LIVING I N ILL

When people try t o understand the mind, they f requent ly do so by drawing analogies be tween i t and t h e most s o p h i s t i c a t e d technologies of their time. Thus we have had hydraulic models of the mind, where emotional i n t e n s i t y i s l i k e p ressure i n a pipe, for example, or chemica l models, where +hn

i n t e n s i t y o f f ee l i ngs is a funct ion of I1chemical potentials" o f the elements gc 'nto it. In our times the computer is our "war

;ophisticated technology, so computer models )f mental functioning are fashionable.

All of these analogies are just that: analo- gies, not real descriptions of the mind. Models are frequently confused w i t h rea l i ty , bu t as long as we avoid this confusion we can learn a lot about the way our minds work. In th is a r t i c le I shal l lay a foundation fo r under- standing a concept found in the transpersonal psychologies, namely that we live in an illlwry world instead of in the real world.

Le t us assume that the most important as- pects of brain functioning are analogous t o tQe functioning o f a computer. Indeed we shall t r e a t bra ins and computers as identical t o -,harpen the discussion for now, even though I im sure that some aspects of mind cannot be .educed to brain functioning. The neurons i n :he brain are thus like the electronic switches n a computer, i n t e r c o n n e c t e d groups o f \eurons are l ike the circuits in a computer. The bra in is the I1hardwareu o f t h e mind,

thoughts and feelings are the llsoftware,ll the particular programs and sets of ins t ruc t ions which control how the physical structure of the b ra in works. Now we ask two in te res t ing quest ions:

"What is consciousness?~~

L I I C

the bing -...-a

At ordinary levels of discussion, the answer t o "What is consciousness?~~ is straightforward: it is the pa t te rn o f e lectr ical -chemical im- pulses operating in a particular set of circuits, the computer-brain. The specific funct ioning o f t h e computer-brain a t any instant is a matter of where electrical-chem ical impulses are, what circuits they are activating, a t that instant. Computation, "thinking," consists o f the movement o f electrical-chemical impulses into different patterns in the computer-brain's circuits. Any state of the computer-brain, any llsensationll or "thought" in it, can be specified and understood exactly by the distribution of electrical-chemical impulses in the computer- b r a i n ' s c i rcui ts. For the computer-brain, consciousness is i ts electrical-chemical state.

As to what the computer-brain is conscious of, the answer is again straightforward: it is conscious of electrical-chemical impulses. I t does n o t d i r e c t l y see rea l objects in the external world. Rather such objects, entering the field of vision of our eyes cause a pattern of electrical-chemical impulses t o be produced and sent t o the computer-brain, and it is this pattern which the computer is conscious of. The compute r has no direct percept ion of anything i n t h e r e a l wor ld , b u t o n l y o f e lectr ical -chemical pat terns tha t are asso- ciated with and caused by events and objects in the real world.

What is Hot, Red, Beautiful and Dangerous?

Suppose you are looking a t a fire. You experience it as red in color, you feel the heat from it on your skin. If the f ire is threatening you or your possessions, you perceive it as dangerous. In another situation and mood you might perceive it as beautifttl

"What is consciousness conscious of?"

T H E O P E N M I N D 2 V O L U M E 4 , N O . 2

These seem l i k e d i r e c t p e r c e p t i o n s o f external reality, but our modern understanding of brain functioning tel ls us that it is not real- ly d i rec t , but mediated by many intermediate processes, each one o f wh ich can a l t e r t h e nature of what we perceive.

The f i re is not "redN o r "hot1' o r "dange- rous" o r llbeautifulll in any absolute sense: for us it is only a certain pat te rn o f e lec t r i ca l - chemical impulses stimulating our eyes and our skin.

Consider t h e experience of the f i re being perceived as red. We believe we understand t h e physical world well enough t o be certain t h a t t h e f i r e i s e m i t t i n g e l e c t r o m a g n e t i c r a d i a t i o n . Some o f t h i s r a d i a t i o n is in a vibratory range that can stimulate t h e human eye, so radiation in this range is called light. Light of a particular frequency does n o t have any attributes of color in and of itself though; it is just vibrating a t that particular rate.

The rad ia t ion strikes special structures on your retina, the cones, which are responsible f o r c o l o r vision. The energy o f t h e l i g h t s t imu la tes e lec t rochemica l changes in t h e cones, such that the particular vibratory fre- quency of the l ight hitting the cones sends out a p a r t i c u l a r p a t t e r n o f e lectr ica l -chemical impulses, nerve impulses, that travel up special nerves f rom the eye t o the brain. The brain modifies these nerve impulses in complex ways that we don't fully understand, and, in what is the biggest mystery of all, the final pattern of electrochemical impulses in the brain results in our perception-experience of the f i re as red. It is the struchre and activity of the brain and eyes that construct the experience of red, rather than red being a property of the outside world.

You have probably seen those oddly colored compu te r -p rocessed photographs taken by special earth-sensing sate l l i tes. Water may appear as shades of red, vegetation as shades of blue, bare earth as shade o f green. Such photographs are usual ly labeled "false colorI1 photographs. But there is nothing 'Talsel' in an absolute sense about these colors. Computer processing o f photographs involves just t h e same k i n d o f re lat ive ly xbitrary simulation of the outside world that your brain carries out. Y o u r b r a i n cou ld just as well, and just as usefully, const ruc t t h e s igh t o f f i r e as t h e experience o f green o r b lue instead o f the experience of red. The construction-simulation process enables us t o surv ive in t h e world w h e n t h e r e i s a r e g u l a r , dependab le correspondence between some fea tu re o f t h e

outside world and your constructed perception a of it. If ordinary fires were always green, that would be fine.

The colors in a computer-processed photo, then, are not false colors; they are simply not simulated or constructed, in accordance w i th t h e usual human visual system standards. The redness you direct ly experience when looking a t a f i r e i s an arbitrary construction of your brain. Similarly I1hotness1' could be constructed by t h e computer-bra in so t h a t it would be experienced wi th the sensations we now think of as coldness. As long as the relation of the experience of coldness t o ~ b j e c t s and processes associated w i t h h igher temperatures in the outs ide wor ld he ld constant, so y o u knew things that fe l t cold would burn you, it would be just as useful t o our survival as the present exper ience o f hotness being associated with high temperature objects.

S i m i l a r l y , t h e lldangerousnessl' or the I1beauty1' of the f i re you see are semi-arbitrary constructions of your brain, not direct proper- t ies of the outside world. Indeed, these two qua1 it ies involve even more complex construc- t ion a c t i v i t y on t h e p a r t o f t he b ra in t h a n e redness or hotness, for emotional evaluation of the outside world has now been added t o the construct ion-s imulat ion o f t he object itself. We can see a f i re as a f i re and then separately decide i t ' s dangerous o r beautiful, but often we instantly see a dangerous f i re or a beautiful fire.

What we are directly aware of, then, are the constructions-simulations o f our brains, not outside real i ty itself. We, our consciousness. ' ' l ive in1' a world simulator, rather than direct ly in physical real i ty itself.

- - - -

living

Simulation

T o rea l i ze t h a t l iving in a simulator does not mean some k ind of vague, imaginary state, r e c a l l how simulators are now commonly used in training. To learn t o fly a plane is a diffi- c u l t and dangerous process. After the initial classroom instruction, you get in a rea l plane and take off. An instructor may guide you at first, and try t o compensate for any mistakes you make, b u t eventually you fly by yourself.@ Rare emergencies may happen that never came up in training, l ike sudden clear air turbulence. A mistake may be fata l t o you and your passen- gers.

So you t ra in in a simulator. From tht ? out-

T H E O P E N M I N D 3 V O L U M E 4 , N O . 2

de it is a big box mounted in a framework, 7d it looks nothing l ike an airplane. Inside it ~oks exactly l ike the cockpit of the plane you

are learning t o fly. The v iew through the windscreen is of an airport runway. When you s t a r t t h e engines you hear them rev up, and y o u see t h e i r s p e e d i n d i c a t e d o n t h e instruments. As you begin t o taxi you feel the forward acceleration of the plane, and you see through t h e windscreen that you are moving down the runway.

The tower gives you clearance t o take off. You feel the acceleration as you gun t h e en- gines f o r takeof f and t h e runway falls away beneath you as you feel the nose of the plane come up. Soon y o u h a v e f o r g o t t e n t h e

~tellectual, abstract knowledge t h a t you are i a simulator. I t 's too real. You are busy 'acticing your pi lot ing skills.

Suddenly a f lock of birds comes a t you just ; the plane has started t o lift. One flies into 7 engine, there is the sound of an explosion.

your instruments show a f i re in that engine and show a loss o f power and altitude, the plane starts t o slip sideways. You must apply what

*you 've learned ins tan t l y t o save yourself ! Oops!! Too late! You feel the shock of impact as a wing t ips and hits, etc., etc. You have just failed a test. B u t you' re s t i l l a l i ve t o p r a c t i c e again. S imula tors l i k e t h i s are expensive, but i t 's a lo t b e t t e r way t o t r a i n p i l o t s than p u t t i n g them in real planes. But the simulator is llrealll while you are flying it: your computer-bra in i s f e d enough realistic cues so you perceive yourself as being in a real plane cockpit.

S imi la r ly in everyday l i f e we l i v e in a simulator: t h e computer-brain is taking input ' om physical real i ty and constructing a simu-

l t ion o f our world that we naively believe is ?ality. Usually we believe it does a good job,

~11a t is, it creates a simulation that mirrors the external world w i th great fidelity. A great deal of the time it is indeed a good simulation: the crash you see on t h e s t r e e t i s probably

:tually happening in the physical world. Living in a wor ld simulator, then, means

i a t what we think are direct perceptions of the physical world are semi -arbitrary construc-

4 t i o n s o f our computer- l ike brains, n o t t h e things themselves. Our apparently direct expe- rience of the world is actually indirect.

If t h i s were a l l t h a t l i v i ng in a w o r l d simulator meant, it would not be a great prob- lem. Perceptions could be taken for granted in everyday l i fe: whatever the real physical na-

ture of fire, whether it makes me itch, shiver, o r f ee l cold or tense or relaxed or elated, I nevertheless have learned t h a t f i r e can burn and so I wi l l t reat it carefully. If I am curious about the nature of the outside world in and of i tse l f , I can employ scientific instruments and procedures t o learn about properties t h a t a re n o t adequately represented in my (arbitrar i ly c o n s t r u c t e d ) s e n s o r y p e r c e p t i o n s . Unfortunately, l iving in the world simulator has much more important meanings.

Emotional and Psycholog~cal Construct ion of Percept ion

If percept ion involves a complex, active construction o f a s imula t ion o f rea l i ty , why a ren ' t we aware of the construction process? Or of the effort involved in const ruc t ing i t? When I turn my head r ight now, I instantly see a bookcase. There is no moment of ambiguous shapes a n d co lo rs , no e f fo r t f u l fee l ing o f comparing these w i t h past k n o w l e d g e a n d deciding that a bookcase is the best construct I can make of these particular shapes and co- lors. My experience is that I instantly see a bookcase.

The diff iculty in realizing that perception is an active construction is that i t s work readily becomes automated, and then we don't sense

T H E O P E N " " 9 V O L U M E 4, N O . r

t h e e f fo r t . Nor aoes it take any apprec~able psychological t ime. E a r l y in our lives, as i n fan ts , w e h a d t o w o r k a t const ruc t ing perceptions, but that was long ago and is now forgotten.

We occasionally have experiences of ambi - guous perceptions today: What is that shape in the dark? Could it be a bush? A crouching person? An animal? Ah, i t 's a parked motor- cycle, viewed end on! Now that you see it as a motorcycle, it is diff icult t o see it again as a bush o r animal o r cro.uching person. Such experiences should alert us t o the constructed nature o f percept ion, but they are so rr-- compared t o the instant recognition of thi' in our automated pe rcep t ion t h a t t hey h: l i t t l e impact.

The Right Side Up Upside Down World

A s t r ik ing example of the construction and a u t o m a t i o n o f p e r c e p t i o n comes f r o m a classical psychological experiment ini t iated by George Stratton in 1897. A p a i r o f special goggles i s put on a subject. Prisms in these goggles invert the visual f ield both v e r t i c a l l y and ho r i zon ta l l y so that what was up is now down. The f l oo r i s above t h e subject , t h e ce i l ing below. What was on the subjectls left is now on his right, and vice versa.

To describe the subject's reaction as confu- s ion i s t o put it mi ld ly ! Moving a b o u t i s especia l ly d i f f i cu l t , and some subjects feel nauseated. Thier lifetime store o f v isual and moto r i c s imulat ions o f t h e wor ld and the i r relat ion t o it are now wrong in major ways.

The inverting goggles are worn for days or weeks. In i t ia l ly the subject must make percep- t i o n and movement a conscim act instead of l e t t i n g t h e m run o n a u t o m a t i c . H i s automatized reactions do not work. If he sees an object that he wants and it is obviously t o his left, he must move in the direction his body thinks is right, for example.

After a few days, though, an amazing thing happens. Things no longer look upside down! The subject can reach direct ly for things with- out any calculations o f where right and l e f t

?a l ly are. An entirely new set of perceptual i m u l a t i o n s has b e e n c o n s t r u c t e d a n d ~tomated. He feels as if he perceives real i tv i rec t ly , as it is, t h e same fee l ing he t ?fore donning the inverting goggles.

When the goggles are f i n a l l y removed 1 wor ld i s suddenly upside down and revers

rab

the ed!

Conscious compensation f o r l e f t and right i s again required. After some visual experience, though, the old, llnormal'l pa t te rn i s reestab- lished. Because the old simulation pattern is so thoroughly learned, i ts reestablishment takes much less t ime than it took t o establish new simulation patterns when the goggles were first p u t on. The old simulation pattern is just as arbitrary as the new one, of course.

Perceptual Defense

The r e a l i t y o f unconsc ious processes, mental or emotional, that affect us and yet l ie outside conscious awareness is widely accepted in modern psychology. A speci f ic form of unconscious processes, known as perceptual defense, has -no t been general ly accepted, however , in s p i t e o f g o o d e x p e r i m e n t a l evidence for it. The haggling over the reality of perceptual defense has been so intense that I have suspected t h e idea i s being actively resisted. It is too c lear a reminder of how mechanical we are.

Perceptual defenses are a form o f defense mechanism t h a t works t o keep us unaware of events in the outside world that would arouse unpleasant o r unacceptable emotions in us. The effect was f i rs t noticed experimentally in some studies o f perceptual thresholds. If a word is flashed very briefly on a screen, what i s t h e minimal t i m e exposure, the percep+~~aI threshold, for conscious recognition of it?

If t h e f lash is extremely brief, say a dredth of a second or less, you wi l l see or , f lash o f l ight , w i thou t even perce iv ing the overall pat tern ing o f t he let ters, much less r e c o g n i z i n g them. If it i s long, say one- quarter of a second or more, you w i l I read i ly perce ive t h e word. If you start wi th flashes too short for recognition and s lowly increase t h e du ra t i on o f t h e flashes unt i l correct re- cognition occurs, the length of flash required is the threshold value.

Factors l ike the length and famil iarity of a word w i l l a f fect the threshold of recognition. Long, unfamiliar words wi l l have higher thresh- o l d s t h a n s h o r t , f am i l i a r ones. What re- searchers also no t i ced was t h a t emotional ly charged words, especia l ly those t h a t might create personal confl ict in their subjects, had h igher thresholds thi is of similar length

a and famil iarity that k threatening emo- t i o n a l connotations. .. -. x ing w i t h col lege student : subjec

an worc lad no . W n r l

neratior

hun- ~ l v a

who

T H E O P E N M I N D 5 V O L U M E 4 , N O . 2

@would usuallv n o t have had a secure sexual identity in those more sexually repressed times, fuck, f o r example, would genera l ly have a higher threshold than a word l ike flex.

Psychologists concluded t h a t t h e r e a r e th ree stages in perception. There is f i rs t an ini t ial perception-recognition outside o f con- sciousness. Th is i s fo l lowed by a stage in- volving discrimination o f t h e p o t e n t i a l emo- tional threat of the stimulus. If the stimulus is

lassified as threatening at this second stage, n influence is exerted on the mind t o raise i ts hreshold fo r t h e third s tep o f t h e process, onscious perception of the stimulus.

In terms of our world simulator model, per- ceptual defense is an understandable phenome- non. A part icular st imulus pat tern, a l ready modified t o some extent by the physical struc- ture of the senses, reaches the computer-brain. T h e r e , l e a r n e d c o m p u t a t i o n a l p rocesses automat ica l ly go t o w o r k t o c o n s t r u c t a simulation of this aspect of reality. As par t of creating an appropriate construct-perception- simulat ion, memory data about t h i s kind of particular stimulus are drawn on.

In t h e case o f perceptua l defense, t h e memory data include informat ion t h a t t h i s i s also emot ional ly threatening. This calls up more memory data about how these k inds o f emot ional th reats should be handled. If the

defense style is t o try t o avoid not ic ing such threats, then the simulation of this stimulus is ~ o n s t r u c t e d in such a w a y as t o b e less n o t i c e a b l e t o consciousness. And/or t h e simulation is altered - we could say Itdistortedlt in t e r m s o f resemblance t o t h e i n i t i a t i n g stimulus - so that the f i na l simulation, what consc iousness w i l l p e r c e i v e , r e p r e s e n t s s o m e t h i n g e lse. T h i s " s o m e t h i n g e l s e l l resemb les t h e or ig ina l s t imulus but i s n o t i den t i ca l t o it. So fuck may become just a flash of light w i th indistinguishable features, or t he s i mu1 a t ion-perception may become flux or duck o r tuck. As long as the stimulus is not t oo intense, n o t we l l above threshold, t h e automated s imulat ion process can carry out this sort of altered, distorted construction.

What th reaten ing aspectsof r e a l i t y does your w o r l d s imulat ion process c r e a t e high perceptua l thresholds f o r ? How would you discover them?

All this discussion of simulation may create a feeling that there is something unreal about a simulation. Yes, there is in one sense. In terms o f what i s perceived, though, the sirnu- lation in your mind is reality. The person you c lea r l y see crouching in t h e shadows i s a perfectly real perception, is your real i ty a t the time you perceive it, even if you later realize tha t it was a misperception, a poor simulation of a bush in the dark. The f l ight simulator you are training in becomes real i ty for a time. In t h i s model, t h e r e a l i t y w e l i v e in i s t h e simulation.

%

We can now see an impor tant aspect o f Gurdj ie f f ts s ta tement that man is not awake. In an ordinary nighttime dream we see a whole world of things that are not present in physical reality, but we mistake the dream f o r r e a l i t y while it is happening. By.contrast (we think), in our waking state we perceive reality. B u t what we perceive is a simulation of reality. If the simulation is seriously d is tor ted, y e t we mistake it f o r rea l i t y , we can be accurately described as being in a k ind of waking dream, not real ly awake. In the next art ic le we shall examine some of the major ru les programmed i n t o Westerners that control how real i ty is t o be simulated.

Suggestions for Further Reading

Dixon, N., Subl iminal Perception. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1971.

T H E O P E N M I N D V O L U M E 4 , N O . 2

WHAT WE BELIEVE IN:

THE WESTERN CREED

Once you begin t o understand t h a t o u r consciousness I1lives in1! a simulation of reality, as discussed in the previous article, important quest ions come t o mind. How accurate is my simulation of the actual external world? How c a n I c h e c k i t s a c c u r a c y ? What is my simulation-construction o f inner representa- tions, l ike values and meanings? Do I like my habitual simulation? What are i t s e f fec ts on me? How can I come into more direct contact w i th outer real i ty? With inner realit ies?

Modern psychology describes inaccura te simulations of the external world as pathologies o f p e r c e p t i o n a n d cogn i t i on . When your simulation is sufficiently distorted compared t o those o f people we describe you as neurotic. A social situation that is s imulated by most people as a Itfun party," for example, is simulated by you as an anxiety provoking tes t of your popularity. If the real i ty you simulate is grossly different from that of normal people, such as hearing voices, you are called crazy or psychotic. Whether you are c razy o r n o t i s another question.

llNormalll simulation of real i ty then becomes a matter of what the majority of people in your culture do.

Many sp i r i t ua l t rad i t i ons have a deeper concern about the way we simulate the wor ld than whether it is llnormal,ll however. They bel ieve t h a t even the normal s imulat ion o f real i ty is badly flawed. The similar Hindu and Buddhist concepts of maya or samsara i l lustrate this.

The idea o f samsara i s ~ t h a t we l ive in a world of unreality, of illusion. It i s n o t t he w o r l d o r e v e n ou rse lves t h a t i s i l lusory, though, but our ideas about r e a l i t y and our - selves that create illusion. The simulation our consciousness lives in, that we identify w i th as a d i r e c t p e r c e p t i o n o f r e a l i t y , i s v e r y inaccurate. I t ' s good enough in many ways: we can cross the street without being run down by cars (general ly), behave in an appropr ia te manner t o buy food in a supermarket, etc. But when it comes t o questions about the meaning o f our ex is tence and the way we should l ive our lives and re la te t o others, t h e llnormal" s imulat ion o f rea l i t y is often badly distorted. By l iving in illusion, by acting on the basis of a w o r l d v i e w t h a t i s b a d l y d i s t o r t e d , w e

inev i tab ly make mistakes t h a t then c r e a t e unfortunate consequences. Clearer perception- simulation of our wor ld and ourselves would allow us t o avoid much suffering.

T w o m a j o r ways o f o v e r c o m i n g t h e limitations of the world simulator, of getting in b e t t e r touch w i t h r e a l i t y exist. One w a y i n v o l v e s a t ten t i on t ra in ing processes, l i ke insight meditation (see Shinzen Young's article on medi ta t ion in t h e last issue o f The Open Mind), that promote a volitional type of more direct access t o perceptual input, before the automated world simulation process can work it over and distort it so much. The second way involves g e t t i n g insights i n t o the particular contents of your wor ld s imulat ion process, b r ing ing t o consciousness the specifics of how you construct your experienced world. Such insights remove energy from these automated simulation processes so you have a choice t o a l low them t o operate or not. another. We wi l l focus on an important aspect of the second way in this article.

I mpl ic i t Reinforcement of the Rules

While many of the cr i ter ia for constructing our world are indoctrinated in us in our ear ly years, and become automated, these criteria also generally work more effectively if they are occasionally reinforced. Much llnormalll social interaction does this. When you meet someone and say "Hi! How are you?I1, on one level you are g ree t ing him and enqu i r i ng abou t h i s health. On another leve l you are reminding him of cultural rules about being normal: no r - mal people greet each other in a ritualized manner when they meet.

His "Hi there! I'm fine, how are you?I1 is, in turn, not just a sui table response t o the cogn i t i ve content o f your greeting. He has been reminded about the cu l tu ra l ru les fo r g r e e t i n g and h e responds in a way tha t acknowledges these ru les and shows t h a t he understands them and belongs t o the class of normal people. These reminders about and r e i n f o r c e m e n t s o f normal behavior fu r ther reinforce our internal simulations of the wor ld and ourselves in normal ways: the more your habitual construction of the world and yourself f i t s the external rules, the more I1naturall1 and easy your behavior, your fitting in. This k ind o f automatized behavior seems easy, although, as discussed in my Waking Up book, i t i s eventually quite costly.

t n c O P E N M I N D 7

An enormous amount of reminding and rein- forcing of cultural rules for simulata~ng r e a l i t y goes on in everyday behavior. The reinforcing of the rules is all the more e f fec t ive f o r our unconsciousness of what we are doing.

Explicit Reinforcement of the Rules

Sometimes we are quite explicit about rein- forc ing the c u l t u r a l r u l e s as t o h o w y o u construct-simulate your world. Consider the Apostle's Creed, rec i ted, in o n l y s l i g h t l y vary ing forms, by millions of Christians every Sunday:

I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth;

And in Jesus Ckis t his only Son, ar Lord: Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, Born of the Virgin Mary; M e r e d uxler Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried;

He descended into Hell; The third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the ri&t hand of God the

@ Father Almighty; From there he shall come t o judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Ghost, The Holy Catho- l ic Church; the Commtnion of Saints; The for- giveness of sinq The Resurection of the body; and the Life Everlasting. Amen.

Here we h a v e a c o m p l e t e l y e x p l i c i t statement o f some of the cen t r i l cr i ter ia for simulating your world; o ther c r i t e r i a , n o t 2xplicitly stated but associated wi th these, are brought to mind by recit ing the creed.

The rec i ta t i on of the Apostle's Creed is a social ritual. You do it in church, witnessed by fe l low be1 ievers. Our ma tu ra l social in- stinct, the desire t o belong, i s harnessed t o reinforce the Creed.

Contemporary secular Western cu l tu re has bel iefs about our and the worldls nature, and the purpose of life. These beliefs control t h e way our brains simulate our reality. We gen- erally do not express them so expl ic i t ly as the Apost l e t s Creed expresses core Christian be- liefs. Lack of explicitness is a mixed blessing. On the one hand, our be l ie fs do not get as much reinforcement as the beliefs of an explicit @ creed. On the other, by not being explicitly nade conscious t h e y a r e s u b j e c t t o less ~ o t e n t i a l examinat ion and so can a f fec t us nore unconsciously.

V O L U M E 4 , N O . 2

The Scientistic Creation Myth

What does modern science seem t o say about the na tu re o f r e a l i t y ? Consider this simplified sketch of what is supposedly scientific fact about ourselves and our world.

In the beginning, a long time ago, a l l t h e matter in the universe got together in a single massive point. There was no external "reasonI1 f o r it t o be there, mechanical gravitational attract ion just got it al l together. As a result o f t he unimaginable pressures, temperatures, and nuclear reactions t h a t developed in th i s ultra-dense matter, the Big Bang occurred, an explosion of matter and energy outward. This explosion created the physical world we know today.

In i ts outward rush physical forces resulted in some matter clumping together and creating s t a r s and planets. On E a r t h t h e ceaseless, mindless i n te rac t i on o f m a t t e r w i t h m a t t e r went on for billions of years, driven by i ts own material properties, fueled by energy from t h e sun and t h e Earth's own internal heat. Ele- ments reacted wi th each other t o form simple chemicals, and simple chemicals reacted w i th each o the r t o form more complex chemical compounds.

In this immense span of time some complex chemical compounds were randomly created wh ich had an in teres t ing p r o p e r t y . T h e y a b s o r b e d o t h e r c h e m i c a l s f r o m t h e i r environment and turned them into themselves, so they preserved and enlarged themselves for a t i m e a g a i n s t t h e c h a n g e s in t h e i r environments.

Of these complex compounds, a t least one developed an even more interesting property: it reproduced copies of itself that preserved i t s t w o inherent propert ies. Tha t is, the new copies also absorbed other chemical compounds f r o m t h e i r e n v i r o n m e n t s t o preserve and enlarge themselves, and they in turn produced copies of themselves w i th these properties. We cal l this the emergence of life.

As bil l ions of years continued t o go by, the chemical compounds we cal l l iving continued t o interact wi th their environment. There was no choice, o f course, f o r t he laws o f p h y s i c s requ i red such i n t e r a c t ion. Living organisms either died out when conditions were unfavor- able or got more complex. We cal l the process of being pushed by physical laws i n t o more complex forms evolution.

One of these complex organic forms be--

T H E O P E N M I N D 8 V O L U M E 4 , NO. r

us. Because our ancestors had developed an elaborate network of specialized chemical com- pounds, the nervous system and brain, in the course o f adapt ing t o t h e environment, we developed intelligence. Intell igence is, among o the r things, t h e ab i l i t y t o simulate the ex- ternal environment inside the nervous system, t o estimate "What would happen if...?" without actually doing something external ly . Pa r t i a l awareness of this simulation process is what we cal l consciousness. The question "What wou ld happen if I poked a t this sleeping bear wi th a stick?I1 could be answered by in te rna l images drawn f rom memories of what happened when other. smaller animals were annoyed. so you went -away from the sleeping bear. without ac- tual ly poking it!

T h e n e r v o u s s y s t e m a n d b r a i n , those specia l ized c h e m i c a l bodies, w e n t o n t o develop e laborate simulations, sometimes so elaborate that they simulate things that don' t exist. Tha t is, we get imaginary, subjective ideas about things, such as an invisible b lack s k y dragon temporarily eating the moon as an explanation of lunar eclipses. Or ideas, even simulations that seem t o be actual experiences, of supernatural beings l ike God.

As long as basic physical survival needs are attended to, which is l ikely if the simulation of t h e physical wor ld i s good, t h e phys ica l ly intact unit, the person, survives and can con- t i n u e t h e sub jec t ive luxury o f ideas about imaginary things l ike altruism, social systems, enl ightenment, salvation, etc. Social groups may form around some o f these ideas wh ich t h e n f u r t h e r r e i n f o r c e t h e ideas in t h e i r members, even if they have no basis in physical rea l i t y . If these sub jec t ive simulations get strong enough t o disrupt the basic simulation of the real physical world, troubles results, which can lead t o the destruction of the organism.

When t h e o r g a n i s m d i e s t h e physical - electrical-chemical integri ty of t h e b r a i n and nervous system is broken and so consciousness, a subjective r e f l e c t i o n o f b r a i n funct ioning, disappears.

Th is i s the creation myth of contemporary scientism, science ossifying and ac t i ng as a belief system instead of as a cont inua l c h a l - lenge t o further thought. These ideas have a fair amount of utility in making sense o f our experience of t he physical world. They also function as a creat ion my th and as a se t o f values by tell ing US the way things are.

Unfortunately, ' th is set o f i deas i s n o t

e x p l i c i t l y presented as a myth or as a set of 0' values, but simply as the closest thing we have t o ac tua l truth. By thinking of them as fac- tual, we overlook the way in which they func- t i o n as a m y t h about why we are here and what we are here for. After all, you wouldn't w a n t t o h a v e v a l u e s t h a t c o n t r a d i c t e d ltreality.ll L i v i n g in our contemporary wor ld constantly exposes us t o this myth, and we are socially reinforced for accept ing it. Isn ' t it generally preferable t o hear "She has a sound, scientific mind." as opposed t o something l i ke "She f a l l s f o r eve ry f l a k y f a d t h a t comes along.t1?

Al l things I think I see reflect ideas

This i s salvation's keynote: What I see reflects a process in my mind, which starts with my idea of what 1 want. From there, the mind makes t,q an image of the thing the mind desires, judges valuable, and therefore seeks to find. These images are then projected outward, looked upon, esteemed as real, and guarded as one's own. From insane wishes comes an insane world. From judgement comes a wor ld condemned. And from forgiving t-ts a gem t le world comes forth, with mercy for the hnl\l Son of God .... From the W* for Students, d A Carse M b l e . Lesson 325. F bypermisicndlke

P Fancfatim fcr Img Pe m, CA 94920.

' H E O P E N M I N D 5 V O L U M E 4 , N O . 2

To i l l us t ra te the ef fects o f the way we simulate our wor ld and ourselves along the lines of scientism, let us consider a t ra in ing -xercise I developed several years ago.

Belief Experiments

The Western Creed exercise is a form of helief experiment. I ask people if they are filling t o participate in a be l ie f experiment. or 1 0 o r 20 minutes they are t o give the

..laterial I wi l l soon present as much uncondi - t ional be l ie f and energy as possible, while a detached p a r t o f the i r mind observes what their reactions are.

I have taken the apparent scientific llfactsll bout the nature of real i ty narrated above and u t them and some of their implications into a orm t h a t p a r a l l e l s t h e Apostle's Creed. deally I use it in workshops, where there is irne fo r me t o discuss individual's reactions

with them. Here you wi l l get it on your own, but I suggest that you try it wi th a group of friends.

I d o w a r n p e o p l e that thebel iefexperiment lay not be pleasant, but almost everyone who oes it feels wiser as a result.

I pass out copies of the Western Creed and then have people stand up, a t attention, in neat rows, wi th their r i g h t hands over t h e i r hearts. This deliberately invokes a situation e v e r y A m e r i c a n has b e e n in, p l e d g i n g a l l e g i a n c e t o t h e f l a g . T h i s i s done t o i l lus t ra te the importance of shared s o c i a l activity in influencing our be1 iefs.

Then we read the Western Creed aloud in unison. Fol lowing that, I ask people t o s i t down quietly and reflect on their experience, part icular ly the emotional rea'ctions aroused by the creed: abstract intellectual analysis a t this ~ o i n t w i l l d i s t rac t from what you can learn.

fter a few minutes we share reactions. The Western Creed is printed on the next

age. If you want an in teres t ing learning xperience, try a modified version of the above rocedure. Get permission from yourself t o emporarily believe it (preferably before reading

~ t ) , then stand wi th your hand on your hear t and recite it aloud. Then s i t nd reflect

e o n your experience. n--?mber, a f te r a few rrrrr~u~es: you can

down 'a

stop believing it. Of course you might f i n d that you believe parts of it anyway .....

Please examine y o u r o w n e m o t i o n a l react ions a f te r read ing t h e Creed. Taking notes might be helpful. Once you are c lear a b o u t y o u r e m o t i o n a l r e a c t i o n s you can in te l l ec tua l l y a n a l y z e y o u r !houghts and feelings about whatever the Creed has brought

w t ask v

ien you are ready t o think about it more, _ , ourself some questions. What parts seem

l i k e obviously t r u e descr ipt ions o f rea l i t y? How do you personally know they are true? Have you tested them for yourself, as scientists are supposed t o do, or just accepted them on authority? Do you have any fears of looking at some of these ideas too deeply? If so, why? Who would you be displeasing? How many o f these beliefs were consciously chosen by you?

I wi l l deliberately end this art ic le w i thout any intellectual resolution of the issues raised. You need t o resolve them in your personal life, and we westerners need t o resolve them as a culture.

My best \r ter wisdom, ev the price of y sadness.

vishes f some tc

or grea 2mporar

T H E O P E N M I N D

PILGRIMAGE: PSYCHOTHERAPY

AND PERSONAL EXPLORATION

A t i t s theo re t i ca l best, p s y c h o t h e r a p y should aim t o bring out al l the human poten- t ials that are our heritage, not simply t o cure tlproblems.n At i ts least, psychotherapy simply adjusts a c l i e n t t o t h e normat ive behavior patterns, feelings and perceptions of his or her culture, regardless of whether t h e c u l t u r e i s i t se l f hea l thy o r sick. T o work toward i ts highest possibi l i t ies, psychotherapy need f r a m e o f re ference t h a t i s b igger than culturets.

Those of you who are in the helping protes- sions and who want t o connect your work more thorough ly w i t h t h e spi r i tual , transpersonal side of man wi l l want mine a re la t i ve l y

1 0 V O L U M E 4, N O . 2

new journal, Pilgrimage: Psychotherap] Personal Exploration.

E d i t e d by psychologist Dav id Bar! Pilgrimage presents b o t h c l i n i c a l cases and theo re t i ca l and integrative articles from this wider perspect ive. A sampling o f t i t l e s in recent issues includes "Privacy for the Love of It," I1Gestalt Fami ly Therapy avd t h e Human Condition,It "Awe in the Presence of Another and t h e C o n c e p t o f P r o j e c t i o n , I t !IThn

Psychotherapist as Midwife," and ItTherets Than One Way t o Die." Articles are gen qu i te st imulat ing. You don ' t have t o .

professionally as a helper t o find useful ideas for your growth in this journal,

Pilgrimage is published six times pe r year a t a si ormation and subscr i 1 Pilgr image Press NE, Atlanta, GA 30307.

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!4. Infc ed fron Drive

T H E W E S T E R N C R E E D

I BELIEVE in the material universe fixed physical laws and blind c:

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creator, no ol:

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mate rc ?ality, a universe controlled

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I MAINTAIN that all ideas about God or gods, enlightened beings, prophets and saviors, or otl non-physical beings or forces are superstitions and delusions. Life and consciousness : totally identical to physical processes, and arose from chance interactions of blind physi forces. Like the rest of life, my life and my consciousness have no objective purpo,. meaning, or destiny. '

my wai

her ire cal 9 P .

I BELIEVE that all judgements, values, and moralities, whether my own or others, ar subjective, arising solely h m biological determinants, personal history, and chance. Free will is an illusion. Therefore the most rational values I can personally live by must be based on the knowledge that for me what pleases me is Good, what pains me is Bad. Those who please me or help me avoid pain are my friends; those who pain me or keep me h m

pleasure are my enemies. Rationality requires mies be used ys that maximize my pleasure and minimize my pi

iends 91

I mr-rriM that churches have no real use other than social support; that there are no object: sins to commit or be forgiven for; that there is no retribution for sin or reward for virl other than that which I can arrange, directly or through others. Virtue for me is gett: what I want without being caught and punished by others.

death c Lonsensc

>f the b !. the dea ie mind " - e is no afterlife, and all

O P E N M I N D

BOOKS I N B R I E F

. " d n d a t i o n s o f P a r a p s y c h o l o g y : E x p l o r i n g t h e B o u n d a r i e s o f H u m a n Capab i l i t y , by H. Edge, R. Morris, J. Palmer, & J. Rush. New York: Metheun, 1986, $49.95 cloth, $22.50 paper, 432 pp., index. Intended as a college level text t o review and integrate t h e l a r g e l i t e r a t u r e o f s c i e n t i f i c parapsychology, this is must reading for anyone seriously interested in the field. The authors a r e a l l e x p e r i e n c e d r e s e a r c h e r s i n 3arapsychology and so have a real feel for both the advances and t h e d i f f i cu l t i es in making sense of this area. Their backgrounds include 3sychology, philosophy, and physics.

The w r i t i n g style is generally quite clear, ?ven though some material is technical. Topics :overed inc lude spontaneous psi experiences, nethods of faking apparent psi, basic exper i - mental methods in the field, a balanced cove- -age of some of the controversies generated, surveys o f f ind ings on ESP and psychokinesis

0 (PK), physical and quasi-physical theor ies o f psi, t he quest ion o f surv iva l o f death, and ~ar ious implications of psi phenomer la.

New Y ork: Awakenings, by Oliver Sacks. lutton, 1983, $8.95, paper, 338 pp., index. My ~arapsycho log ica l research has convinced me :hat mind is something fundamentally d i f ferent rhan our physical selves. Yet our body, brain, and nervous system are an incredible marvel, and t h a t i s where consciousness llresidesll a1 - most al l of our lives. This book is a fascin-- ting reminder of the marvels o f body nervous system.

"In t h e w i n t e r o f 1916-17, in vlenna anu other cities, a 'new1 il lness 'suddenly appeared - - - - - I t s manifestations were so varied that no two patients ever presented exac t l y :he same picture - - - - . Encephalitis lethargica - - - - - was a Hydra w i th a thousand heads - - - -. In t h e t e n years that it raged, this pandemic took or ravaged the l i ves o f nea r l y f i ve m i l l i on people before it disappeared as mysteriously and suddenly as it had arrived in 1927 - - - - - . Patients who suffered but survived an extremely severe somnolent/insom- niac attack of this kind often failed t o recover

@ t h e i r o r ig ina l a l i veness. T h e y w o u l d b e sonscious and aware - y e t n o t fully awake; they would s i t motionless and speechless a l l

I la-

and

1 ' V O L U M E 4 , N O . 2

UCIY I I I C I I C I ~ ~ cha i rs - - - - - they were as insubstantial as ghosts and as passive as zorn- bies - - - - . They were ontologically dead, or suspended, or lasleep' - awaiting an awakening w h i c h came ( f o r t h e t iny f r a c t i o n who survived) fifty years later."

Th is book is the storv of their awakenings wi th 2 ~g. Need I go on t o indica is story is?

3 newly t e how

develo fascina

ped d;~ ~ t i n g th

Ordinary People as Monks and Mys t i cs : L i f e s t y l e s f o r S e l f - D iscovery. By Marsha Sinetar. Mahwah, N.J.: Paul is t Press, 1986, paper, 192pp., $7.95, n o index. We tend t o think of monks (male or female) and mystics as special people, very different from us, l iv ing a q u i t e exo t i c l i f e s ty le. Ac tua l l y o r d i n a r y p e o p l e do become self-actual ized, t o use Maslowls excellent term; they seek and f i n d more authent ic ways of l iving and being. In this fascinating survey Sinetar acquaints us w i t h people who rea l i zed they had t o l i v e part ial ly o r who l ly apar t f rom the ord inary s o c i a l w o r l d as p a r t o f t h e i r search, and reports on psychological and practical aspects o f t h i s disentanglement. As they succeed in finding the deeper and more authentic aspects o f t h e i r Selves, however, t h e y also become more a a Good Steward, wanting t o contribute t o the quality of l i fe for all. Finding ways of r ight livelihood is also par t of the story.

D o u b l e V is ion . B y Jud i th Skutch and Tamara Cohen. Berkeley, CA: Celestial Arts, 1985, $9.95, softcover, 269 pp., no index. At the surface level this is a fascinating human in teres t s t o r y about the relationship between Judith Skutch and her daughter Tamara Cohen. What makes it particularly interesting is that Judith Skutch was the "den mother" t o many parapsychologists during the excit ing expansion of that f i e l d in t h e 1970s, and Tamara saw these same people w i t h t h e " i n n ~ c e n c e ' ~ of childhood. Even more important ly , t h e book deta i Is the evolution of a lltechnicalll interest in the paranormal t o an active spiritual l i fe as the Skutchls foundation, originally set up t o aid laboratory parapsychological research, became t h e publ isher of A Course in Miracles. Since much o f our i n t e r e s t in ESP a n d s i m i l a r phenomena i s t h e more acceptable side ( in a scientific culture) of our deeper in teres ts in the nature of the Spirit, this story is inspiring for a l l of us.

T H E O P E N " ' " O L U M E 4 , N O

- :CTURES A N D WORKSHOPS

C h a r l e s T. T a r t

October 17-1 9, 1986: Workshop on "Waking Ip,I1 w i th Charles and Judy Tart. Esalen Insti-

tute, Big Sur, California 93920, 408-667-2335. October 26, 1986: T r u t h and Illusion on

h e S p i r i t u a l Path, p a r t o f a w e e k e n d - 0 n f e r e n c e o f t h e Yoga Research Society. Phi ladelphia Pennsylvania, In format ion f rom the society, 527 South St., Philadelphia 19147, 21 5 923-5946.

November 13, 1986: Truth and lllusion on he Spiritual Path. Berkeley, California, Melia o u n d a t ion, 1525 Shat tuck Ave., Berke ley 4709, 845-6966, 8PM.

M a r c h 7-8, 1987: Weekend course Jtered States of Consciousness. Universit) lumanistic Studies, 2002 J. Durante Blvd., be1 lar, California 9201 4, 61 9-259-9733.

June 20-July 1, 1987: Workshop on Waking Up: Overcoming t h e O b s t a c l e s t o Human Potent i a I. Ten day Hawai i cruise, sponsored by the Institute o f Noetic Sciences, 475 Gate F ive Road, Sausalito, California 94965, 41 5-

31 -565(

Charles T. Tar t THE OPEN MIND

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