Belief Systems:
A powerful vision provides everyone in the organization with a shared mental framework that helps give form to the often abstract future that lies ahead. Effective visions provide a word picture of what the organization intends ultimately to become - which may be five, ten, or fifteen years in the future. This statement should not be abstract - it should contain as concrete a picture of the desired state as possible, and also provide the basis for formulating strategies and objectives.
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About Kubrick:
In 1950 Stanley put aside his photojournalism for a period of time to work on his first film. The subject was Walter Cartier, a Look magazine subject of Stanley’s at one point. Day of Fight was a nine-minute documentary on the life of a boxer as he prepared to step into the ring for a big fight. This fight was against Bobby James, and was taped live for the documentary. Already his presence on the set and behind the camera was quite evident as he made it clear exactly who was in charge. Walter’s twin brother Vincent who had a lot to do with the production of this film stated, “Stanley comes in prepared like a fighter for a big fight, he knows exactly what he’s doing, where he’s going and what he wants to accomplish. He knew the challenges and he overcame them.”
William Blake (18 century poet and philosopher) summed it up perfectly with the following lines from his epic poem 'Jerusalem' in which he said:
"I must Create a System,
or be enslav'd by another Man's;
I will not Reason and Compare;
my business is to Create." 5
The author Robertson Davies was even more brutally honest in his book 'The Deptford Trilogy ' (p477), when he said:
"Be sure to choose what you believe and know why you believe it, because if you don't choose your beliefs, you may be certain that some belief, and probably not a very creditable one, will choose you."
What all this means is that a person should embrace ideas and beliefs that sit well with him or her at the present time, whilst keeping in mind that as awareness about reality expands with the advent of new experiences, so must one's concept of reality change accordingly. 6
BELIEF SYSTEMS 4
From the perspective that all Reality is the product of consciousness, it should be clear that a person's beliefs are very important because those beliefs define the limits of their experience in this realm.
Most humans currently live their lives in this realm around the belief systems of others, be that of their parents', peers', mentors' or society's and because of this they inadvertently give up their ability (and responsibility) to define their reality and have control over their lives.
With this in mind, it is very important that each individual comes to his/her own conclusions about all matters in general and spirituality in particular, rather than blindly embracing the views of others. The purpose of Creation in general and Human 'Beings' in particular is for SOURCE to 'experience' - nothing more and nothing less. In other words, the sole purpose of 'being' human is to bring to the 'CREATOR' (or God for want of a better name) our 'individual' perceptions and consciousness around the experiences we create. (In a sense the sum of individual parts exceeds the Whole, but I digress...) The more conscious humans become of this process, the richer the experience. It is for this reason most mystics throughout the ages have said the same thing regarding the sacred task facing all Human Beings - namely that they learn to know themselves. (i.e. "Know Thyself") - meaning humans are to explore and exercise their God given creativity from within this realm for the purpose of experience and through this process eventually find the flaw in the Game and 're-discover' (sic) that they are an individualised, but inseparable aspects of God. (i.e. their Source)
Whether they are consciously aware of it in this realm or not, all humans are awesome multi-dimensional spiritual beings who create their reality (in all realms) through the thought processes of their MIND. 2
As such, all humans are entirely responsible for their circumstances and what 'happens' to them whether they are aware of it or not. This process operates in the Physical Universe under clearly defined universal Laws of Manifestation, (of which the laws of physics are but an aspect) although the EGO consciousness of most humans at the present 'time' is completely unaware of this process and as a consequence most humans live their lives on Earth under the mistaken belief (i.e. delusion) that what happens to them in their life is due to circumstances outside themselves and beyond their control. 3
BELIEF versus KNOWING
Most people think that what they believe about the nature of reality and what they know about reality are one and the same thing, but this is incorrect. There is a fundamental difference between believing something and knowing something. Beliefs, such as religious theology or scientific theories, are invariably arrived at through a process of logical deduction and/or are taught to people by their peers, mentors, and society - whereas knowing something is always arrived at through personal experience. Thus for example, humans know that they are physically alive in this realm - not because they believe it based on some theory taught to them by their peers or because they have deduced it - but rather because they are personally experiencing it. The experience of living itself provides a person with the ultimate, albeit personal, 'proof' that they are physically alive in this realm and as such transcends the need for either belief or logic.
The same applies to spiritual experiences. Spiritual proof as to the nature of reality - in other words spiritual enlightenment - is always rooted in a personal spiritual experience that has nothing to do with deduction or spiritual theology taught to humans by their peers.
In my own case, my Near Death Experience (NDE) provided me with incontrovertible personal 'proof' that I am an individualised, but inseparable aspect of SOURCE and as such I came to know that I AM SOURCE - as is everything else in the Universe. This knowing is rooted in the experience itself, which I can unequivocally say was the most 'real' experience I have ever had in this life and as such transcends belief or so called logic. I don't even need to understand it - I just KNOW it.
Once a human experiences what I have experienced, they will know what I mean. It is my belief that all humans are destined to experience some form of spiritual truth in which they re-discover who they really are - namely that they are an individualised but inseparable aspect of SOURCE - if not in this life then certainly in another. 1
For more on this subject see:
'Near Death Experience' (NDE) by Alex Paterson
'The Void' by Alex Paterson
'Belief Systems' by Alex Paterson
A CRITIQUE OF WESTERN SCIENCE
The technological triumphs of science over the past 300 years - of which Newtonian Physics is considered the foundation - provided strong support for the concept that the universe was entirely a physical phenomenon associated with the concepts of Philosophical Materialism. 1
Ironically, this is not a position embraced by Newton himself. For him the creation of the Universe was inconceivable without divine intervention of a superior intelligence or Creator. Newton believed God created the universe as a system governed by mechanical laws and once it had been created, it could be studied and understood as such.
"However, whilst Newton's followers kept the image of the universe as a deterministic super machine, they disposed of the notion of an overlighting intelligent creative principle as an unnecessary and embarrassing leftover from the 'irrational' dark ages. Sensory data about material reality ('objective' data) became the only permissible source of information in all branches of science." (Stanislav Grof) 2
The concept that the universe was essentially a 'material' system operating under the laws of Newtonian Mechanics reflected the basic metaphysical assumption of Philosophical Materialism and, because it seemed to describe so well much of what has been observed about the Universe, it came to dominate entirely the thinking in all disciplines of science including biology, medicine, psychology, psychiatry etc. From the perspective of philosophical materialism, 'matter' is the elemental stuff comprising the universe and logically the scientific discipline concerned with the study of 'matter' - namely physics - became the pre-eminent scientific discipline to which all other disciplines were subordinate. 3
"The determined application of this logic ensured that the findings of other disciplines were not allowed to be in conflict with the basic theories of physics, resulting in the systematic suppression or misinterpretation of findings in many fields that could not be brought into consonance with the materialistic worldview." (Stanislav Grof ) 4
As Grof quite rightly states:
"This strategy was a serious violation of the basic principles of science. Strictly speaking, scientific theories apply only to the observations on which they are based and they cannot be automatically extrapolated to other disciplines. Thus for example, theories about the human psyche should be based on observations of psychological processes, not on the theories that physicists have made about the material world. ... The criterion for the validity of scientific findings and concepts in a certain area should be based on the rigour of the scientific method with which they were obtained and not on the compatibility with the theories of another field " (Grof) 5
Exacerbating this situation has been the tendency of many scientists to adhere - without questioning - to outdated theories taught to them by their mentors and peers and then mistake them for being accurate and definitive descriptions of reality.
This distortion of the scientific principle has become so entrenched within contemporary Western Culture - that any new evidence suggesting that the basic paradigm underlying the contemporary scientific understanding of reality may be flawed - is routinely dismissed without proper investigation. No other better example of this sort of behaviour can be found than with Darwin's Theory of Evolution. Thus, despite the lack of any empirical evidence in support of it, and the growing list of seemingly insurmountable technical 'problems' associated with the finer details of the theory, Darwinists continue to argue that the mutation - selection mechanism associated with the theory must have produced the changes required for the evolution of new life forms - not because the mechanism has been observed to work or that there is some irrefutable scientific proof of the same - but rather because their guiding philosophy assures them that in the absence of an overlighting 'Creative Principle', no other means is available to do the job. In other words, the theory must be right because in their eyes, there is no alternative! 6
In a sense the scientific community has forgotten its purpose (raison d'etre) and the underlying ethic pertaining to that purpose.
True scientific procedure calls for keeping an open mind to all phenomena whilst maintaining a questioning attitude at the same time and being prepared to modify or dispose of any theory that no longer accommodates evidence collected in a systematic manner. 7
Today most academics professing to be scientists do not observe this process - but rather display an uncritical adherence to a materialistic philosophy taught them by their peers and superiors and because of this, they tend to ignore or treat as 'unreal' phenomena that do not fit into the orthodox paradigm of reality. 8
This process has resulted in contemporary science becoming ensnared in a very limited view of reality and the nature of the universe. This position is summed up succinctly by Cornell University professor, William Provine, who said:
"... modern science directly implies that the world is organised strictly in accordance with mechanistic principles. There are no purposive principles whatsoever in nature. There are no gods and no designing forces that are rationally detectable ..." 9
Now of course, Professor Provine's position is a philosophical one and is not based on any empirical evidence and as such is a breach of the very principles underlying scientific technique. Professor Provine is entitled to hold and express any philosophical position he so chooses, but he is not entitled to imply the philosophical position expressed above is somehow based on scientific methodology because "science it ain't". 10
By defining and adhering to such a proscriptive interpretation of reality, contemporary 'science' is denying itself the opportunity to contribute to an extraordinary new chapter in human understanding as to the nature of reality and who we are.
Professor Provine's inability to distinguish between 'science' and 'philosophy' is very destructive of true scientific endeavour because his views as a senior respected scientist clearly affects the thinking of those who look up to him as their superior. Most scientists, like the general public, acquire the vast majority of their knowledge and values on what they are taught by their peers and mentors, and not on what they personally experience. It is for this reason that Professor Provine's views are so prevalent within the scientific community and why so many aspects of science have become moribund.
So how will Western Science deal with the plethora of 'New Age' phenomena now being discovered? 11
If history is anything to go by, the contemporary scientific community will almost certainly embrace an orthodox position and embark on a concerted campaign of trenchant denial about 'New Age' phenomena. However, this is not such a bad thing, as practically all the major advances in human knowledge and understanding have emanated from the minds of dissenters who have rejected the orthodox position of their contemporaries and postulated what were considered heresies at the time. Presumably, the issues pertaining to the plethora of 'New Age' phenomena now being discovered (and their wider implications) will be treated no differently from any new 'heresy'. As with all matters, eventually the truth will become recognised as "self evident" and future generations will look back at the position of contemporary orthodox science in much the same way we now view our ancestors who fervently believed the earth was flat! 12
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PHILOSOPHICAL MATERIALISM
Philosophical Materialism is based on the concept that the Universe is solely a material dimension and that all phenomena (i.e. reality) in the Universe are strictly the result of the material interactions of the separate physical 'bits' comprising it - all operating in accordance with 'natural', immutable laws 1 of the universe and not exhibiting, or being the subject of, 'consciousness'. In other words, the universe was considered to be strictly deterministic and causal in operation - a gigantic 'super machine' so to speak. 2
Philosophical materialism specifically rejects the concept of an essential wholeness or interconnectedness between all the 'parts' comprising the Universe, let alone of an overlighting 'consciousness' pervading that universe. Religion and spirituality are considered to be just "superstitious nonsense" of a bygone era. Non-physical phenomena which cannot be 'objectively' verified 3 are considered to be "unreal" or "non-existent" and "all in the mind". 4
Philosophical materialism postulates that all consciousness (including human consciousness) is a direct result of the workings of a physical 'brain' and as such physical 'death' results in the destruction of the consciousness associated with that physical body. In other words there is nothing beyond death and as such "death is final".
Because Philosophical Materialism totally rejects out of hand the concept of a 'Creative Principle' overlighting the existence of the Universe, it relies almost entirely on Darwin's Theory of Evolution to explain how life began on Earth and subsequently evolved. In essence, the respective theories rely on each other as their 'raison d'etre'. (i.e. reason to be) 5
Philosophical Materialism is at the core of western scientific methodology and with the apparent success of that methodology in explaining much of the known universe (as defined by Philosophical Materialism) and the resulting 'invention' of modern technology, the philosophy has come to define Western civilisation - imbuing that culture with a materialistic view of reality which few question and which now pervades most cultures.
However, the recent findings of Quantum Physics, 6 has seriously challenged the basic paradigm of Philosophical Materialism. Quantum Physics has revealed the Physical universe to be an enormous web of interconnected energy fields in which the the delineation of one field from another is meaningless, implying that the Universe 7 is a singularity (or Whole) in which 'matter' at a subatomic level is just slowed down energy showing 'tendencies to exist' and displaying what appears to be something akin to consciousness associated with the phenomena of 'Non-Locality' 8 and 'The Observer Effect'. 9
This, coupled with the recent discovery of the staggering level of Irreducible Complexity associated with the biochemistry of even the simplest life forms - the evolution of which cannot be explained by Darwin's Theory of Evolution - has further weakened the basic paradigm of Philosophical Materialism, leading to an increasing number of scientists beginning to privately question the basic premise underpinning the philosophy. 10
posted by bonechicken at 8:33 PM
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