The Myth of the Given

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Michael

Everything you've learned in school as 'obvious' becomes less and less obvious as you begin to study the universe. For example, there are no solids in the universe. There's not even a suggestion of a solid. There are no absolute continuums. There are no surfaces. There are no straight lines. ~ R. Buckminster Fuller

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[Francis]

The myth of the given…is the belief that the world as it appears in my consciousness, as it is given to me, is somehow fundamentally real, foundationally real, and that therefore I can base my worldview upon whatever presents itself to my consciousness. For example, I might see a rock in front of me; I take that as real. I have an experience of anger; I take that as real. But the whole point is that what our awareness delivers to us is set in cultural contexts and many other kinds of contexts that cause an interpretation and a construction of our perceptions before they even reach our awareness. So what we call real or what we think of as given is actually constructed—it's part of a worldview.-Ken Wilber


Reality is an artificial construction. It's also fundamentally real. Like a house; artificial but still real. Reality, as we know it is mutable, malleable and arbitrary. What is constructed can be deconstructed and then reconstructed. Therefore we can, in theory, create the reality we want. In practice we inherit much of our reality because of the 'contexts' (veils) we get from the socialization process.  

The purpose of the mind is to fabricate reality. There is no excuse for feeling anything you don’t want to feel or thinking anything you don’t want to think or experiencing anything you don’t want to experience. There is nothing wrong with an artificially constructed reality, it’s the only kind available. The question is: where is the technology for controlling the content (construction) of our reality? This is the really gutsy challenge. Be a reality contractor. Who’s up for it?

[Michael]

Great topic Francis!  I'm hitting the road in a bit, and will be away for a few days, so my quick and regrettably flippant answer to this:

The question is: where is the technology for controlling the content (construction) of our reality?

is this:

The body(mind).

[Jana]

"The question is: where is the technology for controlling the content (construction) of our reality? This is the really gutsy challenge. Be a reality contractor. Who’s up for it?"

How to be a saint when everyone is telling you you are a begger?

I think KW went a little too far in his denigration of the Secret because your question on the mutability of reality is what the Secret is basically saying both thru Hermetics and New Thought.

We tend to create the reality of the energy level we abide in, so it behooves us to raise our energy level...we also can only work within the consciousness level of the community we live in, so it behooves us to live in a place where people are as awake as we are or more so.

I think you should get the Presence Process, you will like it...it is a meditative masterpiece...and it presents a method of emotional "realization" through which we can learn to become Real by releasing ourselves from past triggers.

Perhaps our apparent limitations at any one time are our fears...which if we challenged...we could move on to a more meaningful life.

I am reading Atomic Suicide by Walter Russell at present....it is awesome! I will send it on to Nassim Haramein when I have finished.

[jimtzu]

Who’s up for it?

i don't think it's a matter of who's up for it, for we are already doing it and have been from day one.  i realize that you're talking about "doing it" in a more consciously evolved way and that would entail finding out what consciousness really is and how it can it can be raised to "higher" levels.

this is much akin to the discussions in quantum theories of whether there is any objective reality, since tests and data show that the subject influences the outcomes of the tests.  this subjectivity is what makes life so "messy", without it things would be neat, orderly and lifeless.

[Francis]

To even call it the "myth" of the given is to discount divine providence. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth. The perfect is the enemy of the good.

[Michael]

It's the old epistemology vs ontology conundrum.  Knowledge becomes reality becomes thoughtform becomes forms-of-existence becomes mental-representations becomes the world of appearance becomes belief becomes....

Internal becomes external becomes internal via the external via the internal...

Strange loops indeed.

here's something worth reading.

[Francis]

Sure. The One Thing becomes mindstuff becomes thoughtforms becomes matter-stuff, which then dissolves back into the One Thing. Strangely beautiful. This is our life.