The Self-Explorer´s Handbook

matter.

PART I

THE PHILOSOPHY

In this part we will try to give as much metaphysics as is needed. Things like consciousness, truth, causation and reality and more must be defined to give us a stable footing. Our intent should be made explicit and some justification of what we are about to present should be of interest.

In the first chapter we will discuss our eclectic approach which we call the multiple viewpoint system and state some of our viewpoints including our viewpoint on consciousness. The second chapter provides the definitions of a number of philosophical concepts and how we interpret them.

1. Multiple Viewpoints

In this chapter we will show the importance and use of multiple viewpoints without which not much can be accomplished in this field of consciousness research and also lay out our philosophical viewpoints.

As the word genius is prominent in our book title we will briefly discuss its meaning first. The way we use it goes beyond IQ and even EQ (Emotional Intelligence).

Genius

an exceptional natural capacity of intellect, especially as shown in creative and original work in science, art, music, etc.: the genius of Mozart.

a person having such capacity.

a person having an extraordinarily high intelligence* rating on a psychological test, as an IQ above 140.

natural ability or capacity; strong inclination: a special genius for leadership.

distinctive character or spirit, as of a nation, period, or language.

The etymology is from Latin genius, attendant spirit present from one’s birth, innate ability or inclination, from the root of gignere beget. The original sense guardian deity or spirit who guides and governs an individual through life gave rise to a sense person’s characteristic disposition (late 16th century), which led to a sense a person’s natural ability, and finally exceptional natural ability (mid 17th century).

Emmanuel Kant wrote genius is a talent for producing that for which no definite rule can be given…. Genius has to do with creativity and originality. We recognize that each mind has an original viewpoint and is the creator of its own universe.

Multi Genius

Multi Genius Technology (MGT) is our symbolism for the multiple viewpoint system of research and discovery – consulting many geniuses – and for a technology that is capable of awakening many geniuses.

Therefore we use the concept of ‘multi genius’ in two ways:

Our sources are many genial individuals who originated or developed different ways of consciousness exploration and enhancement.

Our consciousness technology is designed to produce geniuses, by which we mean individuals who freely exhibit their innate potential and abilities.

Walter Russell an artist, philospher philosopher and religious man said the following about genius:

Every genius thinks INWARDLY toward his Mind instead of outwardly toward his senses. The genius can hear sounds coming out of the silence with his inner ears. He can vision nonexistent forms with his inner eyes and he can feel the rhythms of God´s thinking and His knowing – which are a blank slate to the man who believes that HE is his body. When a human rises to the exalted state of genius, he becomes a co-Creator with God. The beginning of creative expression in man is the first evidence of the unfolding Light of his genius, for no man who is purely sense-controlled can create. He can remember and repeat the records which he has imprinted upon his physical brain, but his brain has no knowledge. Therefore, he cannot create. Man can create only with his Mind – and the brain is not the Mind. The brain is merely the seat of sensation and the electric recorder of sensation. – Walter Russell

In our philosophy everyone is a genius if she is allowed to develop her inner tendencies and innate capabilities. Multi Genius also expresses our aim to assist the harmonic integration of the many original minds of man.

Multiple Sources

In the search for spiritual wisdom it is not uncommon to choose a single path or guru to explore. We learned the hard way not to completely rely on a single source, such as one guru. One could say we became ‘guru smart’. The psychology I studied in the late sixties provided a behaviorist and ‘consciousness is a by-product of the brain’ perspective. Eastern mystics and the Bhagavad Gita for example though inspiring we felt was still a little vague, a sojourn at several Scientology* places did not bring us to Nirvana either. For a few years I even thought that one brilliant, simple and powerful process could handle the whole world and every man in it. But… we learnt all the way!

Just to give one an idea, what follows is a helter-skelter list of a few of the sources and subjects that were consulted and subsequently discarded or integrated*: Mainstream psychology; Anthroposophy; Theosophy; Fourth Way (I. Gurdjieff, J. G. Bennett, P. D. Ouspensky); the Gnostic tradition; Ken Wilber; Carl G. Jung; Dr. Nordenholz scientology; Hubbardian Scientology; Metapsychology; Past Life Regression; TIR; Spiritology (A. Buttler); Buddhism; Hinduism; Sufism; Christianity; Taoism; the Philokalia; the Bible; the Upanishads; Yoga Patanjali; Vipassana; Sanatana Dharma; Yoga; Advaita Vedanta; Nisargadatta; Rupert Spira; Quantum Psychology (Stephen Wolinsky); Thought Field Therapy (TFT, Callahan); Emotional Freedom Technique – Tapping (EFT, Craig); Quantum Entrainment (QE, Kinslow); Quantum Physics; Objectivism; T. Bearden; Dr. Noel Huntley; Walter Russell; Esalen; Douglas A White; transpersonal, humanistic, positive and integral psychology; Time Perspectives (P. Zimbardo); Focusing (Eugene Gendlin); Carl Rogers; The Work of Byron Katie and Utrecht University (my alma mater).

A lot of truth can be found in any and all of these but that is not the point. Put them all on a large spreadsheet and one can see contradictions and imperfections when none of these show up easily when taken singly. What we present is more than just a collection of many viewpoints. It is an honest, systematic effort to integrate these into a complete and accurate picture.

Many a time we have been convinced that was it! Now everything is explained! And every time we continued to run into other viewpoints which had just as much validity, but contradicted all our previous absolute certainties, so we had to start all over again, doubting and questioning further. Such is the life of a truth seeker or honest investigator and we did find after all some common denominators.

How we View Consciousness

And it would be a kind of understatement to say that consciousness is a common denominator, because it is the common denominator of everything.

In our philosophy everything experienced is situated in consciousness. In other words consciousness is primary, and not a byproduct of brains. Living is an exciting experience in consciousness.

If we look at the word consciousness etymologically, we find the Latin conscire, from com- together or + scire to know. Knowing together is an idea that we will come back to later in this book in various ways – but it is multiple viewpoints once more.

Even though many neuroscientists, attempt to prove that consciousness is a byproduct of the brain this is not to preclude that many interesting observations arise in this field. Neurobiologist, Prof Dr. Gerald Hüter,¹ for example, states that human brains consist of dense networks of lifelong programmable structures and are structures for open-ended programs. This completely matches our view of consciousness being infinitely flexible and programmable.

We observe that physics, religion and science are beginning to converge, just witness the physicists who are writing about God*. It is easy now to predict that the puzzle of consciousness will resolve by integrating all viewpoints.

We are so interested in consciousness because we believe that in studying consciousness we will eventually discover all the secrets of the universe. This is not so naïve as one might think given that the questioning of why and how does it work itself is a matter of consciousness. Even after explaining how the neurons and synapses are actively producing consciousness will the brain scientist have to admit that his science takes place in consciousness.

As will be discussed at length in this book, the self is a key component of consciousness and gives us also what is known as viewpoints.

We not only believe that consciousness is primary but also that it is capable of causing changes in the conditions of existence. It plays a causative role in happiness and so forth. We strongly believe that consciousness is capable of resolving any problems, creations and undesirable conditions encountered in consciousness. This is what creates optimism as who would despair if things in general are amenable to change.

The Viewpoint of the Person

There have been many attempts by people to influence the awareness, ideas and thinking of others in social as well as in therapeutic situations. This starts in parental and school education and continued by the television and other cultural media.

Most of us can easily remember a few times when we were convinced with sufficient force to believe something or act in a certain way – or else. Brainwashing and implanting of ideas by subtle electronic or less subtle means goes deeper and beyond the social acceptable. We have successfully used our technology to undo various types of bad programming. (detrimental to the person).

In working with consciousness technology we adhere to a number of ethical rules the most important of which is not to evaluate for the person, not to invalidate the person’s data. In general to treat another viewpoint with respect and empathy.

We have learnt by experience that love and care in a therapeutical context translates to a neutral attitude and allowing the person full self-determination over what she thinks about things, in particular about her personal experiences. The meaning of life is what a person assigns as meaning to her life.

In the consciousness enhancing activity which we call processing or reprocessing* we use a philosophical principle best described in the motto ‘communication is the universal solvent’. But then we mean real communication, following high standards; specific laws of communication, will be described in Part III. When we use any technique, the purposes, roles etc. are clearly defined and agreed upon beforehand.

Understanding(s)

We think the way to improve the world is to start with oneself, which we call self-exploration. We also think that one should not get completely introverted in mental self-exploration to the detriment of living.

We think in terms of understandings – plural – as there are many things and different angles and subjects and aspects to understand. There is no great single understanding that will cover everything, just as there is no guru or philosopher who got it all. Again the multi genius or multi viewpoint system. There is one more thing to understand about understandings in our usage and that is that these understandings are not limited to intellectual understandings. A sudden breakthrough – also called satori – during meditation in which the true nature of reality is revealed to one is an intuitive understanding.

In fact our sessions all end in minimally one new understanding of life or an aspect of life. We are serious about creating definite subjective and objective results applying our philosophy. Serious enough to use the term products.

Valuable Products

Technology is defined as the practical application of knowledge to a particular area. In our case the particular area of application is consciousness. Consciousness however is such an embracive concept that it well behooves us to specify the expected results of such a technology in application.

We could describe the results as leading to more harmonious lives, that is true, but that would be rather broad. Consciousness Technology (CT) such as the Universal Imagination Technique and many other processing techniques are done in structured sessions that involve some form of protocol. In our case the result or valuable product of each session is reaching a new insight or understanding of the subject being processed*. Sometimes we also end up with a regained ability. But a fresh new viewpoint is always to be expected, even though it may have been thought of before, right now in this session it is a new understanding. This is sometimes called an Aha Erlebnis, Eureka (I found it) or cognition.

» The valuable final product of a CT* process or session is always one or more higher level understandings directly related to the subject under consideration and may be accompanied by one or more regained abilities.

» The secondary valuable final product of a CT process is desirable changes in the quality of life as experienced by the person.

» The valuable final product of any course or module which is part of the educational curriculum, is increased understandings of the subject and the ability to apply the data or techniques taught.

» The valuable final product of consciousness technology is expanded consciousness resulting in improved conditions of living.

Values & Ideals

A philosophy that is all about promoting consciousness and increasing awareness naturally gives birth to certain values*, principles or guidelines. Thus we believe with Ibsen…

The spirit of truth and the spirit of freedom – they are the pillars of society.

We honor all traditions that support the basic freedom of man to believe as he pleases and to act freely in accordance with his fundamental right of self-determination based on free will.

We also are aware that man should be restricted in his self-determination when and only when he attempts to use this freedom to encroach upon the freedom of others.

If a basic law, such as: Any individual is fully responsible for self and other individuals’ self-determination. would rule, no other laws would theoretically be necessary.

Truth and honesty flourish in a climate of freedom, but must create that freedom first.

Technology being the product of science, which is based philosophy, is ever changing, as science advances. This applies to mental and consciousness technologies as well. We intend to always use the best, most effective or applicable technology based on what we find, hear, read, develop, learn and/or experience. Therefore we are alert to new developments and are in principle always open to suggestions and contributions.

We allow and may deliver consciousness technology according to different technical standards as per individual wishes – provided these lead to increased spiritual freedom and responsibility.

Any technology, processes or techniques we publish or refer to may be useful for the diagnosis, treatment or prevention of disease and may therefore be used by medical professionals as well.

When requested to assist in solving a problem, we will always seek the solution in the direction of more awareness & more truth not less.

We aim for the individual to recognize its higher self and reach full consciousness of the unity and connectedness of all, not only that but also to place this awareness again in the center of its beingness.

Our work is based on the principle that the Gestalts* of the mind ultimately are the source of what one experiences in life. The goal is to lay bare the underlying structures of creation. To transform the unknowing creator to a knowing one and in the process learn to appreciate the sheer infinity of potential one possesses as spirit or higher self.

To live in harmony with one’s own ideas, goals and experiences is the Leitmotif of consciousness technology.

There are in the philosophical traditions a lot of conflicting ideas and viewpoints on what constitutes reality, what is the relationship of mind and matter and so forth we will describe what we have chosen as stable data in the next chapter.

We will conclude this chapter with a note on the subject of education which is close to the heart of the MGT Institute for Consciousness.

A New Type of Education

The global vision is not reserved for the few with wide responsibility – the philosophers and the scientists. Each one of us can see things in perspective. We must learn to look through the macro scope to apply systemic rules, to construct more rigorous mental models, and perhaps to master the play of interdependencies. – from The Macroscope, by Joël de Rosnay ²

There is a new trend that insists on a more balanced education.³ The existing educational system encourages a closed mindset that accepts only well-established (through the media and schools) phenomena as real, in particular, that which can be proved, or tested with the physical senses. This becomes a belief system and the subconscious will ensure that a person educated that way will only perceive this. That is why we present a form of education that while also teaching current scientific and other belief systems, at the same time encourages a mind to question things and to investigate the improbable, the paranormal, synchronicities* and anything which is a mystery or is unknown. This is an education that fosters intuitive and creative abilities and the ability to confront even confusions. We take it for granted that education and study is a life-long activity and applies to young and old.

Students should further learn not only to duplicate data but also to evaluate data and to take their own interest, intuition and knowledge as the main parameter for judgment.

In order to provide such a balanced educational program we present two types of Consciousness Exploration Routes* which complement one another. The first type is intuitive and consists of discovering the inner space – self-exploration and the second type is through study and knowledge (ex-tuition).

1 ‘The Compassionate Brain’ by Gerald Huther, Ph.D. (Trumpeter, 2006).

2 The Macroscope, by Joël de Rosnay, online http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/macrbook.html

3 See New Education series by Noel Huntley, Ph.D. http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~noelh/New%20Edu%20Page.htm

2. Philosophical Concepts & Definitions

Mind-Matter

Cartesian* dualism holds that the mind – meaning consciousness – is a nonphysical and therefore, non-spatial substance. Monism, for example advaita-vedanta* which stresses non-duality or unity, is the opposite. One mathematical argument against dualism states that two comes about by splitting one in half, therefore one is more fundamental.

Our position is that due to advances in physics, this old philosophical argument is no longer valid. Even saying that consciousness is energy and all energy is conscious does not deny that differences between mind and matter exist.

One might break one’s logical neck over statements like:

Mind is not matter.

Mind is matter.

______________

Ergo – Mind is matter and not matter.

But these are the kind of things that show up in physics such as the wave-particle duality, light is sometimes appearing as a wave and under other circumstances as particles. There is something called ‘superposition’ which allows for two things to occupy the same space. Such things seem to require a new logic, where the Aristotelian rule of the excluded middle – which states that a proposition is either true or false – no longer applies.

Another philosophical problem of long standing is what is called the mind-body problem. If one considers the mind and the body as each belonging to two entirely different universes, the problem is how things happening in the mind can affect physical events and vice versa. In our dealings with the universe of an individual this problem does not arise at all. The person receives both physical sensations and thoughts on the same screen of consciousness.

Philosophers since the ancients have also struggled with questions such as: What is real? What is true? Is the reality of the world different from how we perceive and experience it in our minds? Let’s see...

Reality

In the common sense view of reality, physical objects are real in that they exist independent of our thoughts, but in Vedantic philosophy or Western Idealism all reality is subjective, consisting of ideas and perceptions. Quantum Reality according to the Copenhagen Interpretation of Quantum Physics consists of two parts: 1. There is no reality in the absence of observation; 2. Observation creates reality. `You create your own reality...’

Based on our view that everything exists in consciousness, we define reality as the conceptual model or construct matching the phenomena existing in one or more minds.

Physical reality would then be the conceptual construct matching the phenomena existing in all minds and individual reality would be what matches the phenomena existing in one mind. The latter is what is meant by ‘what is true for you is true for you’.

Intermediate reality would be what matches the phenomena existing in more than one mind but not in all. This would include ‘paranormal’ observations and phenomena.

Reality, in particular physical reality, we say is what is and a great deal of certainty is connected with that as we all agree or can reach agreement by experiment. Reality broadly one could say is that which is believed to exist. To a large degree what is determined by considerations and beliefs or belief systems or personality and such mental factors.