
    What comes next is possibly new- because when most people are exposed to ideas that possibly liberate their minds (I said possibly), then the collective consciousness may be changed, making for a very interesting future; Maybe.

    So cheers, you were born at the right time.
    -----------
    I'm definitely optimistic about the exposure of previously occult concepts. but i'm having difficulty summating my concerns here...

    iv'e been journaling about this for a few days and i'd like to you to read it.

    evaluate it honestly but please dont' lambast me too much, considering it's my personal journal entry and it's a work in progress (incomplete). it might look like an article but it's really just how i journal.

  9. #9
    sleeper Guest

    Re: barriers to expanding consciousness

    Semantical signifiers as lexiconic barriers to communication.
    And
    Conceptual framework as the mechanism of contextual comprehension.
    In other words:
    How do you know if your audience understands what you mean when you say it?
    Or
    Pragmatics.

    I’m troubled by what I see as a trend; the obscuring of the valuable meaning of valuable words and also adds worthless meaning to the same words. In other words, it is our experiences that contribute to our conceptual framework that we use to translate what we see and hear; translate that into something coherent.

    So many people from diverse backgrounds are flocking to spiritual knowledge that I should feel enthusiastic; spiritual seeking is a good thing, however, I’m concerned about the magnitude of the misunderstandings and proclamations that are occurring today. Even though diverse groups flocking to spirituality use much of the same language, they generally mean much different things when they use them and that is contributing overall to a contamination of spiritual knowledge which does not portend well for future generations.

    Spiritual knowledge has been garnished from thousands of years of hard work and preserved in multi-cultural texts, traditions and by discipleship. Now that we are technologically capable of widely disseminating this information, it should be properly done – humanity has the resources to do it. Why, instead, humanity chooses to create mindless entertainment – I don’t know. But I do know that at the pace the spiritual contamination is going, future generations will have trouble distinguishing truth from fantasy.

    Not convinced? Then take a look at this:
    Naruto is a is an fictional ongoing Japanese manga series (anime, manga, movies, card game and video game) about a young ninja. Here is an excerpt from narutopedia, regarding naruto lore:

    Chakra (ãƒÂャクラ, chakura) is essential to even the most basic jutsu; it is a mixture of the physical energy present in every cell of the body and the spiritual energy gained from exercise and experience. Once mixed, it can be channeled through the chakra circulatory system, which is to chakra as the regular circulatory system is to blood, to any of the 361 chakra points (called tenketsu) in the body. Through various methods, the most common of which is hand seals, the chakra can then be manipulated to create an effect that would not be possible otherwise, such as walking on water.

    Here is some non-fiction; excerpts from Wikipedia’s chakra page:

    “The Chakras are said to be "force centers" or whorls of energy permeating, from a point on the physical body, the layers of the subtle bodies in an ever-increasing fan-shaped formation. Rotating vortices of subtle matter, they are considered the focal points for the reception and transmission of energies.â€Â

    “The central role of the chakras in this model is the raising of Kundalini, where it pierces the various centers, causing various levels of realisation and resulting in the obtention of various siddhis or occult powers, until reaching the crown of the head, resulting in union with the Divine.â€Â

    One excerpt is fantasy, one reality How do you know which one is which? How would a Naruto fan distinguish the two?

    If you were a gamer, how would you tell the difference between a gamer-fan-website, and an astral projection website? An anime-avatar website and a kundalini website?

    Try to answer those questions before reading on. It is our responsibility as adults to create a suitable intellectual environment for future generations.

    Of course, to the layperson, both excerpts seem equal in regards to believability and strangeness, fantasy and pragmatism, in their likelihood to empower and in their likelihood to be a total waste of time. To the gamer, meditation is a waste and gaming is a worthy pursuit. To the truth seeker, the inverse is true. But how is the truth seeker to recognize the spiritual path if, at a young age, they began systematic predictive-programming that prevent them from recognizing it?

    Spiritual practice is the only liberation from the entrapments of illusion, maya, samsara. If liberation appears to be a childish game, then what truth seeker would choose liberation? In other words, if one doesn’t’ believe in Santa clause, doesn’t believe in Naruto, why should one believe in Chakras and therefore pursue enlightenment?

    Spiritual teachings are a blessing from the learned elders of our past. By absorbing the wisdom of their teachings, we can see things that were formerly invisible; we can chart our own course in the universe, our destiny. Without them, humanity is doomed to repeat the same mistakes (or worse) with each successive generation.

    …………………à ¢â‚¬Â¦Ã¢â‚¬Â¦Ã¢â‚¬Â¦Ã¢â‚¬Â¦Ã¢â‚¬Â¦Ã¢â‚¬Â¦Ã¢â‚¬Â¦Ã¢ €¦â€¦â€¦â€¦â€¦â€¦â€¦â⠂¬Â¦Ã¢â‚¬Â¦Ã¢â‚¬Â¦Ã¢â‚¬Â¦Ã¢â‚¬Â¦Ã¢â‚¬Â¦Ã¢â‚¬Â¦Ã¢â‚ ¬Â¦Ã¢â‚¬Â¦..

    In this section I’d like to share a few more examples of spiritual language that is convoluted by video games and other media.

    Here are some for-instances:

    Divine spirit
    -ïƒ In World of Warcraft (video game), Divine Spirit is a priest ability, trainable at level 30. It grants a friendly target a buff that increases spirit for 30 minutes.
    -ïƒ In guild wars (video game), Divine Spirit is a skill that For 1...11 seconds, Monk spells cost you 5 less Energy to cast (Minimum cost: 1 Energy).
    -ïƒ In Runescape (video game) there is a Shield called the Divine spirit Shield.
    -ïƒ In Yu-Gi-Oh! There is a playing card “Divine Spirit of the Ice Boundary,†also “Sacred spirit of the ice barrierâ€Â
    -ïƒ The fantasy anime movie “Moribito: Guardian of the Sacred Spirit†involves battles, hardship and magic which exists only in myths.
    -ïƒ The book Black God is about a computer programmer who meets a Mototsuitama (divine spirit) over a bowl of ramen and loses an arm because of it. He wakes up the next morning with the arm intact and discovers that every person has a doppleganger and some even have a triple liner.
    ...so on and so forth.

    In religious eschatology, the Divine spirit is a description of transcendence of physical existence and realization of the self, connection to the rest of the universe and knowingness of God.

    Remove curse
    Remove curse is a spell in the games WoW, Everquest, Guild wars (as remove hex), morrowind, runes of magic, Aion and more.
    Curse removal is the subject of many cartoons, television series and movies.

    In the real world, curses are invisible, compelling and harmful – also more widespread than one might think.

    Ascension
    Ascension is the belief in some religions that there are certain rare individuals that have ascended into Heaven directly without dying first (from Wikipedia)
    Ascension is a quest in the video game Aion, where the avatar becomes a God and gains wings.
    Ascension in the video game Guild Wars “ a legendary feat that gives characters the blessings of the gods of Tyria†(from guildwiki.com)
    In the video game Ultima IX, Ascension refers to the character going to a higher plane. Here is an excerpt about the plot, from Wikipedia:

    “As the quest progresses, the Avatar learns that the Guardian has stolen the Runes of the Virtues and twisted them into the glyphs that form the heart of each of the columns. Most of the game consists of traveling through the dungeons to recover the glyphs and visiting the Shrines of the Virtues to meditate and cleanse them. Eventually, it is revealed that the Guardian is nothing other than the dark half of the Avatar himself, and the only way to save Britannia is for the Avatar to ascend to a higher plane, taking the Guardian with him. The player is able to accomplish this via an Armageddon spell cast behind a Barrier of Life, which takes the Avatar and the Guardian to a higher plane out of Britannia.â€Â

    This excerpt has a rich metaphorical depth that is somewhat representative of humanities’ struggle as a whole – but only a spiritual person would see that. Everybody else is much more likely to assemble a contextual framework that associates fantasy with meditation, Armageddon with magic, dungeons with adventure, and higher planes with in-game progress (leveling up).

    So from here on out I will collectively refer to cartoon media, rather than to video games, card games, board games, comic magazines, anime movies, manga, etc.
    …………………à ¢â‚¬Â¦Ã¢â‚¬Â¦Ã¢â‚¬Â¦Ã¢â‚¬Â¦Ã¢â‚¬Â¦Ã¢â‚¬Â¦Ã¢â‚¬Â¦Ã¢ €¦â€¦â€¦â€¦â€¦â€¦â€¦â⠂¬Â¦Ã¢â‚¬Â¦Ã¢â‚¬Â¦Ã¢â‚¬Â¦Ã¢â‚¬Â¦Ã¢â‚¬Â¦Ã¢â‚¬Â¦Ã¢â‚ ¬Â¦Ã¢â‚¬Â¦Ã¢â‚¬Â¦Ã¢â‚¬Â¦Ã¢â‚¬Â¦Ã¢â‚¬Â¦Ã¢â‚¬Â¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦â€¦â€¦â€¦

    Contextual framework:
    When I say “conceptual framework,†I am describing the way that different ideas cross-link with one another. For instance:
    1. My notion of chakras is linked to my personal experiences with energy work, astral projection, breath-retention, auras and Kundalini. To me, Chakra signifies the many wheels on my body.
    2. A Naruto fan will link the idea of Chakras to naruto memes: violence, god-like powers, fast paced cartoon-entertainment, revenge and war; with it all taking place in a fantasy world. To the Naruto fan, Chakra signifies the action and adventure in an immersive magical fantasy world.
    3. A mother of a Naruto fan will likely link the idea of chakras to fantasy, delusion, child-like behavior, hobbies, games, waste of time. Chakra signifies the immature behavior of children.
    4. Many yoga practitioners associate the chakras to elitism, spiritual doctrine, vibrations, books, teachers, vegetarianism, trends in yoga, retreats. Chakra signifies a distinguished group of spiritual aspirants.

    Now we’re into semantics: each person means something different (based on their conceptual framework) even though they might say the same exact thing. No matter who talks with whom (in the above group), there will be (invisible) barriers to comprehension based on preconceived notions/memes. So they do not hear the correct message regardless of how it is conveyed.

    When some messasg is conveyed, we should ask:
    What do they mean?
    What is not meant?
    What is the context?
    What is implied?
    What is missing from the dialogue?
    Does a person’s conception of meaning conform to the definition of the word?
    What is the message? How will it be received?

    Of course, there are other differences between spiritual practice and cartoon media Spiritual practice is quiet and still whereas cartoon media is loud and active. Cartoon media is typically violent and fast paced whereas meditation is neither. Cartoon media provides constant and excessive rewards for even trivial actions, generating a sense of entitlement, whereas meditation is much more selective; I might be more apt to say that spiritual rewards are not point or currency based (as are games) and when rewards do arrive, it is generally suddenly and without warning and they generally only come as a result of hard work and diligence.

    New spiritual aspirants are immediately met with their own inadequacy: their inability to concentrate, inability to remain still, inability to remember what they're supposed to be doing, difficulty in overcoming boredom, etc. In order to advance on a spiritual path, one must overcome one’s self; a minimum level of humility is definitely required.
    Again, the opposite is true in cartoon media and in video games especially. Those activities reward hubris, aggressiveness, selfishness, a sense of entitlement and boasting. Staring at a screen or even playing a video game does not require concentration but it does require quickly adapting to rapidly changing visual stimuli.
    So what I’m tried to illustrate above is that the contextual framework that is developed is considerably different and that is shapes the character and therefore the behavior of the persons involved.

  10. #10
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    Re: barriers to expanding consciousness

    I Don't Ever Give Up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktpTyT1Wj_I

    "I'm no fighter, but I'm fighting, this whole world seems uninviting..."

    Avatar: Passion Baby!

    Making Love Out of Nothing @ ALL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyFsyC4LqK4

    Az for Me, of my Self, I am Home

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