Chapter Nine: The Seven Pillars of Intelligence: Knowledge, Facts, Intuition, Insight, The Whim, Truth, and Wisdomu

Chapter Nine: The Seven Pillars of Intelligence: Knowledge, Information, Intuition, Insight, The Whim, Truth, and Wisdom

What is knowledge?
What is a fact, or information?
What is an intuition?
What is truth?
What is a lie?
What is a whim?
What is insight?
What is illusion?
What is wisdom?

I have been pointing to potential answers to these questions throughout the book, with this chapter serving only as a supplement to our understanding. Forming questions and finding their best answers has challenged mankind for thousands of years, and there are tens of thousands of philosophical, scientific, and religious books already written on all of these topics. I am considered a lay person, with no extended training in philosophy, religion, psychology, history, or academia in general, yet I have the same curiosity and spirit of inquiry as the most devoted experts within these fields. I will attempt to provide the smallest framework possible for this exploration, so that the reader and myself can share in an abbreviated, but sincere, walk on new pathways together.

This book is an attempt to get at the root of our shared existence.

Are we merely verbal creations, or do we also exist in other realms or dimensions?
Where is our foundation and, if we can experience it, will our lives subsequently be lived more holistically and intelligently?

Those that keep asking the important questions of life may eventually find satisfying answers, though there are no guarantees for success. Those who do not ask those important questions are guaranteed zero success, however.

Several decades ago, Saudi Oil Minister Sheikh Yamani gained recognition for his insight into global development:

“The Stone Age did not end for lack of stone, and the Oil Age will end long before the world runs out of oil.”

Today, we live in what many call the Information Age, and we are in absolutely no danger of running out of information, particularly in data form. There is a general perception that we are overwhelmed with data, making the ability to store, process, analyze, interpret, consume, and act upon that data a primary concern. There are, potentially, infinite streams of information available, yet most information may have little or no use to our discerning, conscious minds.. There is so much more to reality than what just greets the eye, and appears on the screens of our cellphones and/or computer monitors, however. Scientists, mathematicians, theologians, artists, philosophers, enlightened politicians, and Google algorithm writers, continue to struggle towards some unknown destination that our collective search for truth continues to guide us towards as a human race. The exponential increase in available information does little to settle what the “truth” might be, let alone which direction that its search may best be started from.

Information can help us to know why we are ill and which illnesses we have, exactly. But wisdom is to know how to heal them.

—Dr. Alberto Villoldo

(Duplication from above) I have been pointing to potential answers to questions about truth, illusion, insight, intuition, and knowledge throughout the book, with this chapter serving only as a supplement to our understanding. Forming questions and finding their best answers has challenged mankind for thousands of years, and there are tens of thousands of philosophical, scientific, and religious books already written on all of these topics. I am considered a lay person, with no extended training in philosophy, religion, psychology, history, or academia in general, yet I have the same curiosity and spirit of inquiry as the most devoted experts within these fields. I will attempt to provide the smallest framework possible for this exploration, so that the reader and myself can share in an abbreviated, but sincere, walk on new pathways together.

On our quest for understanding, we encounter numerous concepts that shape our perception of the world—knowledge, wisdom, and truth, to name a few. These terms hold immense significance, but do we truly grasp their essence? There is an intricate interplay between knowledge, facts, wisdom, truth, insight, and whimsy, and the impact they have on our lives.

It has been said in certain contest guidelines:

“You must be present to win.”

This is also true as far as knowledge goes. A witness to an actual event gains experiential knowledge while also giving whatever narrative that is created credibility, at least up to the point that the storyteller is trusted and has been accurate and honest in the past. If experiential knowledge is not available to convey a teaching or a message, listening to the stories of other firsthand witnesses can be beneficial. A great example is that of the knowledge that fathers pass on to their sons around issues of family philosophy/religion, self-esteem, growing up into manhood, accepting personal responsibility, sexuality, learning to ride a bike or drive a car, and future community involvement. The less experiential the teaching, the less staying power of the message, so it is important to keep the listener engaged with all of their senses if possible.

In 2017 my wife Sharon and I attended a weekend workshop facillitated by Dr. Matthew Fox. The famous speaker focused on his usual favorite subjects, which included the Christ Consciousness, creativity, transformation, our connection with Mother Earth, indigenous wisdom, and his gratitude for being an Anglican priest, and no longer tethered to the Catholic Church, and its Popes. I had a remarkable experiential learning experience, and I received a most powerful inner spiritual teaching during one of my dreams during the weekend.

When I returned home from the weekend event, we scheduled a lunch with our dear friends, Marty and Eddy. Over the lunch meeting, I attempted to be a channel for the weekend’s teachings to our friends. Eddy grabbed her phone, punched something into Google, and then ran over my sharing with Google’s take on the Reverend’s message for transcendence. My energy was stopped in its tracks by this rude intrusion, as it reaffirmed my suspicion that many people prefer sterile information over experiential knowledge.

In a world driven by information overload and academic rigidity, it’s time to fully engage with the transformative power of learning of an experiential nature, intuition, and insight. As a firm believer in the importance of these elements, I have witnessed their profound impact on personal growth and development. Through my own experiences and reflections, I have come to appreciate the invaluable role they play in shaping our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.

Traditional methods of education often emphasize rote memorization and theoretical knowledge, leaving little room for practical application. However, it is through experiential learning that true understanding and mastery are achieved. I recall the times in college Theology classes when religious textbooks and lectures failed to capture the essence of the Sacred, but the hands-on experience of establishing a real connection with a higher power was what brought the Sacred to life for me. The ability to touch, feel, and engage with a subject creates a lasting impression that surpasses the limitations of traditional methods, and this is especialy true with any experiences outside of our world of knowns. Experiential learning not only fosters a deeper understanding but also nurtures critical thinking, problem-solving skills, and creativity. And, for those engaged in mystical states and perceptions arising from that awareness, it also informs us of the very limitations of the processes the mind uses for understanding the world and itself.,

This book is an attempt to get at the root of our shared existence. Are we merely verbal creations, the sum total of all of our knowledge and memories, or do we also exist in other realms or dimensions, and where might they be found and experienced? Those who keep asking the important questions of life may eventually find satisfying answers, though there are no guarantees for success. Those who do not ask those important questions are guaranteed zero success, however.

As Tom Waits has said, we are buried under the weight of information, which is often confused with knowledge, with quantity being confused with abundance, and wealth with happiness. We are monkeys with money and guns. Apart from Tom’s perspective, what is knowledge, and how do we know what we know? Philosophers, scientists, religious thinkers, and beer drinkers throughout the ages have contemplated this most important question, for it has ramifications for our sense of self, its reality and formation, and our actual place in the Universe.

Rene Descartes was well known, not only for his volumes of scientific and mathematical writings and teachings but also for his famous one-liner:

I think, therefore I am.

Starting with Descartes, the self was considered to be a thinking thing that is not extended, and the object of the self’s observation is an extended thing that does not think. Duality is affirmed here, as the thinker, who is a dynamic being, traps the observed in a thought, which is a static enclosure, or perception. Those five words, I think therefore I am, certainly can get confusing, especially when the object is another thinking human being, whether they really are thoughtless, or not! Things can get really, really interesting, and complicated when the object of observation is the actual self doing the observation!!!

Many modern thinkers consider Rene’s dualism through his cause and effect statement as not fully embracing the nature of consciousness and our being, the wholeness of our being, and of our reality, and our relationship to its formation and experience. Descartes may have put

“des-cartes before de-horse”.

In a previous chapter, we considered the probability that the knowledge of self first begins with the insight that the word represents an object of sensorial awareness. As many modern-day philosophers note:

Within a conscious mind, the subject and the object arise simultaneously. The thinker and the thought arise as one. Duality is merely an illusion of thought.

Helen Keller first recognized herself as an independent being upon realizing that W A T E R represented the substance that she both drank and washed with. So too it is that we can properly assume that our sense of self, and each subsequent iteration of it, or evolutionary progression of it, arises from each statement of “new knowing” that arises within our own consciousness. Thus, it remains imperative that we understand this process of the creation of “knowledge” and the accumulation of “knowledge” through our training, education, and life experience, for this is the process by which we create ourselves, and build upon it.

Remember, we began this journey several chapters back with the mythological story of the Garden of Eden, as well as Theseus, the Minotaur, and the labyrinth. If we intend to return to the Garden of Eden, what is the state of consciousness that we aspire to return to? If we wish to return to a pre-verbal state, we are sure to be disappointed, for many pre-verbal states are characterized by unresolved trauma, which means that the labyrinth, and the Minotaur, have yet to be dealt with. Much of our knowledge serves to obfuscate and distract us from this most important issue, so we must continue our exploration of the mind, its knowledge, and the labyrinth of illusion that it creates which hides us from the blocks to our return to our original nature.

What we, as a human race, presently accept as knowledge can be defined in many ways. Our capacity for embracing logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning from both personal experience and through the transfer of shared knowledge, emotional knowledge, critical thinking, and problem-solving all point to the manifestation of intelligence. Our knowledge is based upon familiarity, awareness, or understanding of someone or something, such as facts, information, descriptions, or skills acquired through experience or education. Knowledge can also refer to a theoretical or practical understanding of a subject. Intuition is a perceptual attribute that gives us the ability to know something directly without analytic reasoning, bridging the gap between the conscious and unconscious parts of our mind, and also between instinct and reason.

The conscious being has an infinite capacity to witness life and then create knowledge around those interactions. It only takes one time getting bitten by a snake and suffering mightily under the influence of its poison to create and share the knowledge that it is vitally important to avoid physical contact with serpents while doing outdoor chores or walking in the desert. The unconscious being also has the same infinite witnessing capacity, yet their choices for how they see themselves and their lives can be so self-limiting as to make them prisoners in their own homes. In the snakebite situation, a more unconscious person would use the knowledge of the potential damage from snakebite to create fear-based stories that would keep the person behind closed doors, avoiding the outdoors altogether, or even obtaining and carrying a loaded firearm just in case they need to protect themselves. On the other hand, the curious and conscious ones might just walk around the snake, study it, and fearlessly learn the lessons that the snake has to offer.

Yet each category of awareness, be it conscious or unconscious, must arise from the same pool of potentiality, where the mystery of collective consciousness and the entrainment of all its minds create and maintain the appearance of whatever order and reality that each individual both anticipates and experiences. Yet, finding the real truth behind each new situation that presents itself to awareness is challenging, though fulfilling if done successfully.

The Whim

While knowledge is often associated with meticulous study and deliberate pursuit, let us not overlook the intriguing role of the whim. Sometimes, spontaneous decisions, fleeting interests, and unexpected detours lead us down uncharted paths, opening doors to insights and discoveries we never could have anticipated. Embracing the unpredictable nature of the whim can unlock unexpected realms of knowledge. It can also open the doors to embarassment and becoming disrespected, so we must realize its inherent risks, too.

I first came into a conscious collision with the whim versus wisdom dynamic while I was in the fourth grade. The principal wanted a representative from each class, from both the third and the fourth grades, to attend a conference for parents in the auditorium on a weeknight. It was an honor to be selected, according to our teachers, and the students were advised to select from among themselves who would be the best representatives.

As a community of grade schoolers, we had a difficult enough time establishing the process for how to select the representative, let alone who it should be. The teacher helped by instituting two male overseers, one from the fifth grade, who were to facilitate the determination process by asking for volunteers or nominations and discussing their qualifications. The boys expressed frustration with the process, and even though our teachers offered up two good candidates from each class, on a fourth-grade boy’s whim, a quiet, shy girl was selected for that class. She had been, in the past, teased and bullied by me and others, and I could immediately see that this process had the potential to victimize her. I was right; they continued to harass her, and I got another bad joke in at her expense. This selection process dramatically impacted me and has influenced my understanding of group dynamics ever since. Many of us, relying upon the opinions of others, have made many decisions against the wisdom and in favor of the opinions of others, who may have agendas, while engaging in whimsical or non-critical thinking of their own.

Whimsical thinking is the spark that ignites our imagination, unlocking the realm of creativity within us. It encourages us to think beyond the boundaries of logic and embrace playful exploration. Whimsical thinking invites us to challenge norms, question assumptions, and seek unconventional solutions. It fuels innovation and problem-solving by encouraging us to approach challenges with fresh perspectives and unbridled curiosity. Whimsical thinking is respected because of its lack of adherence to established patterns, which can be attractive to creative people, non-conformists, and insane individuals, so there is a spectrum of benefits to be gained, or lost through attacks on rationality, by accessing it. But whimsical thinking must be set aside when intelligent action is required. Be wise, watch out for whimsical thinking and suspend its influence when acting upon immediate facts is required, and make those difficult, challenging decisions that are beneficial for our lives and for our world’s lives too.

We must learn to trust ourselves and our ability to apply our experience and knowledge with a little bit of our developed insight. Typically, learned wisdom that does not conform to what our latest intuitive hit suggests must be scrutinized further, and an intelligent balance must be struck between those two poles. Intuition and wisdom are not mutually exclusive and complement each other.

Wisdom is spawned from experience. It is best embraced and expressed through our storytelling and our intelligent actions in the world. Sound bites just do not carry enough of wisdom’s energy. We must be careful not to integrate memes and sound bites into a quilt of understanding because the stitching will unravel, and we will be left appearing and acting like less than the wise people we can be.

Wisdom exists deep inside us all, waiting to inform all of our thoughts and actions in this world. This world requires ultimate intelligence to navigate through it successfully, without bringing harm to ourselves and others needlessly. Anger and fear are not to be repressed by any healthy human being, but instead are to be witnessed, studied, and utilized intelligently for wise action in this troubled world. The capacity for insight brings change, the actual seeing awakens the capacity for lasting internal change.

Healing through a heightened awareness must be individually experienced, and then the fruits of the experience can be collectively shared with other interested parties, such as in spiritual healing circles, AA meetings or friendship encounters. Here we can create the strongest atmosphere for the healing of self and others. We don’t need an edifice for this, yet our own home can become the foundation for community healing. If we belong to an enlightened group of people who attend church, there is also an immense potential for mutual support. Our intention must start the process, though the healing intentions of others can bring us together into a healing formation. This is where the miracle of the collective/shared mind of love-inspired mankind can work its wonders. The right group of people, sharing love and healing together, creates palpable energy, and this can characterize some recovery groups, depending on the quality of recovery present and being expressed in those groups.

Individuals who are toxic, addicted, or mentally ill and not yet ready to face their shame, guilt, fears, and insecurities consciously will not have immediate access to their innate potential for wisdom. It will be a difficult time of it in recovery or the search for greater meaning in their lives. There are many healing and/or religious paths to take, methodologies for achieving and maintaining sobriety, and therapeutic modalities and medications available for mental illness. The technique chosen should be wisely considered based on personal needs and philosophies or lack of them.

Life in the Information Age

The printing press opened civilization up to much more advanced opportunities for education and information transfer and sharing. The internet has opened humanity up to the potential for the real-time witnessing and sharing of other people’s adventures and learning experiences, almost without limits. Watching a multi-media presentation will carry more potential meaning and information to the higher intelligence centers of the brain than just a meme or soundbite, which arouses the more basic areas of the brain where fear is most prone to rule. There is never a shortage of information, but there is always a question about the accuracy of the information and how it is to be presented.

Several decades ago, Saudi Oil Minister Sheikh Yamani gained recognition for his insight into global development:

“The Stone Age did not end for lack of stone, and the Oil Age will end long before the world runs out of oil.”

Today, we live in what many call the Information Age, and we are in absolutely no danger of running out of information, particularly in data form. There is a general perception that we are overwhelmed with data, making the ability to store, process, analyze, interpret, consume, and act upon that data a primary concern. There are potentially infinite streams of information available, yet most information may have little or no use to our discerning, conscious minds. However, there is so much more to reality than what just greets the eye and appears on the screens of our cellphones and/or computer monitors. Scientists, mathematicians, theologians, artists, philosophers, enlightened politicians, and Google algorithm writers continue to struggle toward some unknown destination that our collective search for truth continues to guide us toward as a human race. The exponential increase in available information does little to settle what the truth might be, let alone where to start the search.

Many types of knowledge breed division and separation between human beings. It is easy to tell the difference between ministers, politicians, teachers, teachings, and knowledge by feeling within our inner chambers of consciousness how their messages impact our hearts. Understanding what we now consider to be sources of knowledge is important as well.

All that is human may be an illusion. Every human being, in their ignorance, looks out at the world, and sees a projection of their state of hypnosis—Marie Schmidt

Fake news can have real hypnotizing power over the unaware or marginally informed sectors of our population. With the idea of fake news being so casually tossed about these days, it is important to keep in mind that fake news has always been with us. It can be traced all of the way back to the days when we first started naming objects and attaching emotional linkages to our observations. Everybody sees things somewhat differently, though similarities outweigh differences by super-substantial amounts. But the human mind tends to focus on the differences, and thus temporarily accentuates those divisions while examining the objects of its reality and reassembling the new information into its own unique information matrix known as our personalities.

Our first thoughts aren’t always the best. All of those divisive philosophies that pit “me versus you” or “us versus them” will bring fewer positive results than the uniting philosophies that bring people together in the spirit of cooperation and caring. Yet it almost seems like the divisive ideas are for many, and for me, by instinct first in line for consideration. So it is important to not act out of impulse. Yes, being mindful is waiting out that first racing train of sometimes fearful, angry, or hurtful thoughts. Watch it as it passes through the screen of awareness and wait for another peaceful train of loving thoughts that may lie underneath all of the other noise.

The goal might be to make love the leading thought considered, but in my reality, it does not always automatically arise, nor should it, just because I think it is a good idea. It is important to note here that ideas that initially appear counter to our prevailing philosophy may have legitimate origins, and discovery and exploration of the mind and our individual experience of it should continue without fear and self-judgment as we attempt to discern the truths being communicated. If our prevailing philosophies are not subject to change, then we risk excess friction in all of our relationships, especially as we slip further and further away from the new, upgraded truth trying to be revealed.

My main coping mechanisms for dealing with America and my dark side are practicing spiritual healing principles and communicating with others who also share my interest in spirituality and recovery from the human condition. My path, and the paths of all others, take us to unique and valuable viewpoints, so it is of prime importance that we find our voice and share our knowledge. Through multitudes of these energy exchanges, we all may benefit from each others’ experiences and contribute to the formation of a more peaceful, healing collective consciousness in America.

It is important to understand the internal headlights that our minds use to search for knowledge and truth. The headlights tend to encourage self-fulfilling predictions/prophecies, so looking there will bring amazing insights and enhance the potential for healing experiences. What information is or isn’t important? Which attitudes, insight, and knowledge lead to greater measures of wisdom, and, potentially, freedom from our inhibiting and restrictive knowns, especially in situations where our knowledge appears to conflict with the truth?

By staying in familiar painful ruts, the view at least does not change too much. And far too many people stuck in those ruts are not even aware that they are engaged in self-defeating attitudes and behaviors. Or, if they are aware, they have already given up hope that another life is available for them.

Mindfulness, insight, and meditation help to create a more stable foundation for thought, feeling, and action. Remaining socially connected through real-life interaction (versus predominantly through media devices) keeps the heart and mind refreshed and engaged holistically. Giving and receiving presence to each other has much more value than the mere information that might be exchanged. For us to continue to trust in technology solely for our heart connection is like only eating popcorn for our diet: satisfying in the short-term and deadly in the long run. We need to feed each other new ideas and words from the deep storehouses within each of our hearts. This is where intuition, empathy, compassion, and healing all arise. To continue to be fed only from the internet is to continue our connection with cultural hypnotism, which leads in its self-defeating directions.

Virtually all relationships and all interactions with others have a lesson built right into them. We confirm our present reality with the interactions, or we entertain new information that needs synthesizing within our present-day psychological sets to create a modified reality. Teachers come in an almost infinite variety of forms. Spiritual healers and teachers are important to note here because they tend to attract the most vulnerable and receptive of all learners. I have met quite a few healers, ministers, teachers, and leaders for those on the spiritual path. Most have the best of intentions, and their hearts are in the right place and permeated with the desire to be of greater service to humanity and their spiritual evolution.

Speaking up and participating in human interactions are important.

Why would I withhold myself, and my truth, from situations that should have demanded my participation?
Why would I withhold my assessments of what is real and true and right in the face of this assault upon my sensibilities?
Why would I devalue myself, and my truth, so much that I would carry the perception that I have nothing to say, or that nobody would ever listen to me?

It has taken me nearly sixty-eight years to become willing to speak my truth to the living human representatives of our collective consciousness. I was never insightful enough to fully recognize that the world that I was adopting, and adapting to, as a child was an inaccurate representation of a more fundamental truth. But like many other children, I rebelled at the fake news and pseudo-science that churned out of the religious mills and minds of Americans. I took a very passive/aggressive approach to the spiritual lie that we as Americans are living. The pain of the lies that I cultivated prior to any spiritual recovery necessitated that I medicate myself out of the pain of separation and loneliness. I no longer punish myself by negating my own self worth, yet our culture continues to unconsciously spawn millions of suffering people who also question their own value, which is the origin of insanity. Our cultural spiritual dementia needed to be challenged, lest I lapse into deeper degrees of anxiousness, powerlessness, and unreality. Confronting a difficult reality takes more energy than most of us care to bring to the table, yet, not doing so diminishes our own standing in Truth, Life, and Love, and that has been my experience

i had very poor training since birth in how to successfully navigate group energy, up to, and including, the whole of society that we all participate in. As a boy, when family discussions turned into arguments, many times I found myself either raising my voice against the angry voice of my father, or retreating into submission and fear at the threat of being attacked for being contrary to the flow. And, I internalized that I was probably wrong anyway, and would be punished if I stepped out and asserted myself too much. I learned that I could undertake less obvious means of rebelling against authority, sometimes through indirect, or obvious, self, or other, destructive behavior.

Passive/aggressive tendencies have haunted me most of my entire life, and becoming “self-aware” has gone a long way to keep me from employing those unskilled coping mechanisms unconsciously, though I am still occasionally haunted by their presence. Having undertaken the inner work of insight, and maintaining mindfulness, and identified those sources of suffering within myself, does not instantaneously remove all of the darkness within. But is also does not remove from me the responsibility to call out those who are the external agents of oppression and repression, no matter how much I might love them or want to protect them, or even to protect myself from the ramifications of asserting what is right, true, or proper in any situation.

Knowledge is power only if man knows what facts not to bother with.

—Robert Staughton Lynd

We need better brains to manage the deluge of information we consume on the internet, on social media, on our smartphones today — as well as the new technologies we’ll surely encounter tomorrow. We need to elevate the maturity of our collective consciousness in order to thrive in this new environment.

This calls for something big: coordinated effort by major actors, from the White House and the National Institutes of Health to the United Nations and the power brokers at Davos. Indeed, addressing the cognition crisis should be positioned as a grand challenge, on par with other pressing global priorities, such as eradicating infectious diseases and disseminating clean water.

We have all been victimized by the cultural and familial conditioning of the information processing centers of the brain that cause certain streams of awareness to be represented by erroneous concepts, or attenuated or terminated prematurely by fear before any reasonable assessments can even be made. Our cultural “headlights” for looking into ourselves have had much of their light blocked by years of unacknowledged road debris accumulating on the lens. Yet, we first have to “see” that there is a blockage, as it will not clear on its own. Our own internal “seeing” can ultimately liberate us from the erroneous views foisted upon our innocent hearts and souls by the well meaning but often times ignorant teachers of our pasts, and those who may not have yet cleared up their own internal lenses of perception. But we each must look, acknowledge what appears to be there, share our perceptions with others, learn from each other, and thus create more accurate, updated knowledge. Sometimes, just accepting the fact that we only truly know a little bit, compared to the whole of knowledge available, will keep us humble enough to remain open to the vastness of the unknown.

The unknown is the opening in our mind and heart that God (or change to higher power, or whatever represents love, beauty, and healing to you) speaks through, so that we can find the truth and spirit of this new moment. Do not fear the unknown, as it can be so much more than we could ever anticipate or imagine. Even after our most sincere and deepest prayers, there still must be an opening created within our minds where we can listen and watch, without fear or judgement, for the “answer”, which is always provided, and rarely understood. The unknown can be a long neglected best friend even for the curious and the conscious. An overactive mind runs over the quiet truth that is revealed in each moment, so take off those mental workout clothes, and take a breather!

We will never change “God’s mind”, or collective consciousness but we just might change our own, and, in that change, the real miracle of life can be revealed, and our lives healed and renewed. The “One Mind Of God” and our collective human consciousness have little relationship to each other, though the conscious, healing traveler of new paths of consciousness can become a connecting link between the two. Truth can only be experienced in each new moment, in the ever-unfolding unknown and unknowable moment that is now. This unique new moment can only reveal itself to a mind no longer burdened by the past, and its version of knowledge..

Of course, once “new ideas” become integrated, they can be just as resistant to change as old, damaged, worn out thoughts, and the new synthesis will require continuous further revision until some sort of all-encompassing uniting philosophy arises (or God-consciousness, for those who like to tie spirituality and religion together).

We have all been victimized by the cultural and familial conditioning of the information-processing centers of the brain. These cause certain streams of awareness to be represented by erroneous concepts or attenuated or terminated prematurely by fear before any reasonable assessments can even be made. Our cultural headlights for looking into ourselves have had much of their light blocked by years of unacknowledged road debris accumulating on the lens. Yet, we first have to see that there is a blockage, as it will not clear on its own. Our internal seeing can ultimately liberate us from the erroneous views foisted upon our innocent hearts and souls by the well-meaning but oftentimes ignorant teachers of our pasts, and those who may not have yet cleared up their internal lenses of perception. But we each must look, acknowledge what appears to be there, share our perceptions with others, learn from each other, and thus create more accurate, updated knowledge. Sometimes, just accepting the fact that we only truly know a little bit, compared to the whole of the knowledge available, will keep us humble enough to remain open to the vastness of the unknown.

The unknown is opening in our minds and hearts that the higher power speaks through so that we can find the truth and spirit of this new moment. Do not fear the unknown, as it can be so much more than we could ever anticipate or imagine. Even after our most sincere and deepest prayers, there still must be an opening created within our minds where we can listen and watch, without fear or judgment, for the answer. And the answer is always provided and rarely understood. The unknown can be a long-neglected best friend even for the curious and the conscious. An overactive mind runs over the quiet truth that is revealed in each moment, so take off those mental workout clothes, and take a breather!

Finding Truth

Can truth and love be reduced to a series of binary decisions?
Where does our reliance on technology connect with a “search for truth”?

Search engines now serve you up what they think you are looking for. They know who you are, and more importantly, what your online consumer preferences are. They know how you are looking for things, as well as how you search for news, companies, products, etc. Plus, they know the zip code and the local geography where each user is located. Search engines are getting better and smarter at knowing YOU, as well as what’s new, and old, in your micro-locale every day. A quick type into Google, and you are being fed more information, and the foundation for yet another illusion, with just another photograph of or written interpretation of a past that never was true. Do you think for one moment that truth, or love, can be reduced to a string of “1’s” and “0’s” (machine code for programming of computer hardware) or ascii characters?

The result of “I Love You” in hexadecimal notation based on ASCII code is

49204C6F766520596F75.

In binary notation, it is a string of 80 0’s and 1’s, or

0100100100100100110101101111011101100110010100100000010110010110111101110101

These characters give you a real warm, fuzzy feeling, don’t they?

Many types of knowledge breed division and separation between human beings. It is easy to tell the difference between the ministers, politicians, teachers, teachings, and knowledge just by feeling within our inner chambers of consciousness how their message impacts our hearts. Eventually, the presenters of knowledge and the highest learned “truths” of the day will be ignored, if they are not able to break through the psychic/spiritual barrier between the mind and the heart, while still presenting, or preaching, to others their message. Did they just bring more information, which we tend to daily saturate our awareness with anyway (Google it!), or did they bring the intellect coupled with the heart awareness, where we can experience the promised fruits of deeper connections with all of creation, and, perhaps, experience an increased measure of peace of mind and more love brought into our world?

The control of information is something the elite always does, particularly in a despotic form of government. Information, knowledge, is power. If you can control information, you can control people.

—Tom Clancy

Truth can only be experienced in each new moment, in the ever-unfolding unknown and unknowable moment that is now. This unique new moment can only reveal itself to a mind no longer burdened by the past and its version of knowledge. Where does our reliance on technology connect with a search for truth? Search engines now serve you what they think you are looking for. A quick type into Google, and you are being fed an illusion and/or probably just another Capitalist and/or Christian theory. If the truth that we find on Google brings pleasure to us, remember that it is somebody else’s truth and not necessarily our own.

So, just what is Truth, anyway? Truth is the antidote for all inaccurate, secondhand, toxic, and limiting theories. Truth is not just for the saints and sages. Yet, very few people have any interest in it because they believe they are already covered by their religion and that only their savior has the truth or is the truth. Some believe that they already understand it, or, for others, that there is no such thing as truth. Sadly there is also a category of human beings who are so absorbed with their material world existence that the search for truth never even begins. For these people, it does not sound very interesting or entertaining.

Truth is extremely difficult to conceptualize because the truth is elusive. It exists above and beyond all of the words used to chase it with descriptions. Truth is oftentimes best described through poetry and music, where more of the brain becomes engaged in the energy attempting to be shared. Our words still serve a valuable function. But they will forever remain only pointers or place-holders for the energy that must be personally experienced, or it will never become psychologically real to the witness.

There is only a God when there is no longer a “me” questioning what is, while still trying to justify my own opinions or ignorance. In that silence, infinity finds its expression, and the observer is consciously noted to be the observed.

Pythagoras is credited with saying, “Know thyself, and thou will know God, and the Universe.” And Aristotle said, “It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.” These two quotes set the stage for the eternal tension between what is truth and what is falsehood, and the spiritual requirement not to create and worship idols, physical or verbal. They also point to the supporting conditions behind one’s potential for spiritual evolution and final ascendancy out of false knowledge and the suffering that results from entertaining such thoughts.

What if your life is fulfilling the prophecies of your religion and culture, rather than that of your true self? Find the self, and the life that has a great future, and then discard the one that will die with our rotting civilization. Life is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Whose prophecy are you now willing to fulfill?

In a world filled with endless information and constant decision-making, the power of facts, knowledge, intuition, whimsical thinking, and wisdom shines through as guiding forces in our lives. In this chapter, we have explored these pillars and how they shape our understanding, decision-making, and creative endeavors.

In an era where information is readily accessible, being well-informed is crucial. Knowledge-based on facts empowers individuals, allowing us to navigate the complexities of life with clarity and confidence. It forms the foundation upon which we build our beliefs, opinions, and decisions.

Facts and knowledge serve as a compass, steering us away from ignorance and guiding us toward truth. It enables us to separate facts from fiction, fostering a deeper understanding of the world around us. By embracing knowledge, we empower ourselves to make well-informed decisions that impact our lives and society as a whole.

While knowledge provides a solid foundation, intuition plays a vital role in decision-making. Intuition is the silent whisper that nudges us towards a particular path, even when rationality may suggest otherwise. It draws upon our experiences, emotions, and unconscious wisdom, helping us make choices that align with our deepest desires while keeping us in alignment with personal integrity.

Final Thoughts

At first glance, knowledge and wisdom may appear synonymous, but their distinctions are profound. Knowledge is the accumulation of facts, information, and experiences, while wisdom is the application of knowledge in a thoughtful and discerning manner. We delve deeper into their nuances, unraveling the intricacies that set them apart.

Intuition, often dismissed or overlooked, holds a vital position in our pursuit of understanding. It acts as a guiding force, operating alongside knowledge and wisdom. We explore the significance of intuition in decision-making, its ability to complement our rational thinking, and the valuable insights it provides.

Facts form the building blocks of truth. They provide us with tangible evidence and support our understanding of the world. We delve into the relationship between facts and truth, highlighting how facts contribute to the formation of truth and the importance of critically evaluating the information we encounter.

Intelligence and whim, seemingly disparate concepts, play integral roles in our perception and actions. Intelligence allows us to analyze and comprehend, while whim adds an element of spontaneity and creative thinking. We explore how these facets of the human experience shape our understanding, decision-making, and approach to life.

As we navigate the intricate web of knowledge, wisdom, truth, intuition, intelligence, and whim, it’s crucial to reflect on our understanding. How do these concepts resonate with us? How can we cultivate a deeper appreciation for their nuances? By embracing the pursuit of knowledge, wisdom, and truth, we embark on a lifelong journey of growth and understanding.

In our ceaseless pursuit of understanding, we must recognize the intricate interplay between knowledge, wisdom, truth, intuition, intelligence, and whim. Each holds a distinct place in our lives, contributing to our perceptions and actions. As we reflect on these concepts, let us strive to expand our intellectual horizons, embracing the pursuit of knowledge, wisdom, and truth with open hearts and inquisitive minds. Together, we embark on a journey of discovery and enlightenment.

Pre-Melinda Copp edit material below)

Chapter 9: Intelligence: Knowledge, Facts, Insight, The Whim, and Wisdom

What is knowledge?
What is a fact?
What is an illusion?
What is truth?
What is a lie?
What is a whim?
What is insight?
What is intuition?
What is wisdom?

This book is an attempt to get at the root of our shared existence. Are we merely verbal creations, or do we exist in other realms or dimensions, and where might they be found and experienced? Those that keep asking the important questions of life may eventually find satisfying answers, though there are no guarantees for success. Those who do not ask those important questions are guaranteed zero success, however.

What is knowledge, and how do we know what we know?

Philosophers, scientists, religious thinkers, and beer drinkers throughout the ages have contemplated this most important question, for it has ramifications for our sense of self, its reality and formation, and our actual place in the Universe.

Rene Descartes was well known, not only for his volumes of scientific and mathematical writings and teachings, but also for his famous one liner:

I think, therefore I am.

Starting with Descartes, the self was considered to be a thinking thing that is not extended, and the object of the self’s observation is an extended thing which does not think. Duality is affirmed here, as the thinker, who is a dynamic being, traps the observed in a thought, which is a static enclosure, or perception. Those five words-I think therefore I am, certainly can get confusing, especially when the object is another thinking human being, whether they really are thoughtless, or not! Things can get really, really interesting, and complicated, when the object of observation is the actual self doing the observation!!!

“de-cart before de-horse”.

In a previous chapter we considered the probability that the knowledge of self first begins with the insight that the word represents an object of sensorial awareness. As many modern day philosophers note:

Within a conscious mind, the subject and the object arise simultaneously. The thinker and the thought arise as one. Duality is merely an illusion of thought.

Remember, we began this journey several chapters back with the mythological story of the Garden of Eden, as well as Theseus, the Minotaur, and the labyrinth. If our intention is to return to the Garden of Eden, what is the state of consciousness that we aspire to return to? If we wish to return to a pre-verbal state, we are sure to be disappointed, for many pre-verbal states are characterized by unresolved trauma, which means that the labyrinth, and the Minotaur, have yet to be dealt with. Much of our knowledge serves to obfuscate and distract us from this most important issue, so we must continue our exploration of the mind, its knowledge, and the labyrinth of illusion that it creates which hides us from the blocks to our return to our original nature.

We must have a sense of our being before knowledge, and the further pursuit of it, makes any sense at all. The first word that we learn, be it mama, dada, poopoo, oh FUCK, or whatever it is, becomes the internal ignition switch that gets turned on, and then the accumulation of knowledge of the “outer world” begins! What we, as a human race, presently accept as knowledge can be defined in many ways. It can be our capacity for embracing logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning from both personal experience and through the transfer of shared knowledge, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, insight, critical thinking, and problem solving all point to the manifestation of intelligence. Thus, when all aspects of our intelligence are successfully accessed, we can become wiser people.

We have many tools to access in our quest for knowledge and its successful application and the most reasonable ways to apply that knowledge for wise, constructive action in the world. Our knowledge is based upon familiarity, awareness, or understanding of someone or something, such as facts, information, descriptions, or skills, which is acquired through experience or education by perceiving, discovering, or learning knowledge. Knowledge can also refer to a theoretical or practical understanding of a subject.

Intuition is a category of perception that I include under the heading “uncommon knowledge”. It is is a perceptual attribute that gives us the ability to know something directly without analytic reasoning, bridging the gap between the conscious and unconscious parts of our mind, and also between instinct and reason.

A whim is within the category of perception that I have included under the heading “unconscious knowledge. It is an act of will drowning in capriciousness and/or eccentricity. It appears as a sudden idea or turn of the mind, and its action is mutually exclusive of the actions of wisdom, knowledge, and intuition..

I first came into a conscious collision with the “whim versus wisdom” dynamic while I was in the sixth grade. The principal of our grade school wanted a representative from each class, from both the fifth and the sixth grades, to attend a parent-teacher conference in the auditorium on a week night. It was to be considered an honor to be selected, according to our teachers, and the students were advised to select from among themselves who would be the best representative.

As a community of grade schoolers, we had a difficult time establishing the process for how to select the representative, let alone who it should be. The teacher helped by instituting two male “overseers”, one from the fifth and one from the sixth grade, who were to facilitate the determination process by asking for volunteers, or asking for specific students of their own choosing, and discussing their qualifications between the two selected leaders. The boys expressed frustration with the process, and even though our teachers offered up two good candidates from each class, ON A WHIM as promoted by one of the sixth grade boys, a quiet, shy girl was selected for the sixth grade class. She had been the recipient, in the past, of some teasing and bullying by me and others, and I could immediately see that this process had the potential to victimize her.

I offered my own protest with a form of passive/aggressive humor, but the decision had been made. The more others protested, the more the two loudest supporters of the girl became. The two boys dreamed up several good reasons after the fact for their “decision” to overrule the majority. I was to later learn that the primary reason that Jeff encouraged the selection of Janice was so that he could continue to harass her. What was to be an opportunity to honor and acknowledge our classes through selecting our most qualified representatives turned into another opportunity for infantile misogynistic persecution and teasing.

This selection process dramatically impacted me, and has influenced my understanding of group dynamics ever since.

Do we, as a collective, select candidates for political office on a whim, or do we use knowledge, intuition and wisdom?

You already know your own personal answer to this question.

Many of us, relying upon the opinions of others, have made many decisions to not be wise, but to instead follow the opinions of others, who may be engaging in whimsical or non-critical thinking of their own.

We must learn to trust ourselves and our ability to apply our experience and knowledge, and with a little bit of our developed insight. Our intuition must be developed as a complement to our own wisdom. Typically, our learned wisdom that does not conform to what our latest “intuitive hit” suggests must be scrutinized further, and an intelligent balance struck between those two poles. Intuition and wisdom are not mutually exclusive, and, in fact, complement each other.

We may be wrong about many issues, but at least we are accessing our intelligence, and learning from our errors. Following blind people into the ditch does not do our basic nature justice, so beware of the temptation to try to adapt to other’s expectations, at the expense of developing our own unique intelligence. Wisdom that is universal in nature is like the scent of a flower that we just cannot pull ourselves away from, nor should we.

Wisdom is spawned from experience, and is best embraced and expressed through our story telling, and our intelligent actions in the world. Sound bites just do not carry enough of wisdom’s energy. We must be careful not to integrate meme’s and sound bites into a quilt of understanding, because the stitching will come unraveled, and we will be left appearing and acting like less than the wise people that we can be.

Whimsical thinking is respected because of its lack of adherence to established patterns, which can be attractive to creative people, non-conformists, and insane individuals, so there is a spectrum of benefit to be gained by accessing it. But whimsical thinking must be set aside for those times when intelligent action is required. Be wise, watch out for whimsical thinking, and make those difficult, challenging decisions that are beneficial for our life, and for our world’s life, too..

Knowledge

“One is never afraid of the unknown; one is afraid of the known coming to an end.”
― Krishnamurti

Our present day national consciousness continues to be heavily influenced by old history and skewed knowledge, racism, white male supremacy, Christian fundamentalist inspired judgements, hatreds and ideologies, patriarchy, misogyny, and xenophobia. I was born and raised under these cultural conditions, and I have been strongly impacted by the human energy that is spawned from these lower levels of understanding. I also come from the class of white male Americans who are now considered to be the most susceptible to anxiety, despair, loneliness, suicide, alcoholism and/or drug dependency, and depression, though the race and sex that I belong to, and the country that I consider to be my home, do not have the monopoly on all such spiritual disease.

My main coping mechanisms for dealing with America’s and my own dark side are practicing spiritual healing principles, and writing about and verbally communicating with others who also share my interest in spirituality and recovery from the human condition. My path, and the paths of all others, have taken all of us to unique and valuable viewpoints, so it is of prime importance that we find our voice and share our knowledge with each other. Through multitudes of these energy exchanges, we all may benefit from each others’ experiences, and contribute to the formation of a more peaceful, healing collective consciousness in America. There is a huge spiritually awakening element that has already risen out of their own ignorance, and continues to capture the imagination and attention of many oppressed and repressed Americans.

It is important to understand the internal headlights that our minds use to search for knowledge, and truth. The “headlights” tend to encourage self-fulfilling predictions/prophecies, so for us to look at that which “looks” will bring amazing insights and enhance the potential for healing experiences. What information really is, or isn’t important? Which attitudes, insight, and knowledge leads to greater measures of wisdom, and, potentially, freedom from our inhibiting and restrictive knowns, especially in the situations where our knowledge appears to be in conflict with the truth? As a long-term practitioner of mindfulness, mysticism, and personal inventory, as well as an unintentional expert in recovery, toxic masculinity, toxic religion, and toxic capitalism, I have a lot of insight into why the world spins the awkward way it now does. All of my present writings tend to revolve around my knowledge about those subjects. Yet, my personal knowledge has little value or relevance to others, especially if I die before I share it.

Most of the male peer groups from my childhood and early adulthood were populated by individuals who were both coarse in interpretation and superficial in presentation of their lives, and they could have cared less about what I am now writing about or saying. Many of my peers, and friends from those days have already died relatively young, or continue to practice unhealthy attitudes and dependencies into their later years, as a direct result of their unwillingness or inability to delve deeper into the painful issues, concerns, and mysteries of their lives. Their own personal knowledge of the world can not actualize their healing potentials and bring a deeper sense of purpose and meaning to their lives, yet there is the fear of the unknown, which inhibits the revelation of truth in one’s life. By staying in familiar painful ruts, the view at least does not change too much. And far too many people stuck in those ruts are not even aware that they are engaged in self-defeating attitudes and behaviors, or, if they are aware, have already given up hope that there is another life available for them. Yet, staying in the familiar hell remains the unconscious choice that most suffering people make, all the way up to their deaths, imprisonment, or insanity..

The conscious being has infinite capacity to witness life and then create knowledge, where necessary, around those interactions. It only takes one time getting bitten by a snake and suffering mightily under the influence of its poison to create and share the knowledge that it is vitally important to avoid physical contact with serpents while doing outdoor chores or walking in the desert. The unconscious being also has the same infinite witnessing capacity, yet their choices for how they see themselves and their lives can be so self-limiting as to make them prisoners in their own homes. In the snakebite situation, a more unconscious person would use the knowledge of the potential damage from a snakebite to create fear-based stories that would keep the person behind closed doors, avoiding the outdoors altogether, or even obtaining and carrying a loaded firearm, just in case they need to protect themselves. On the other hand, the curious and conscious ones might just walk around the snake, and study it, and learn the lessons, without fear, that the snake has to offer..

Yet each category of awareness, be it conscious or unconscious, must arise from the same pool of potentiality, where the mystery of collective consciousness and the entrainment of all individual minds to that group mind, creates and maintains the appearance of whatever order and reality that each individual both anticipates and actually experiences. However, even the relatively more conscious ones of the world will still be challenged to find what the real truth is behind each new situation that presents itself to awareness.

It has been said in certain contest guidelines:

“You must be present to win”.

This is also true as far as knowledge goes. Being a witness to an actual event gives whatever story one creates and shares credibility, at least up to the point that the story teller can be trusted, and has been accurate and honest in the past. If a personal memory is not available to convey a teaching or a message, listening to the stories of other first-hand witnesses can be beneficial. A great example is that of the knowledge that fathers pass on to their sons around issues of family philosophy/religion, self-esteem, growing up into manhood and accepting personal responsibility, sexuality, learning to ride a bike or drive a car, and future community involvement. The less experiential the teaching, the less the staying power of the message, so it is important to keep the listener engaged with all of their senses, if possible.

The printing press opened civilization up to much more advanced opportunities for education and information transfer and sharing. The internet has opened humanity up to potential for the real time witnessing and sharing of other people’s adventures and learning experiences, almost without limits. Watching a multi-media presentation will carry more potential meaning and information to the higher intelligence centers of the brain than just a meme or soundbite, which arouses the more basic areas of the brain where fear is most prone to rule. There is never a shortage of information, but there is always a question about the accuracy of the information, and how it is to be presented.

Several decades ago, Saudi Oil Minister Sheikh Yamani gained recognition for his insight into global development:

“The Stone Age did not end for lack of stone, and the Oil Age will end long before the world runs out of oil.”

Information can help us to know why we are ill and which illnesses we have, exactly. But wisdom is to know how to heal them.

—Dr. Alberto Villoldo

We need only watch the evening news, or read any newspaper or magazine, to recognize that we are no closer now to a consensus reality than we were before, even with the advent of the internet. Religious and philosophical divisiveness, ego aggrandizement, wealth accumulation, and personal and corporate power are still being celebrated and supported as ideals to pursue by our cultural power brokers, and these principles lead to further propagation of lies, misstatements, half-truths, and illusions, as well as accelerating the destruction of our sacred planet. All people who follow these ignoble paths have no true knowledge of their fundamental selves, nor would they possess this knowledge about the other people in their worlds, thus they have limited access to the truth, and their styles of communication reveal that ignorance.

Can truth and love be reduced to a series of binary decisions? Where does our reliance on technology connect with a “search for truth”? Search engines now serve you up what they think you are looking for. They know who you are, and more importantly, what your online consumer preferences are. They know how you are looking for things, as well as how you search for news, companies, products, etc. Plus, they know the zip code and the local geography where each user is located. Search engines are getting better and smarter at knowing YOU, as well as what’s new, and old, in your micro-locale every day. A quick type into Google, and you are being fed more information, and the foundation for yet another illusion, with just another photograph of or written interpretation of a past that never was true. Do you think for one moment that truth, or love, can be reduced to a string of “1’s” and “0’s” (machine code for programming of computer hardware) or ascii characters.

The result of “I Love You” in hexadecimal notation based on ASCII code is

49204C6F766520596F75.

In binary notation, it is a string of 80 0’s and 1’s, or

0100100100100100110101101111011101100110010100100000010110010110111101110101

These characters give you a real warm, fuzzy feeling, don’t they?

Many types of knowledge actually breed division and separation between human beings. It is easy to tell the difference between the ministers, politicians, teachers, teachings, and knowledge just by feeling within our own inner chambers of consciousness how their message impacts our hearts. Eventually the presenters of knowledge and the highest learned “truths” of the day will be ignored, if they are not able to break through the psychic/spiritual barrier between the mind and the heart, while still presenting, or preaching, to others their message. Did they just bring more information, which we tend to daily saturate our awareness with anyway (Google it!), or did they bring the intellect coupled with the heart awareness, where we can experience the promised fruits of deeper connections with all of creation, and, perhaps, experience an increased measure of peace of mind and more love brought into our world?

—Tom Clancy

Understanding what we now consider to be sources for knowledge is all important, as well. With the idea of FAKE NEWS being so casually tossed about these days, it is important to keep in mind that FAKE NEWS has always been with us. It can be traced all of the way back to the days when we first starting naming objects, and attaching emotional linkages to our observations. Everybody sees things somewhat differently, though similarities outweigh differences by super-substantial amounts. But the human mind tends to focus on the differences, and, thus, temporarily accentuate those divisions while examining the objects of its reality, reassembling the new information into its own unique information matrix known as our personalities.

To the more technically inclined, it takes more than cleaning cookies or turning off personalized searches in Google’s browser, Chrome, to get to the “truth.” Keep in mind that most of the search algorithms are Capitalist Oriented Male Biased (COMB) computer coding exercises that sort and order the “objects of reality” based on that slanted mind-set. The locations that a person visits and lives in reveal a great deal about them, especially if it is linked to a GPS position calculated by using one’s own phone position. By shaping the menus and the choices that we pick from, and by observing the collective internet purchases and behaviors of our geographic peers, technology then attempts to hijack the way we perceive our choices and replaces them with new ones that the ad purchasing merchants may be promoting. But the closer we pay attention to the options we’re given, the more we’ll notice when they don’t actually align with our true needs. Their surreptitious collection and use in ad targeting can pave way to ads that are harmful, target people when they are vulnerable, or enable harassment and discrimination. The issue of privacy can become particularly acute when there’s the presumption or wish for confidentiality – say, during a therapist visit or at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.

I see COMB-overs as having run their course, with the need to be balanced with a more feminine, humane perspective. If we all want that biased mindset, then we will continue to trust and rely upon Google, and most other search engines, for the ordering of our reality. It should be more than a little concerning to know that many of the same values that our former President Trump touts as his own are built right into these algorithmic formulas.

Within myself, it is quite enlightening to note that when I attempt to interpret situations solely in terms of a potentially divisive philosophy/understanding, I usually now rebel out of my newer/refreshed understanding of life, and continue on and listen more deeply for the real truth of the moment, (AND NOT THE POTENTIALLY WORN OUT TRUTH OF YESTERDAY). All of those divisive philosophies that pit “me versus you” or “us versus them” will bring fewer positive results than the uniting philosophies that bring people together in the spirit of cooperation and caring. Yet it almost seems like the divisive ideas are for many, and for me, by instinct, first in line for consideration, so it is important to not act out of impulse. Yes, it is being mindful to wait out that first racing train of sometimes fearful, angry or hurtful thought, and just watch it as it passes through the screen of awareness, and wait for another peaceful train of loving thought that may lie underneath all of the other noise.

The goal might be to make love the leading, or first, thought considered, but in my reality, it does not always automatically arise, nor should it, just because I think that it is a good idea. It is important to note here that ideas that initially appear to be counter to our prevailing philosophy may have legitimate origins, and discovery and exploration of the mind and our individual experience of it should continue without fear and self-judgement, as we attempt to discern the truths being communicated. If our prevailing philosophies are not subject to change, then we risk excess friction in all of our relationships, especially as we slip further and further away from the new, upgraded truth trying to be revealed.

Mindfulness, insight, and meditation help to create a more stable foundation for thought, feeling, and action. Remaining socially connected through real life interaction, vs predominantly through media devices, keeps the heart and mind refreshed and engaged holistically. Giving and receiving “presence” to each other has much more value than the mere information that might be exchanged. For us to continue to trust in technology solely for our heart connection is like only eating popcorn for our diet; Satisfying in the short-term, and deadly in the long run. We need to feed each other new ideas and words from the deep storehouses within each of our hearts, where intuition, empathy, compassion, and healing all arise from. To continue to be fed only from the internet, is to continue our connection with cultural hypnotism, which leads in its own self-defeating directions.

There is so much more to reality than what just greets the eye, and scientists, mathematicians, theologians, artists, philosophers, enlightened politicians, and Google algorithm writers, continue to struggle towards some unknown destination that our collective search for truth continues to guide us towards as a human race. We need only watch the evening news, or read any newspaper or magazine, to recognize that we are no closer now to a consensus reality than we were before, even with the advent of the internet, with religious and philosophical divisiveness, ego aggrandizement, wealth accumulation, and personal and corporate power still being celebrated and supported as ideals to pursue by the cultural power brokers.

Love’s Reunion (excerpt)

I stumbled over the frozen wilderness for oh, so long!

With a hole in my heart that life could just not fill

Until I stopped to rest, and heard a gentle voice singing a long forgotten song

That promised of my release from this winter world of painful chill

Her lyrics spoke of the return of Life to freedom

And the release of shivering minds from darkness’ frozen, fearful hands

She drew me closer without any further verbal tethers

And prepared me for the walk back to Love’s now awakening lands

Her warming presence melted the icy hardness that I used to know

Inspiring within me the courage, to myself and my world, to say

That, to all of my past memories’ barren trees of lifeless knowledge, I now refuse to go

I will now accept only the lessons learned along Love’s Infinite Way

Our answers to some of life’s greatest questions are never to be considered sacred, or unchangeable, in and of themselves. What is sacred is the “don’t know” space that we all can enter into, if we can suspend our need to be always right. We don’t need a lot of new answers, we need a lot more good questions, which can direct our inquiries in new directions, and, thus, create new paths of consciousness and awareness.

Virtually all relationships and all interactions with others have a teaching built right into them. We confirm our present reality with the interactions, or we entertain new information that needs synthesizing within our present day psychological sets to create a modified reality. Teachers come in an almost infinite variety of forms, but I will now mention spiritual healers and teachers, for they tend to attract the most vulnerable and receptive of all learners. I have met quite a few healers, ministers, teachers, and the leaders for those on “the spiritual path”. Most have the best of intentions, and their heart is in the right place, and permeated with the desire to be of greater service to humanity, and to their own spiritual evolution.

Some are quite the planners, are amazingly studious, and read everything available to support their knowledge, or need for knowledge, in areas revolving around the main concerns in life, or in their teaching arenas. Some develop quite the rigid understanding of the facts, and, in fact, the “facts” became almost idols, of which became trusted, almost at the exclusion of any other teaching, or learning, that those around might try to impart, either unintentionally, or through a need to help to see more clearly. Some show little or no sense of humor, and are devoid of all capacity to embrace the “unknown” or the present moment, as it tries to present itself every moment of our existence.

I have met one or two information “control freaks”, and their quest for knowledge had the unconscious intention to keep them in control, and to establish themselves as a teacher, so as to keep their own fears of insufficiency and inadequacy at bay in group settings. They might tend to dominate group discussions with them taking the lead role, where they would unconsciously parade themselves, and all of their self-knowledge, in front of their adoring masses, or, at least they had hoped that they were adoring. Some want so much to be like their mentors, who they may have patterned themselves after.

Their self-righteousness is continuously displayed, as they travel from one topic to another, always showing to the world how perfect their relationship was to any issue revolving around love, healing, medical issues, social responsibility, or ecological awareness. Perfectionism and unintentional self-worship were characteristics that define them, and are traits that are immediately recognizable by me and others, who were not also participating in the parade of self.

They can be the type of person, had the Christ been before them and teaching from the Truth, they would have grabbed their phone, and Googled information to prove that their own head knowledge trumped what was being presented in the moment by Truth itself. Some of our leaders have, in a term that I coined, “spiritual dementia”. They tend to think that every moment needed to be covered by their (mis)understanding of the facts. They may not request or appreciate feedback, and many listeners, rather than confronting the teachers about their quirks, and their need to always be right, go along.with the show, and acquiesce to the needs of the teachers.

I sat through literally, hundreds of groups, with many types of teachers and leaders over the years. If the speaker, teacher, or leader does not capture the energy of the moment, the listeners will become fatigued, and lose interest. There is also a temptation to just sit back, and offer up an occasional barbed remark (typical passive/aggressive communication style for me), without adding much to the flow of the group energy. I did not come into this world just to “bow down before excellence”, in whatever form it might appear in, though that is the implied need expressed through many teachers’ outward behavior. Without an interactive approach, the teacher or teaching will have a more difficult time keeping the listener engaged.

Why would I withhold myself, and my truth, from situations that should have demanded my participation in it? Why would I withhold my own assessments of what is real, and true, and right, in the face of this assault upon my own sensibilities? Why would I devalue myself, and my own truth, so much that I would carry the perception that “I have nothing to say”, or that “nobody would ever listen to me because I do not have a college degree, or I am not a therapist or respected spiritual advisor”? Why do I sometimes unconsciously believe that nobody would ever listen to what I have to say, anyway?

It has taken me nearly sixty years to become willing to speak my truth to the living human representatives of our collective consciousness. I was never insightful enough to fully recognize that the world that I was adopting, and adapting to, as a child was an inaccurate representation of a more fundamental truth. But like many other children, I rebelled at the fake news and pseudo-science that churned out of the religious mills and minds of Americans. I took a very passive/aggressive approach to the spiritual lie that we as Americans are living. The pain of the lies that I cultivated prior to any spiritual recovery necessitated that I medicate myself out of the pain of separation and loneliness. I no longer punish myself by negating my own self worth, yet our culture continues to unconsciously spawn millions of suffering people who also question their own value, which is the origin of insanity. Our cultural spiritual dementia needed to be challenged, lest I lapse into deeper degrees of anxiousness, powerlessness, and unreality. Confronting a difficult reality takes more energy than most of us care to bring to the table, yet, not doing so diminishes our own standing in Truth, Life, and Love, and that has been my experience

Knowledge is power only if man knows what facts not to bother with.

—Robert Staughton Lynd

Truth?

Where does our reliance on technology connect with a search for truth? Like I previously mentioned, search engines now serve you up what they think you are looking for. A quick type into Google, and you are being fed an illusion, and/or probably just another Capitalist and/or Christian theory.. If the truth that we find on Google brings pleasure to us, remember, it is somebody else’s truth, and not necessarily our own.

Is truth to be relegated to our history, or to some distant past? Is truth somehow trapped in ancient scriptures, or in the ghosts of long deceased prophets? When Jesus supposedly stated “I am the way, the truth, and the life”, was his message misconstrued? In truth, is what we share with Jesus, or any other sentient being, the “I am”, that I am, and not all of the volumes of historical nonsense? When Moses stated “I am that I am”, was he making the same statement that each of us could be or should be making?

What if I were to tell you that everything that you think you know about yourself is only a theory, and potentially an unproven one, at that? What if I were to tell you that everything that you think you know about your significant other, your children, your parents, and even your best friends are only theories, and potentially unproven ones at that? What if I were to tell you that everything that you think you know about your planet, including the plants, animals, insects, oceans, rivers, and the rocks and dirt, are only theories, and potentially unproven ones, at that? What if I were to tell you that everything that you think you know, or believe, about God, the Bible, Christianity, or other religions are only theories, and potentially unproven ones at that?

Truth is the antidote for all inaccurate, second-hand, toxic and limiting theories. Truth is not just for the saints and sages. Yet, very few people have any interest in it, because of the belief that they are already covered by their “religion”, or that only their “savior” has the truth, or is the truth. There are others who believe that they already understand it, or, for others, that there is no such thing as “truth. Sadly there is also a category of human beings who are so absorbed with their material world existence that the search for “truth” never even begins, because it does not sound very interesting or entertaining.

One cannot possibly find the sacred, using only the searchlights provided for by the profane.—Elisha Scott

So, just what is “Truth”, anyway?

A fact might be that there is only one mind, to be experienced in the unknown, yet to the uninitiated, that statement would sound vague and esoteric. Another fact might be that it is up to us to determine what is real, and what is not, yet that might sound threatening to those who cling the strongest to their culturally and religiously inculcated theories and dogmas.

Truth is extremely difficult to conceptualize, because truth is elusive, and exists above and beyond all of the words used to chase it with descriptions. Truth is often times best described through poetry and music, where more of the brain becomes engaged to the energy attempting to be shared. But our words still serve a valuable function, yet forever remaining only pointers, or place-holders, for the energy that must be personally experienced, or it will never become psychologically real to the witness.

So, again, what is Truth?

There is only a “God” when there is no longer a “me” questioning “what is” while still trying to justify one’s own opinions or ignorance. In that silence, Infinity finds its expression, and the observer is the observed. And there is no longer a need, or a desire, to find God, for God has found us. Yet, there is no longer the “us”, only the witnessing of infinity, by one no longer limited by a verbally intoxicated mind. It is in this silence that love flourishes, and moral and ethical action becomes spontaneous and natural. All that we will ever see, unto whatever eternity that we can perceive, is our Self.

How will we see our Self today?

“Know thyself, and thou will know God, and the Universe” ——Attributed to Pythagoras, and the Oracle at Delphi

“It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it”——–Aristotle

The final two quotes sets the stage behind the eternal tension between what is truth and what is falsehood, and the spiritual requirement not to create and worship idols, physical or verbal. They also point to the supporting conditions behind one’s potential for enhanced intelligence, spiritual evolution and final ascendancy out of false knowledge and the suffering that results from entertaining such thoughts..

Life is always a self-fulfilling prophecy, yet whose self are we fulfilling?

What if your life is fulfilling the prophecies of your religion and culture, rather than that of your true self?

While unenlightened forces dominate human consciousness, oppression and repression are born, and nurtured.

This creates more damaged human beings, who continue to remain unconscious, and thus overpopulate this planet with more unconsciousness.

The fate of these damaged people is to continue to damage themselves, each other, and the very planet that supports and sustains them, until they find their self and its truth.

Find the self, and the life that has a great future, and discard the one that will die with our rotting civilization.

Life is a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Whose prophesy are you now willing to fulfill?

The Interplay of Experiential Learning, Intuition, and Insight

Experiential learning, intuition, and insight are not isolated entities but rather interconnected threads that weave a tapestry of enriched understanding. Through experiential learning, we gain firsthand knowledge and forge a deep connection with the subject matter. Intuition acts as a compass, guiding us toward the experiences that align with our authentic selves. And through reflection, the gems of insight emerge, empowering us to make informed decisions and navigate life’s complexities.

In a world where information is readily available at our fingertips, it is crucial to embrace experiential learning, honor our intuition, and engage in deep reflection. By integrating these elements into our lives, we unlock a holistic learning experience that transcends the boundaries of traditional education. It is through this integration that we cultivate wisdom, nurture personal growth, and develop a profound understanding of ourselves and the world around us.

So let us embrace the power of experiential learning, listen to the whispers of intuition, and embark on the journey of self-reflection. By doing so, we open ourselves to a world of limitless possibilities and unlock the true potential within us.

Conclusion

In a society that often prioritizes intellect and external achievements, let us not forget the transformative power of experiential learning, intuition, and insight. These invaluable elements offer a unique perspective, guiding us toward a deeper understanding of ourselves and the world we inhabit. Embrace experiential learning, trust your intuition, and engage in reflection. Allow these elements to shape your journey, fostering personal growth, and unlocking the profound insights that lie within you. Embrace the transformative power of experiential learning, intuition, and insight, and let them be your guiding lights on the path to self-discovery and fulfillment.

Chapter Nine: The Seven Pillars of Intelligence: Knowledge, Facts, Intuition, Insight, The Whim, Truth, and Wisdomu

Published by Bruce on December 13, 2023December 13, 2023

Conclusion

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Chapter Nine: The Seven Pillars of Intelligence: Knowledge, Facts, Intuition, Insight, The Whim, Truth, and Wisdomu

Published by Bruce on December 13, 2023December 13, 2023

Conclusion

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Healing Into A More Balanced Life-Living Life On The Widest Frequencies

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