Welcome, everyone. As you can see, I’ve decided to start a blog, and to allow it to eat Mind Chatter, so to speak. This way I can communicate with you more often, and do so in a (hopefully) more spontaneous and intimate way–one that will be more useful to you. And, it gives us a weird name for the blog.
While I’m at it, let me tease you a little bit about something I think you’re really going to like…
Though Mind Chatter is going to Newsletter Heaven, we’re working on something MUCH more wonderful, which will be unveiled very soon (and which I will describe in greater detail in another posting). This new “something” will have more and more varied content, and will involve more different media (print, spoken audio, video, music, and more). It will introduce you to more new ideas, more amazing people, and more useful, fascinating, and entertaining information.
I think it will knock your socks off.
In this blog I’m going to share some of what I’ve been thinking about in a way I hope will be useful to you in your growth. Some of the posts will be article length, while others may be very short. If you want to comment on what I write, you are welcome to do so. I’d love to know what you think, and to have your ideas about what you’d like me to write about. Once in a while I will post comments from readers, but it probably won’t be a regular thing.
I’ve been reading a lot lately about the process of human development, so that’s what I want to touch on in this post. This thinking has been stimulated by reading a lot of Ken Wilber, Susanne Cook-Greuter, Lawrence Kohlberg, Robert Kegan, and Jane Lovinger (in case you want to google any of them).
Human development takes many forms–humans undergo moral, cognitive, ego (or self), interpersonal, emotional, values, and spiritual development–just to name a few areas of development. A thread running through all these streams of development is our ongoing attempts to discover meaning in our existence, to find some sort of significance.
I suspect that you’ve probably thought about this. Here we are: vulnerable, alone but also part of a larger whole. We’re here for a finite amount of time, and then we’re gone. On one hand, we have a certain amount of control over our existence, while in other ways we’re subject to forces we can’t predict or control. So we ask questions such as, “Who am I?” “Why am I here?” “What’s it all about?” “Why do we die?” “Why is this happening?” “How do I know what to do next?” “How do I relate to the rest of the world, and to other people?” “What is Truth?” “How do I know what is right and what is wrong?” “Can I be happy? How?” And so on.
In the beginning, of course, we aren’t asking such existentially complex questions. But from the moment we’re born we do start trying to make sense of our existence. How we do this changes and develops over and over as our environmental situation changes–hence the idea of developmental levels. These are levels of meaning-making, of understanding. You might even say that they are levels of wisdom.
These developmental changes happen when changes in our environment force us to change. At such times we must find a new way to function, a way to look at things from a new perspective, a way to adapt to our new situation.
When we are born we don’t have much of a perspective on who we are. We experience what psychologists call an oceanic fusion with our environment. We can’t even tell where we end and the rest of the world begins. But with a bit of experience (we bite our blanket and nothing hurts, but when we bite our toes, it does hurt) we figure out what is “me” and what is “not me.” This is the first of many developmental shifts. And, at this point, this is the extent of our ability to make sense of our world. Is it me, or not me?
At the other end of the spectrum, some few individuals grow into a perspective (by moving through many intermediate stages) where seeing and meaning making no longer happens from the perspective of the separate self, but rather includes an experienced unity with everything in the universe–a universal, or cosmic, perspective. And, there are probably unrealized perspectives beyond that.
Why am I sharing this with you? Why should you care about any of this? Because you’re very likely sitting there, just as I am, doing your best to make sense of what it means to be human, vulnerable, mortal, and conscious, and I have found this idea of human developmental levels to give a very helpful perspective on this human need to make sense of our existence.
When you think about it, it’s very weird being a person. Just when you think you might have it figured out, something new happens that lets you know that you don’t. Or, you latch onto a group of people, or a set of ideas, that seem to explain things, but alone in bed some nights you still have a weird sense that there’s something unfathomable about being human, something profoundly mysterious. These feelings come especially when something terrible happens to you or someone you love, or you ponder the incredible suffering in the world.
So, I thought you might benefit from understanding this idea of levels of developmental, as I have.
Before I go on, I also want to say that I’m not trying to say that some people are “better” than others (though I do think that saints are better than Nazis, for instance) so much as I’m saying that there are increasing levels of perspective, where more of what is can be included in one’s view, and a wider perspective is better.
There are many ways to slice these developmental steps. One broad way would be to talk about four basic divisions: preconventional, conventional, postconventional, and transcendent. Let’s look at these. Another time, perhaps, we can drill down a bit more.
Remember that each of these levels represents a perspective, each of which involves 1) a certain way of doing, 2) a way of being, and 3) a way of thinking. Doing would include how you interact, what needs you act upon, what ends you try to achieve, how you see the purpose of your life, and what role others play in your life–how you act.
Being would include how you feel about things, how you deal with your feelings, how wide your awareness is and what you choose to pay attention to, and how you experience and process whatever is going on around you–how you feel.
Thinking would include how you think about your experience, how you structure it inside your mind, how you explain it and make sense of it–how you create a mental map of reality.
Preconventional thinking, the first perspective, is very egocentric. It’s all about me. It’s very body oriented (as opposed to mind-oriented, as in the second perspective). The preconventional perspective is impulsive and opportunistic. It’s all about me, and my needs, now. The preconventional way of looking at time is narrow–it’s all about what happens now. There’s little or no ability to delay gratification, and little if any ability to take the role of others, to realize that other people have their own needs and their own agenda. It’s just me, looking out at the world and trying to get what I want or need.
Most people at this stage are children (up to about age 12), but some people stay at this stage well into adulthood. This is usually because they live in a culture where the center of gravity is preconventional, or they have suffered some sort of trauma during this stage, which has prevented them from developing past it.
People at this stage of development tend to answer the existential questions I posed earlier (Why am I here? What’s it all about? etc.) through a kind of magical thinking. Some of the thinking surrounding The Secret, for instance, comes from this level of development. The idea that you can control the universe with your mind is a highly egocentric, narcissistic point of view. About 10% of adults are at this stage of development.
At the next developmental level, the conventional perspective, things are more about us, about our group, whether that group is the Catholic Church, the Democratic Party, the Marine Corps, the kids who live on my block, the people who go to my school, or Red Sox fans. Instead of me against the world, as at the preconventional level, it becomes us against the world. You’re either with us, like us…or you aren’t. The way we think is the right way, and the way others think is, well, wrong. People in this stage do see that others have needs and wants, and as long as they are part of the our group, those needs and wants make sense. Otherwise, they don’t.
Those at this developmental level have traded the more me-centered approach for the security of being part of the group, even though this involves following rules and ways of thinking set by the group. This security provides huge benefits in that it allows us to have a clear way to make sense of who we are (we are a Catholic, or a Marine, or a part of the junior class), and clear-cut ways to decide what is right or wrong, what is important, and so forth.
A person at the conventional level is capable of introspection, of symbolic and abstract thinking, of the ability to follow the rules of the group and to assume a certain role in the group. This is the beginning of the creation of a true independent self, and at the higher reaches of the conventional perspective we find some people are who true experts. This perspective is often described as groupcentric, or ethnocentric.
People at this level of development answer the existential questions I posed earlier from the point of view of rationality, cause and effect, subject-object thinking, and materialism (if you can’t see it and measure it, it doesn’t exist). Metaphysical explanations, popular at the preconventional level, are seen as fluffy and irrational. Instead of magical, life is very concrete at this stage. About 75% of adults are this stage.
At the next stage, postconventional, it’s about all of us–not our group, but everyone. The idea that all men and women are created equal, the ideals of the American and French revolutions, republican and democratic government, and so forth, are postconventional ideas. Another postconventional realization is that what something means depends on one’s personal perspective, whereas conventional thinkers assume that there is some sort of Truth out there, and they’ve found it, or at least that are in the process of finding it.
At the postconventional stage, objects are permanent and “out there” but what an object or an action means comes from the observer, and varies depending on who is doing the observing. There is an assumption that truth is relative rather than fixed. “It depends,” a postconventional thinker might say. Postconventional thinkers, then, look to discover the underlying assumptions in any situation, and from their perspective, those assumptions are relative.
Postconventional thinkers tend to look at the system as a whole in whatever they are doing–another example of looking from a wider or more all-encompassing perspective. Ecology, for instance, is a postconventional concern. From this systems view of things, everything is interdependent. Also, boundaries are open, meaning that where you draw the boundary for anything is arbitrary. Boundaries can be drawn in many different ways, depending on what is considered within or outside a system, and that distinction is arbitrary.
Those at this level see and are comfortable with the paradoxical nature of the existential questions I have posed. Those at this stage are comfortable with the fact that, as they see it, nothing is fixed (as opposed to the conventional level, where things are very much black and white, either/or), and that what seems to be true varies with the context. Where the conventional person has simplified existence into black and white categories, the postconventional person sees the complexity, the multidimensionality, and the relativity of everything.
Existential questions are about “all of us” at this stage, whereas they were about “me” at the preconventional stage, and about “us” (our in-group) at the conventional stage. It’s estimated that about 14% of adults are at this postconventional level.
There is yet another stage. This fourth stage, or perspective, could be termed transcendent, or unitive. Those at this stage come to realize that all objects–including abstract ideas such as the self, the ego, and even the idea of three-dimensional space and time–are human-made constructs, based on layers upon layers of symbolic abstraction. There is an awareness that language presupposes many things that may not be true about reality, and traps us in a view that may not always serve us.
For instance, the whole idea of subject and object as separate things–one of the main premises in language–is seen by those at the unitive stage as constructed rather than actual and real. Subject and object, a unitive thinker would say, “go together.” They are actually one thing, not two. In fact, all polarities created by the mind (and language) arise together: up makes no sense without down, good makes no sense without bad, me makes no sense without not-me. All of these polarities, say unitive thinkers, are arbitrarily constructed.
At this transcendent stage what I and many others have called a witness perspective allows the person to stand aside and observe what is without adding meaning, without creating a mental map of what is being observed, or at least view things with a realization that all meaning being added is just something made-up. A person at this level realizes that the mental map we make of reality isn’t reality itself–that the map is not the territory it represents.
At this level the existential questions I’ve posed are seen from a very cosmic perspective, where the typical separate self-identity is no longer seen as the essence of the person. Instead, everything is seen from a universal or cosmic perspective–you might say, from an experience of being “one with” everything. Consciousness or rational awareness assumes either background or foreground status depending on one’s momentary attention. This stage is often spoken of as “enlightenment” or “self-realization.” It is estimated that less than 1% of people are at this level of development.
Each of these stages can be further subdivided in various ways, and perhaps we can look at that in a later post. What I’ve described is but a skeleton of each of these stages, each of which are made up of several sub-stages. There is much more we don’t have room for in this post.
We could, for instance, look at each of these stages in terms of their perspective on time (for instance, the preconventional person sees only now, while the transcendent human being sees eternity). We could look at what type of cognition is used, what is “true”, what constitutes right or wrong, the interpersonal style of each stage, how decisions are made, what creates anxiety at each stage, what defenses are used, what constitutes “me” and what is “not me” (or even if that idea makes sense). And, there are other aspects of how people at each level try to make sense of being a human being. Religion, government, and organizational structures are perceived in a different way at each of these stages–there are preconventional, conventional, postconventional, and transcendent versions of each.
The point I want to make right now is that we each have a way of making sense of the world and how we fit into it, and as long as we continue to develop, this way of making meaning changes, expands. As our world changes, we find new ways to make sense of it. When you went away to school at about age five, your world changed. It was no longer about mom and dad and sister and brother. Now there are teachers and rules and a schedule, and the challenge of being away from home, and you had to adopt a new perspective in order to manage and understand that new world. When you went away to high school, things changed again, and once again you had to develop a new perspective and news ways of making sense of your new situation.
When our world changes, we struggle for a while, and then, hopefully, our perspective expands in a way that allows us to deal with the change. If we don’t, we have problems. In fact, many people come to Centerpointe in the first place because they failed to fully make sense of life during one of these shifts. The world doesn’t make sense anymore and they need to move to a new perspective but haven’t yet been able to do so. Some people (actually, many people) have been abused or traumatized at a certain stage and, as a result, part of them is stuck at the level where the trauma happened.
Understanding these stages will help you navigate life more easily, to better make sense of who you are, to more easily find fulfillment–and, to more easily move yourself to the higher levels, where the real fun begins.
Until next time…
Be well.
Bill
Hi Bill,
I read every word of your article and hungered for more. For those who thought it was too long, may I suggest that you give them a 200-300 word summary with a link to the full article for those of us who want it all.
I did wonder as I read your very thought provoking article, where you got the percentages of the population in those various stages of personal growth.
I like the blog format much better than a pdf newsletter because:
1.Your headline and first sentence or two allows me to quickly decide if I want to invest the time to read the whole thing or not and
2. I get to participate with my comments and
3. I get to see what’s on every other commenter’s mind too.
That just adds tons of pizzaz and interest for me.
Thanks for all you do Bill,
Charles
I don’t quite understand how you are one of the teachers of the Secret, yet in what you just wrote it says that that is basically a rather lower level of human development. If I am trying to evolve, and get all caught up on the Secret then it will make me stagnate at that level. Can you explain this to me please?
Hi Bill..
Thankyou for this article, it was only yesterday that I was discussing with a friend about how we see things in our perspective. And then I read your article, quite profound, gave me alot more clarity and understanding to my own thoughts of exsistence, and why at certain stages of our lives we perhaps do things. I enbrace and look forward to your further articles on human development..
Thankyou Bill..
Dear Bill,
I have been looking for a mind development tool for a while. Although I have been practicing traditional meditation methods I could not persist as it was boring and it was very hard to focus. In addition I was under tremendous pressure recently that I was looking for way to to make my mind peaceful. This is when I came across Holosync.
I ordered the demo straightaway. I felt the effect the first time I used the demo version. After a few days I joined the program. I received Awakening Prologue. It’s been 7 weeks since I started using it. Although I haven’t experienced any dramatic changes yet, I do feel that I am changing and the program is having positive effects on me. There is no doubt about that. I have much faith in Holosync and I know it’s working for me. Therefore, I recently became an Inner Circle Member.
Further I would like to comment on your marketing approach. You treat clients like gold. All the freebies, the support hot line and regular updates on the program have made my investment much more worthwhile. More than anything, the overall value I am deriving from your program is worth much more than I paid for it.
I want to thank you for working hard to bring this program into fruition. You have done an amazing job to the mankind. I wish you all the very best, continued prosperity, good health, wealth and happiness (although I know you have achieved all this).
Thank you.
Viraj (Melbourne, Australia)
PS: I am looking forward to participating in one of your retreats. The CD’s were wonderful.
This is a great article. I am looking for a window of opportunity to come on one of your retreats.
Montag/Abend/221007
Sir:
I congratulate you on launching the blog. The new service enables interactive discussion.
You demonstate a great holistic approach to thinking, feeling, and acting.
You make a great contribution to the field of human behavior, service to others, and making a world a better place.
Thank you.
Ihr Dr.med. R.M. Santry
Ober-Ramstadt, Germany
Hello Bill,
By knowing that all light & matter interaction are nothing else but wave interactions in Space = phisical reality (Quantum Theory/Wave Mechanics)… I would like to say that you send wave full of peace, unconditional love and inner beauty. Bill you definitely interact with true knowlege and wisdom.
Thank you for the Master of the Secret series and sample of the Holosync program. You’ve got my vote and I am going to continue my experience with Holosync.
Take care
Beata
I am very excited about this new blog and the article that I just read. Holosync has been a part of my life for the past 6 months and I look forward to learning more from Bill Harris.
The blog sounds more interesting to me. I also like to read others’ comments and that if anything will sell more of Holosync CDs. I am sorry to say the newsletter became quite tedious and I unsubscribed so I am pleased to see this change.
Yes Bill, It’s all great. keep talking.
Hi Bill,
Thanks for the Blog. I appreciate you sharing your knowledge with those of us who are finding our way on this journey. Just thank God for you. I know for a fact you help change lives.
Peace!!
Hey Bill,
From someone who has been fascinated with the works of Ken Wilber and a big fan of I-I over the last five years, I am glad to read you last post.
One thing that struck me about Centerpointe and you blog is the difference between states and stages. In your blog you talk about stages, pre through post, and you product Holosync basically helps you advance through states.
Now in your book you talk about the internal map of reality, which I basically agree with. However, you fail to differentiate people’s internal maps of reality along Stages.
For example someone at blue altitude (conventional) can’t Choose to have green altitude (post conventional) thoughts. You make it seem that people simply choose whatever they want to believe in a meaningless universe, when actually they probably can Choose what to believe within the confines of their particular values structure (red, amber, orange, green, teal, etc).
Using holosync someone at amber altitude (mythic) could probably develop the ability to choose to believe positive thoughts like, “I am loved by Jesus, or I am a loving child of Christ” but they probably couldn’t choose to believe something from green altitude “All cultures and religions radiate with infinite love” because it is simply beyond their cognitive capacity.
Last thing. As Wilber often repeats, getting into altered states enhances your ability and speeds up the process of moving through stages, but an individual still must move through those stages over time.
Obviously as we use holosync (which I love) we develop more and more ability to witness our thoughts thus increasing the chance that we can possibly transcend one values system and move up to the next altitude (pre conv to conv). However we can never escape entirely our cognitive structures and just choose whatever we want to believe, since our “free choice” is actually limited by these cognitive values levels.
Sorry if this was too long. Just some thoughts from an interested holosync and Integral fan.
Ben
While reading about your thoughts on levels, I find myself going ok I’m there on this level and there on that level, etc. Perhaps we are all like a chinese menu, one from column a and two from column b and some from column c. for example think of doing, being and thinking as the rows and preconventional, conventional, postconventional and transcendent as the columns. I believe myself to have certain preconventional was of doing, conventional ways of being, and postconventional ways of thinking for one circumstance and an entirely different response or process to another circumstance. And I think that it is all ok. Lots to think about here, my point is that we are not entirely preconventional, conventional, etc. but move between these as conditions determine.
I am enjoying the show now, just getting settled into my chair to watch what comes next.
I have gleaned so much from your Mind Chatter issues, I sort of hate to see them go. I have been printing them out and using some of the quotes on a board that is outside my work cube. It is frequented daily by several employees to see what quote or comment I have posted. I guess I have gotten use to the format and the ease of finding the things that jump out at me from each issue. The colorfull presentation was extreamly enjoyable.
I will just have to get use to working with the BLOG. My first time on a blog. Thanks for all your valuable information. Chuck Carroll
Dear Mr Harris,
Thank you for this personal invite to this blog, I am very glad that I commented on your Centrepoint site. I have had your holosync freebee CD for maybe 2 1/2 years now, and I still listen to the interview and that 5 minutes of electro sound sample. It’s great infact I was tempted to place it mixed with a tune in a night club last week whilst DJ ing in Wardour St, however I did not but what suprised me is it reminded me of you and then I recieve this invite, that’s great. Coincidence is what this new life is all about, even though I am not subscribing to your wonderful program you have shared your strength and hope which is so big and full of positive messages.
Last month my friend played the video of The Rules of Attraction. I originally retracted from the invite to watch and dismissed many of the well to do theorists, however when you contributed I surendered:am practising this idea as much as I can remember. Currently Bill I am doing a BA’s in English Language and Media Studies (Where I have come; from believe me this is progress) and am very happy to know of you!
Bill,
The article, Spiritual Assumptions, has to be the best one I’ve read so far. I now understand that no matter what is happening with thoughts during meditation, it is all ok. I was becoming concerned that my mind stays so busy that ‘nothing’ is happening. Now I understand that stresses are released, which makes sense. I am ready to begin Level 2 and look forward to my progression.
Thank you so much! slk
Hi Bill,
I’ve read and done many things for self-development. Always thinking I’ve been dealt an awful set of cards and playing victim all my life, the trick was getting past all that and how do I act differently. I’ve tried many different things as I said but never was able to follow through, I got to a certain point and crawled back in my rabbit hole where it was safe. Now I know very well there is a way out of this world that I have trapped myself in.
With your program I realize that there is help for me, and now for once in my life I am changing. Not that it’s been easy, but at least I realize why I react the way I do or did and then see the world with a new set of eyes. This has been me many times, even though I’ve just started the level I , I’ve gone through that much growth.
The funny thing I found with your article besides being intrigued is that I seem to contain a little from all the levels you stated. Almost like I’ve trained myself to react a certain way depending on the situation. If that makes any sense. Although when life gets difficult I can’t say that I am at the high end of the spectrum, usually at the under 12 side.
I’ve always had a knowing that cycles could be broken (along with ancestral cycles of thinking), Like for instance when my children were born I knew that I didn’t want to be my parents but I had to change my self to model for them a better life, but how. So one thing is for certain is that I always had a knowing of what is possible but breaking the cycle of how to break the cycle was key.
For the first time in my life your program is serving that for me. A new way of thinking, a better positive me. I look forward to continuing….
Sorry for rambling, but most of all ……….
THANK YOU!
Debbie
You have created a way to embrace love and oneness. Your presence and your contribution to life is beautiful. Bless you for sharing and seeding the the impulse to awakening. Love, Anand Shiraz.
Hi,
I’ve been using Holosync since April 2006, and on level 3, and so very pleased with the changes. Some of them haven’t been so pleasant and just a little scarey at times, but the support centre have always been prompt in replying my concerns, they have been fantastic. I expect there might be more but I’m not concerned as the changes and benefits far out weigh these times. My inner life is certainly changing for the better. Thank you so much.
Hi Bill,
Very good and interesting topics on stages of development. However it fails to answer my previous points.
Your wrote: “The idea that you can control the universe with your mind is a highly egocentric, narcissistic point of view. About 10% of adults are at this stage of development.”
The sort of narcissitc view point is the viewpoint of the Magician who thinks he can dominate nature and turn it to his ends. However it is possible to work “The Secret” in a magical way. Most fail because they lack faith, which places a block immediately on any effective intereaction with the “magical” universe and secondly because they are not Sidha’s.
You mention the Trancendent developmental phase but I can tell you that it too can become a trap an error. Many who take this view feel that they and the universe/God are one and the same. However this sense is a mistake and there are two (Mystically speaking) highers Transcendent States. We are ultimately one and different from the absolute. The same in constitution and quality but parts of and not the whole. You are an individual and even if you merge with the divine “light” and become at “one” you are experiencing it, you don’t become the whole. This is absorption is not the ultimate aim at all and is the lowest transendent level.
I can explain in detaill the mechanics of this but there isn’t the space. Think though if Buddha or anyone else achieved enligthtenment and we are all one…….then we should all immediately achieve it with him. We did not, therefore we have to say that either no one has ever achieved this ultimate “oneness” or that what they are experiencing does not change the simple fact that they are still individuals and cannot do it for us.
Hi Bill, I have been using Holosync for a couple of years (I can’t remember the exact length which is a good thing in Holosync terms!) and am on Awakening level 3, CD 2. I have 4 great children and a wonderful husband and because the effects of meditating have been so obvious they know to give me that hour in the day with no disturbances – even my 8 year old little girl! I have suffered from depression almost my whole life (I have just turned 50) and I can honestly say that holosync is better than any antidepressant on the market. I have always been a writer in my head and since holosyncing I have become one on paper. I’m not published (yet) but I will be. My oldest son (24 – same husband!) gave a speech at my 50th and joked about Holosync saying that I should give it all up and just smoke a joint! Perhaps one day he’ll begin holosyncing and realize how absurd that comparison is! Thanks for everything. I hope to see you one day on a retreat. – Marsha Jacobson
Dear Bill,
I have been using the holosync program for sometime now. I am calmer. I can withstand greater stress in my teaching profession. Surely,
I think, holosync program has contributed to my ability to cope with stress.
With a blog like this, in addition to the newsletter, it makes things more interesting for holosync users. Unlike many sublimal CDs, the special thing about holosync is that the users are guided with a lot of information and motivation. These itself helps the user to maintain the discipline to carry on using the program. and that in turn, helps the user to develop some kind of discipline – an attitude of being calm and reflective.
As such, apart from the sound frequency that may be doing its job to balance the brain’s two sides, the person develops a discipline of getting into a meditative state on a daily basis, and that itself, I think, helps the person to remain poised and calm in difficult or demanding situations. In my view, people who are scientifically inclined, will definitely appreciate the benefits of holosync technology. They will benefit most from the holosync program.
Thank you Bill, and best of regards.
Anba
Hi Bill! I miss Mind Chatter! I just finished reading your blog…(as well as the several comments that suggested that you use “less words” and “keep it short” because they are “busy”..)
I am one of the “busy people” too…(translate that to self-important?)I too don’t have “time” to read all my email…
Frankly…when your emails come in…they are the FIRST to be read..and I inhale every word…
So..my vote..is that you talk even MORE…if you want…
As much as I appreciate knowing what eveyone’s opinions and experiences are…what I find of most value is what YOU share…so I vote for MORE “you” and less “us”!
Because I already “know” what I think…that has gotten me where I currently am..and by knowing what is in YOUR mind…your thoughts are my stepping stones from where I am ,to where I would prefer to be…more Inner Peace!
By the way…I have been a daily user of Holosync since March of this year..no matter how busy I am…my daily practice is at the top of my priority list! Some days..it fills me with bliss and peace..sometimes it brings up the inner demons that have haunted me throughout my life…they are not “unconscious” anymore..and I get to observe them..this is not always what I call a “pleasant” process…in fact…sometimes it feels awlful…but…THIS is exactly the stuff I have wanted and needed to access through traditional meditation all these years….and now it is just emerging…
You were not kidding..this program works! Almost too well!
I am beyond “impressed”….I would have just loved this stuff if it had just “made me a little more peaceful” inside…I expected a “better” self-help tool…not something that would come in and completely upset and disorganize my entire (what you call..my Map of Reality!)..WOW..this stuff is sure not for “sissies”!
I would not recommend your program to someone who just wants “fixed up a little better”…only people absolutely commited to real transformation should touch this stuff!
There are days I walk up to my Walkman and headphones..and go “uh oh! Now what!”…as if it is the opening to a sacred cave…the true unknown..and I do not know if I will encounter angels or demons! For me..this requires “courage”!
I am so grateful you have created this unbelievable tool for all of us! I thank you with all my heart!
Thank you Bill for all that you do! You are an angel from heaven! I have been Holosyncing since late August and I love it. I just ordered the next level with my affirmations, I can’t wait to receive it. I am now an Inner Circle member and commited to seeing this through to eternity!
Have a wonderful day and thank you again! Sincerely, Annmarie
I am an original Holosynch Inner Circle member from way back when. I remember when Bill had the time to personally answer my questions by email. His clarity on “What Is” cut through all of my window dressings, and created many breakthroughs that helped me blossom along my life’s journey. The transition and awareness of my healing has been truly amazing. I have a life that is tranquil no matter what challenges I encounter. Sometimes I find myself wondering about Bill’s quest to earn more money, or to develop more material gains for others, yet I think that his path is different than mine, so “what is” for Bill is different than “what is” for me. We each have our own space in this universe. Isn’t it great?
Hi Bill. Thanks for Holosync. I have just started the program and so far enjoy it tremendously.
Your mind chatter articles are great. My greatest frustration lies in the human race’s nature of having to start over with each birth in the attainment of knowldge. Each of us must learn what has come before.
As you know each generation will aquire the knowlede of what has come before and what has been learned thus far.
I hope for the day when we can start our young off with all aquired knowledge thus far. Then they can soar like eagles as they create their own knowledge, Knowledge that is new and truly enlightining.
Hi – Happy to see the blog. I used my cd’s so much that I literally wore them out. It’s been a long time since I could listen to them – but I will tell all of you out there that they really helped my when I really needed help due to health issues. I need to reorder another set. I was really excited to see Bill speak in “the SecretI” ‘ll keep reading the blog. Thank you . Marjory
Hi Bill,
Thanks for the fascinating blog. I hope you do as threatened and go on to discuss all the nuances of the different stages and how each might relate to different parts of life. I’d be interested in knowing how, generally, the stages tend to relate to one another, how they interact…which stages are or are not compatible with each other and why. Are we all born preconventional and then move on (or not ) from there? Take it easy. Lauren
I been using your program for 1 1/2 years and love it. I have a high stress job and it helps me cope. I’m ready for the next level, I enjoyed the rain and chimes, will this continue?
This new ability to blog I think will prove a worthwhile tool.
Here in Britain I managed to catch a snatch of programme on Radio 4. They were talking out the need for kids to meditate. There was someone else as well but my attention was drawn to Dylans (YES Bob Dylan’s) input, some of what he was saying mirrored your way of couching your take on life.Or is it that he’s experienced Holosync.
Guess if he’s done so he can’t advertise it for u, don’t know what the perameters of that sort of stuff the BBC are able or not to “air”. I know our rules and regs are probably somewhat differnt from those of the USA’s.
Without my mum who died when I was 14 years 4 months old I was left to fill in the gaps of my upbringing which I often found incredibly hard to tackle, my dad loving though I knew him to be; was like a lot of men not intuative and I did n’t have the skills to open touchy subjects that i know if I’d had a mum for longer would have been a resource I could have drawn on. There’s 8 years between my brother and myself an d that was a chasm in our ability to talk together as siblings more often are able.
He’s heavily into “Gastroenterology” a dark bit of medicine I think you’d agree. I don’t know what he’ll do when he retires or if he will be able ever to do so . One gets the feeling he might “Die on the job” asw it were.
His brilliance is often reaslied by his counterparts but I worry for his patients as he feels distant to me. Maybee its just his brilliance he knows to be difficult for others to come to terms with ( the green eyes of envy) are probably directed at him and this is a “hushing factor”. I may try to introduce him to Holosync but I will have to be very carefull of my approach. It seems so sad that its more easy to talk to complete stranges than one of your family.
Well I gota get on with my life as I see fit , thanks for you help.
Hears hoping the “deaf” of this world will one day hear your messages and they will find solace in its tenets.
Hello Bill,
I am a beginner medidator too, but like everyone else, am finding your program (or journey really), enlightening and very worthwhile. I enjoyed listening to the bonus 6 CD retreat recording that you sent out. Really helped my understanding of what was going on in my head. Thank you. Three questions, if you ever find time?
1. Have you read “Jesus for the non-religious”? Perhaps what Shelby-Spong is saying is Jesus was the first transcendent human being?
2. You are critical of “The Secret” in suggesting that a single mind can control what is happening in the universe. But don’t you agree that what you think controls what happens to you? Not just spiritually, but materially and personally as well. If that is so egocentric, then why is it so often true? Or am I just missing the point.
3. What is the best course of action for someone “way down the track” who is married to a preconventional thinker? Parenting small children traps you in conventional thinking too.
I set my alarm for 3:45am so that I can meditate for an hour and walk for an hour. Otherwise I would never have “me” time – as I haven’t for many years. How’s that for devoted to you!!!
Warm regards, Jess.
Bill,
Good job all around! Very nice revision of the web site.
Also, do you have any material regarding Holosync and its impact on ADD children?
Thanks,
Ron
I love this ides of the 4 developmental levels, what would be the background, what is it based on? I’m a Polarity therapist and I find it very useful to use with clients as reference.
cheers
Hi Bill, this is a great idea. I have been using Holosync for a while now. I will be moving on to Awakening 4 soonish. It has done great things for me. I am much more peaceful and calm about life in general and able to cope with stresses in a positive manner. I was able to negotiate to work from home which has greatly improved my life. I dont think I would have been able to stand back and make my point without getting overemotional and counterproductive before. Thanks.
I hope one day I will manage to afford the LPI courses too. Till then all I can say is that my life has indeed been transformed and I look forward to more of it!1
Mary (Wales, UK)
Bill,
You are so right in saying we are often traumatized at a particular stage in our journey and can’t get past it or keep repeating cycles over and over like a skip in an old record due to a scratch or damage of some sort. This is in keeping with many of the psychological theories I have studied and just in examining my own life and friends and family members. I hope I can get past those bumps in my own song and play on.
Bonnie
Like the blog. I have lapsed in use of Awakening Prologue and am now psyched to get back at it. I agree with what someone else above put forth….kind of an anonymous sharing of stories and personal info. especially mental health growth/recovery. Maybe discussion group that you visit only as time allows. Something to think about. Anyway, glad to be drawn back. Thanks, hugs. J.
Bill,
I have a question that I am sure many others are contemplating as well. You seem to be very clear of how the “the secret” is very mechanical and can be described using logic and the magnificent “goal seeking mechanism” of the brain. And as you stated in this post – “the idea that you can control the universe with your mind is a highly egocentric, narcissistic point of view.” This makes very much sense, and I agree with you. However I can’t help but notice others (even some of your self-help contemporaries) do not express the same viewpoint. They constantly say ‘thoughts carry energy’ and since everything is energy, your thoughts can change the material world. They go on and on about quantum mechanics and how understanding it can change our lives. And not to say I completely disagree, because I am sure they have reason to say what they say. But my question to you is why are we seeing this dichotomy of perpectives on the ‘law of attraction’, and where does all this “new science” fall in place?
Thanks for everything,
Adrian
Bill
You have explained Ken Wilbur’s developmental model far better then he does.
It is a wonderful offering and I appreciate it immensely.
I have been working the program faithfully (everyday as instructed) for one month. I have become incredibly calm and peaceful on the inside. Some would use the word centered and I personally can see why. I feel so anchored in the center of my being. For sure, there are people and things connected with my job which a month ago would have sent me home in tears and frustration which today (literally TODAY) hold no power or importance to me. And THIS AFTER ONLY A MONTH of faithfully adhering to the instructions provided with my Holosync CD’s. This stuff is amazing! I can only look forward to that which is to come as I continue on this path.
Thank you for all that you do to promote this wonderful method of meditation (which I know is so much bigger than just meditation). I am completely content with where I am yet so excited about where I am going!
Shadow
Bill maybe you could develop a holosync track with a guided 321 process as suggested by Ken Wilber hmmm? for our shadow work.
Thanks
Troy
What a great coincidence. I just finished reading Ken Wilbur’s “A Theory of Everything”. What an amazing read! It really shed a lot of light on why the things we as a society (or government) do to try to make the world a better place tend to fail miserably or cause other problems. It’s not what I’d call an easy read, but I hope everyone who reads this comment picks up a copy and gives it a shot.
Hi Bill
Good to see you have set up something to this blog! I am looking forward to the mind chatter and what will bring out from it.
I am not used to using this site but I am hopefully seeing any specific chatters has to chat about.
Cheers.
Susanne.
How do I fit myself into a category as you explained them when I don’t really know which one I fit into. In other words, what if I feel that certain aspects of more than one category applies to me?
I can’t quite get my mind around all this!
In my way of thinking, we complicate matters when we start pidgeon-holing, only to become frustrated because we wind up back at square one, still asking the question, “Why am I here and what’s to become of me”.
So I think that’s why religion gives a person something to hold on to, an idea or tradition to get through life without driving ourselves crazy trying to figure it all out. Yes, maybe the path of least resistance, but perhaps God being omniscient, knew that we’d be asking these questions and gave us something to hold onto until we complete the journey.
I’m now listening to CD 4 of Flowering Level 4, and have been pleased with the effect using Holosync has had on many aspects of my life–with a few bumps along the way, which the instructions and supporting material had prepared me for pretty well.
I find I disagree with Bill on the issue of Paramhansa Yogananda’s “Autobiography of a Yogi” and whether it, including the so-called “miracles”, represents a “pre-conventional” developmental stage, which is described by Bill as “very egocentric. It’s all about me. It’s very body oriented (as opposed to mind-oriented, as in the second perspective)”.
Most of the individuals in the book who perform what scientists would call “impossible” feats do not fit into this category. If they must be put into a developmental category according to the this paradigm, they would fall into the transcendental stage.
Although science can do amazing things, at its most advanced levels there are many things it can’t explain, whether in physics, biology, and particularly in matters dealing with consciousness. To deny the possibility of human beings performing the acts of consciousness and will described in “Autobiography of a Yogi” requires scientific evidence of that impossibility, not simply that scientists haven’t observed it and documented it. Why create limits before they are necessary?
That said, I’m not taking a position on whether the described events actually did take place, only on whether it’s appropriate to deny that they are possible. The materialistic bias of current science can be as restrictive as religions have been in the past–and are now, for too many people. For someone who believes something is impossible, guess what? It is impossible.
The “Autobiography” deals with science in a logical, open-minded manner. A quote from page 266:
“This conception brings us to the law of miracles.
The masters who are able to materialize and dematerialize their bodies or any other object, and to move with the velocity of light, and to utilize the creative light-rays in bringing into instant visibility any physical manifestation, have fulfilled the necessary Einsteinian condition: their mass is infinite.
“The consciousness of a perfected yogi is effortlessly identified , not with a narrow body, but with the universal structure. Gravitation, whether the ‘force’ of Newton or the Einsteinian ‘manifestation of inertia,’ is powerless to compel a master to exhibit the property of ‘weight’ which is the distinguishing gravitational condition of all material objects. He who knows himself as omnipresent Spirit is subject no longer to the rigidities of a body in time and space. Their imprisoning ‘rings-pass-not’ have yielded to the solvent: ‘I am He.’
I wholeheartedly agree with Roger’s interpretation of Paramahansa Yogananda’s autiobiography in that not everything has to be proven by science as impossible without belief that it can and has happened. “I am not my body — I am not my emotions” is one analogy of the weightless state of what I believe is the astral body. Based on the paradigm you present, those acts and happenings are straight away from spiritual identities in the transcendental stage. It was not hard for me to believe, at all, what was stated in truth by Paramahansa. The fact that his physical body did not deteriorate in what would be considered a normal way is also an (unproven by science) ‘miracle.’ I plan on getting the demo for Holosync before I go further but haven’t the faintest idea of where to locate it. Putting people in different levels based on their belief systems isn’t accurate, in my perception, because people’s consciousness is manifested largely due to their physical environment and upbringing.
-Suzy (maybe I’m defensive about that book and the misunderstood ‘miracles’ of consciousness and in unconscious states, but the book changed my life and helped me through a miscarriage as well as another life-altering event). “I am not my body. I am not my emotions.”
Hi Bill,
I like your new blogging idea. This first one is written in a lighter tone without sacrificing the message. It is also more succinct and easier to read…ie not so much redefining of the issues presented. I suspect you can feel comfortable doing it this way because the comments you receive will indicate how well your reading public understood the points you made, giving you a chance to redefine if necessary. I enjoyed your article content in Mind Chatter but found myself skimming or skipping when redefining got too lengthy.
I loved the last part of your final statement in this blog “–and, to more easily move yourself to the higher levels, where the real fun begins.” …key idea here is “where the real fun begins”.
I love it..feels like a gentle tickle in my heart that puts a smile on my face and love in my world.
Sandy
Hi Bill,
There are a few things I would like to take issue with after reading your last missive.
Well it seems to me you are at extreme odds with the “Secret” and I can’t really reconcile your beliefs with theirs. Clearly one has to put oneself in alignment with what one wants by actually doing something….but that doesn’t mean that no “supernatural” effect or agent is at work. The speed a which one can acheive or get what they want is miraculous if one uses the right mental and spiritual tools allied to some material effort. However most people who do not employ the “secret” or anything like it, fail to get what they want and fail to achieve. This is simply a matter of fact. (only 1 in 16 bussiness survive for 5 years for example). I am afraid that the idea that hard work, training and effort alone will gaurantee success is nonsense and patently so. However it is remarkable and “magical” how things fall into place when when employs “The Secret” in our endeavour.
However what really got my goat with your latest missive is the mention of the trickster magician Randi. He is not a scientist and his “reward” for proving the paranormal is a nonsense. His conditions are severe and if he isn’t convinced totally (God himself couldn’t convince this professional debunker) he won’t pay. He sets the rules and for example his attempt to test Homeopathy was crazy. He had made a dilution that was essentially weaker than than a drop of water in the ocean and then we are told that it doesn’t work. There are limits to everything. Actually various paranormal powers have been scientifically proven both in the USA, Europe and particularly in Russia. These are repeatable experiments but unfortunately few people ever want to follow up on the science and in the West we are up against the powers that be that don’t want us to know for a fact that such powers are in existance, it reduces their power and changes quite a few political ideologies of the western world. So we have professional debunkers like Randi running around. Of course a true master wouldn’t have the sligtest interest in proving things to Randi or in his million dollars.
Quantum physics tell us demostrably that the observer cannot be seperated from the observed and there is a a tendancy for the observerd to fulfill our expectation. Now this raises a very serious scientfic problem especially regards the paranormal. If the testors are antagonistic to these subtle abilites and effects they could very well be stopping them! Dont’ believe in Quantum Physics? Best dump your Tv, Computer, Mobile phone etc then because they work off Quantum Physics Science.
Consciousness clearly interacts with matter at very subtle levels. This is demonstrable in quantum physics. This of course brings into question the nature of reality itself.
Lets look at the brain. Recently tests have been done using imaging scanners on the brains of persons receiving stimulation to cause sensations, of taste, smell and imagery etc. It was found that the subject was aware of the taste or smell etc BEFORE there was a change in the brain! This indicates that the brain is not creating the experience but responding to it. Which raises a lot of questions and answers that I won’t go into here to a great extent.
Brain waves etc do not cause the sensations etc but are responses. Brainwaves are not thoughts but responses to thoughts and other things.
Look at Holosync, you can use holosync to create various brain wave patterns associated with various moods etc. Such as feelings of compassion. However unless you are very experienced using holosync, simply changing your brain waves to those of a Bodhisattva (Buddha of Compassion) won’t fill you with feelings of compassion at all. In fact you might not get any experience whatsoever. Again this clearly indicates that the brain waves are not the cause of the experience but the result of them. If you create brainwaves of compassion using holosync then you should eventually, after practicing, experience compassion. What I believe is actually happening is, Holosync is doing more than simply causing brainwave change, it is causing a resonance, an “idea” in the deep mind that ultimately results in the experience. Think of it like this. The purpose of life is to manifest your self through your body and transform it to the Suddha Devam (immortal devic body or Christ Body of Ascension). Years of meditation transform the body including the brain, so that it can be charged with the spiritual energies of the soul. What holosync does I believe is help one to transform the brain far quicker so that higher experiences can be gained. It’s not everything that is needed but I believe it can certainly help create the conditions at least in the brain that are required.
Finally I have to take issue with the idea that good and evil are perspectives and that a higher transcendent persons sees it that way. Good and Evil are absolutes. There is no way, murder, rape, torture etc can be reqarded as “good” or even neutral, requiring only our perception to make a distinction. Those things are Evil. We are ultimately spiritual beings and Evil is not an opinion. Evil is however limited and conditional on the chaotic nature of this universe, whilst Good is absolute, unconditional and is the ultimate extinguisher of Evil. If we say, well Murder, Torture etc are only evil if we say so, then we are insane. If ever that idea takes route then we are well on the road to hell and our societies will dissemble into chaotic hellish conditions. Are we not already seeing that in some places?
hi
super!
Hi Bill I have just listended to your programme of enlightement wow this sounds really fantastic. Its a place I’d like to experience for sure.
First I would like if you could have more knowledge on your holosynce programme what you can expect from it what you can get from it and what level whatever there is to know I wish to know.
This new venture because I live in the UK and my friend Pauline will you ever come to the uk?
This is fantastic work Many thanks
Ann
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