[Consciousness] [1REED] Mind Before Matter

[Henry Reed]

I just received an email about a conference being held in San
Francisco, related to the book, Mind Before Matter: Visions of a New
Science of Consciousness. The book’s authors include John Mack, Amit
Goswami, and Dean Radin, all authors of books we have on our study list.
The theme is a basic one to what lies ahead. I was thinking the other
day that the Course in Miracles may be viewed as founded on that core
reality that consciousness precedes matter. The way I sometimes say it
is that you could blow up the world into nothing—no more brains!—and
consciousness would still exist. There is this trend in thought to
reject the philosophy of materialism and replace it with one that makes
consciousness the ultimate reality, one label Goswami gave for it was
“monistic idealism.”
Another trend that is related is the increase in interest in “non-dual
awareness.” It seems as it was first introduced to the West via Douglas
Harding’s book, On Having No Head: Zen and the Rediscovery of the
Obvious. His is a startling “look” at non-dual awareness. It can be a
shock, that “you” are really consciousness, and all is “one,” and the
state quickly disappears, but you always remember it, and looking back,
it is kind of obvious, but yet hard, for me at least, to let go into it
for long periods of time. Interesting that over in the What is
Enlightenment website, Andrew Cohen claims that he’s been with his
students where they’ve enjoyed a shared sense of this experience
lasting for hours. I can recall years ago being with a group where we
were doing “Dream Theater” and we experienced it for a few moments. In
any event, more people must have been having this experience as there
are now many books out on the subject, including one on how
psychotherapy for such individuals needs to be different—The Sacred
Mirror is the title of that book, and Diane Evans, of our consciousness
group, has prepared a summary of it, which I hope to get edited soon
and posted on our webazine.
But meanwhile, while the philosophers are discussing the data from the
work of Mack, Radin, and a bunch of others, while the Course in
Miracles, the Hicks’ work, and other groups teach that philosophy, and
provide guidance into how to move it from being a philosophy only and
into a direct experience, and while another group of folks have been
exploring non-dual awareness, at the same time there seem to be things
afoot that are pushing us off our material base where we have to jump
off the cliff into consciousness itself, like a bird discovering that
it can fly. And this is where prophecy, earth changes, and
consciousness evolution come together. There are events in progress
that are creating chaos in our world and which are stimulating an
evolutionary transition or “jump.” We can sense that one aspect of this
shift has to do with the theme, to borrow a phrase, “Mind before
Matter.” Interconnectedness is another, oneness, beyond
boundaries—these are some other themes that express ways of looking at
what’s happening.
Someone on our list emailed me and asked if I thought the trend might
be toward a hive consciousness. I would say yes, and given time to
elaborate, I would point to my work with the Sundance Experiment and
the work relating to “extra-terrestial intelligence, of which one of my
favorites is Jacques Vallee’s The Invisible College. Does anyone have a
copy of that book? I’m sure there are other books exploring that theme.
Terrence McKenna predicted some time ago that the trend seemed to be
that folks were living more and more in their imagination, until we
shifted into a totally virtual reality. Even literally, as a recent
news report indicated that a study had shown that less and less human
hours are being spent in outdoor recreation, and more and more time
with indoor electronic devices. There was less demand upon public parks
but more demand for electronic gaming emporiums…. “going virtual.”
More later...


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Posted By Henry Reed to 1REED at 2/13/2008 04:12:00 PM
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