It’s hard being here, isn’t it?
by Bill HarrisJanuary 22nd, 2008
Okay, everyone. Let’s take a breath.
I realize that these posts about human development have become pretty intense for some of you. There is a lot of information, a lot of terminology, and some complex ideas. So let’s pause for an easier-to-understand, more relaxed post.
And, at the end, I’m going to add a few recommendations you might want to look into, if you’re interested.
Let’s get started. First, let’s zoom out from the details for a few general comments about what I’ve shared so far about development. (Trust me, this will be easy stuff, and interesting.)
Here, in my opinion, is the basic underlying idea I want you to understand about development:
Everyone is doing their best to make sense of and deal with the challenges of being a human being. In the broadest sense, what “develops” is your perspective about what it means to be here, what the challenges are, and your ability to deal with them.
Let’s face it, as my friend Saniel Bonder says, “It’s hard being here.” Some people think it’s only hard for some people, and that for others it’s easy. Others think it’s hard because they’re doing something wrong, or there’s some secret they haven’t found yet, or because they’re broken in some way.
I’d be willing to bet that most people who come to Centerpointe do so because they’re experiencing how hard it is to be a person. They want help, and they’ve heard that Holosync, along with what I teach, really does help. And, though it does help–in fact, quite a bit–the truth is that it’s hard being here for EVERYONE–whether you’re rich or poor, adored or have no friends, enlightened or completely unaware, famous or obscure, or anything else, in some ways it’s hard for every human being to be here.
Let me tell you why.
First, as you’ve no doubt noticed, some portion of the time, you don’t get what you want. That, in and of itself, makes being here hard. Right?
Now, as you learn some of the skills of the concrete operational level of development (the rules of cause and effect, and how to use them to successfully do things in the world), it becomes easier to get what you want more often.
If you learn the more advanced skills of formal operational–the ability to use abstract thought, to see the relationships between people, things, situations, ideas, and so forth, and to take the perspective of others, see the total ecology of a situation, and so forth–you can get what you want more often still.
And, if you develop further (into levels I haven’t talked about yet), you’ll very likely improve your odds even more.
Still, there there will always be times when you don’t get what you want.
Second, there are times when you get what you don’t want. And, again, the more skills you have at each developmental level, and the higher the level you attain, the less often you’ll get what you don’t want. You might even learn how to make the times when you get what you don’t want into opportunities.
And, at higher developmental levels, the tendency is for your sense of well-being to become increasingly independent of whatever you do or don’t get, but I’ll get into that when I talk about the levels beyond formal operational.
[Shameless commercial message: FYI: Though I don’t mention these terms, my Life Principles Integration Process online courses are designed to take you through a step-by-step process through concrete operational (increasing those skills), into formal operational (increasing those skills), and beyond, to the even higher developmental levels. You can listen to a free preview lesson, if you’re interested, at www.centerpointe.com/life/preview, or read all about it at www.centerpointe.com/life.]
Besides the inevitablity of sometimes not getting what you want and sometimes getting what you don’t want, there’s a third reason why it’s hard to be here:
Everything in the universe exists “in time”–it comes into being, and eventually it passes away. You’re employee of the month, and you feel good about it, but next month someone else is employee of the month and your award-winning glow is in the past.
You enjoy being young and vibrant, but then you get old.
You feel good, but then you get sick.
You have a beautiful meal in front of you, and then it’s gone, consummed.
You enjoy your children, and then they grow up.
You love your dog, but it grows old and dies.
You get a new car, but it gradually becomes “just transportation.”
And, the biggie: you’re born, but eventually you fall apart and die. Like everything else, you, too, come into being and eventually pass away.
That’s the way it is. All things eventually pass away, including you and me, and it makes it hard to be here. And every person, even if they’re really good at distracting themselves from these “problems” feels them lurking in the background of their consciousness.
What’s more, because we’re sensitive and have sensitive bodies we can enjoy all kinds of things about life–sights, sounds, touches, smells, tastes, and other sensory delights–but this sensitivity also makes us subject to pain, injury, and disease.
Every human being, then, is doing his or her best to make sense of being human in light of these “drawbacks” to being human.
At the sensorimotor stage, where you make sense of the world entirely through senses and movement (after all, you’re a baby), you don’t have many ways to deal with these drawbacks, but you probably do notice (or at least suffer in some way) when you don’t have enough of what you want, or when things pass away (Mom is there holding you and feeding you, and then, after a while, it’s over and she puts you in your crib). At this stage, you’re totally dependent upon others, and if you’re reasonably well cared for, you make sense of being alive in that way.
At the preoperational stage (also called preconventional, prerational, and several other names) you learn to talk and begin to use symbols, but you don’t yet understand cause and effect or the general rules (especially cause and effect) regarding how the world works. For this reason, you tend to use magical thinking to make sense of the world and your place in it. And, for a while, this works, which is why some people stay at this stage, sometimes for life. In the modern world most people at this stage are protected by their parents (unless they grow up stuck at this stage, which puts them at a severe disadvantage).
If an entire society is at this stage–a tribal society, for instance, with no understanding of modern science–the entire group makes sense of the world by looking to mysterious spirits, keeping the traditions of the tribe, and obeying the elders.
Let me make one thing clear: any way of making sense of the world works as long as it works. When it doesn’t work any longer, the person (or society) using it will develop a new way of making sense of things. For some reason, these ways of making sense of things, regardless of culture or historical era, follow a certain progression.
The scientists and researchers who have studied such things are not pushing a certain point of view when they say this. They are just looking at the evidence and sharing what they see. If other researchers disagree, the questions are sorted through using a peer-review process where eventually an agreement is reached–which is pretty much always overturned when new information comes to light later.
So, I’m not being negative about preconventional thinking as some of you have accused me. I’m pointing out that this way of making sense of life has, first of all, been improved upon in later stages. In fact, the fact that there are later stages shows that earlier stages didn’t work for someone at some point. Otherwise, how (or why) would the later stages develop? Why would an individual or a society leave behind a certain way of making sense of the world for another if the original way was still working?
And, as long as a certain way of making sense of things IS working, there’s no reason to change it. A way of making sense of who you are and why you’re here and why it’s often so hard to be a person will work until it doesn’t. When it doesn’t, you go through a period where you feel confused, adrift, chaotic, until you come up with a new way of making sense of things–one that explains the new conditions the old way couldn’t deal with.
As we gain more experience in life (also assuming that our brain develops properly, so we can process what we experience and learn to use symbols and concepts in a more accomplished manner) we begin to see, through our day to day experiences in the world, how the laws of nature (including the process of cause and effect) work to generate what happens. This everyday experience exposes the strategies used at the preoperational stage as inferior, and as we see better ways of making sense of things we move into the concrete operational stage.
At concrete operational, we make sense of the world in a new way. But in addition to developing skills that allows us to get around in the world, accomplish the daily tasks of life and, in general, manage concrete things and situations, another key shift takes place: we begin to learn to take the role of other.
This new perspective allows us to notice others who share our perspective, which allows us to become part of a group. We trade magical, egocentric thinking for groupcentric thinking and the security of being a member of the group. Being a part of a group gives us a new way to deal with the fact that “it’s hard to be here”: the “truth” (the particular myths) of our group gives us a ready-made way to make sense of the world, and having other people who believe as we do gives us a sense of security (it also blinds us to the fact that there are other groups and that they think they are just as right as we do–and that we are just as wrong as we think they are).
If, for instance, you’re a concrete operational (conventional) Christian (there are Christians at evey developmental level past sensorimotor, but the majority of Christians are at concrete operational) you very likely see the world in terms of good and evil, and your group tells you how to be on the side of “good” and avoid “evil.” In the Christian world, at this level, you go to heaven if you do certain things and believe certain things, and go to hell if you do or believe other things.
This simple rule, “everything goes into two piles, the good, or appropriate, and the bad, or inapproriate”–and knowing the consequences of each–makes it easier to make sense of the world. Every decision, every idea, every person, every action, fits in one pile or the other. There are few, if any, shades of gray, no paradoxes, and no intangibles.
You see this in George Bush, for instance. He’s sure of what he does because he’s sure that he knows what the rules are (everyone at concrete operational is sure of what the rules are, though these rules might change from group to group–look at concrete operational-level Muslims for instance). These rules tell President Bush and others like him what is right and what is wrong. Then, the only thing necessary is to act consistently with those rules. You may disagree, but personally I don’t think George Bush is dishonest, as many on the left say. I think he’s simply acting consistent with his beliefs. He is acting honorably and normally for someone who sees morality from a concrete operational point of view.
If you are at the concrete operational level you might have different rules, but you, too, will act in keeping with your rules, whatever they are, because rules are a key part of making sense of the world at this stage.
If you are a Christian at this developmental level all those other people who aren’t part of your in-group (Muslims, for instance, or Buddhists, or atheists, or pro-abortion people, or whatever) are in trouble, because they don’t know the truth that you’ve found. And, as long as you stick to the rules of your group, you’re fine.
For some people, though, at some point, the whole black and white, rule-oriented way of deciding what is right and wrong, and what to do about it, stops working. It no longer keeps away those feelings of uncertainty about life. Some people begin to notice that no set of rules covers all the nuances of life, all the different possibilities, all the possible situations, and this is the beginning of the transition into formal operational (postconventional) thinking.
If you develop a larger perspective than that of concrete operational, you begin to see that everything really doesn’t fit neatly into two piles. There are multiple “truths” and there’s no easy way to tell which dogma is THE dogma–or if any of them are really “true.” You go beyond merely noticing and manipulating concrete things, events, people, situations. You also begin to notice and focus on the relationships between these things.
You also learn to think in a more abstract way, to think ABOUT thinking, to see possibilities, to think “as if.” You begin to see that the world is full of uncertaintly, paradox, unknowns, even though you might not feel all that comfortable about it. Principles, rather than rules, become a new and additional tool to use in making sense of being a human. (Notice that you don’t totally abandon the tools of the previous level. “Law and Order,” for instance, is a big part of conventional thinking. When you move past conventional thinking, however, that doesn’t mean that you are now in favor of chaos and anarchy. Laws and order in society are still good things, but how they are determined and enforced may change.)
At formal operational you also begin to adopt a more individualized way of functioning because an individual sense of self is developing. You still are likely to be a group member (another example of the fact that you don’t get rid of everything from the previous level), but now you don’t derive your identity solely from your role in the group. And, you can be part of several groups and handle the fact that each group may have a different set of beliefs.
All of this is part of a growing ability to handle the fact that life is uncertain and paradoxical, and that there are many different approaches and points of view. Seeing this, you can be more flexible about things. Before, you needed to have things be either this or that, good or evil, us or them, liked or disliked. You now begin to see that there are many shades of gray in the world, something that would have been disconcerting at the concrete operational stage. In the levels beyond formal operational this ability to see and be okay with paradox and uncertainty will increase.
With this new point of view, your identity is no longer determined by your role in the group and the group’s ideas, but rather by your own individual sense of who you are and your own individual principles–something you have to figure out for yourself, and try out in the world.
In some cases, you may feel at odds with the world. Conventional strategies that used to make sense may not appeal to you any more. You may also feel frustrated that others (those still at concrete operational) can’t see what you see. Most of the insoluble disputes in the world are between people at different developmental levels. Hoping that a person at one level will see things from the point of view of another level is futile. People see and make sense of the world from their level of development, and other levels will look wrong, or incomprehensible. (At the highest levels this begins to change, something we will look at in a later post.)
Once a person develops a few levels past formal operational (something we’ll get to later), they reach what some researchers call the “second tier” of development. At this point, a person has the ability to look at the preceding levels and see and appreciate the value and point of view of each. Such a person’s perspective has grown to the point where they can view the entire developmental spiral without being immersed in their own point of view, as if it was the only “correct” point of view. Up to this point, one’s developmental level has been subject, but now it (and, in fact, the entire sequences of levels) becomes object. Until that point, each level sees their own point of view as the only point of view that makes sense, while the others are seen as mistaken–or worse.
In writing these posts, I’m trying to give you this perspective. Some of you are able to look from this perspective and appreciate all of the levels, while others are still stuck in your own individual perspective–which is, ironically, as it should be.
But let’s return to the idea of making sense of being a human being, and the fact that it’s hard to be here. If you develop past formal operational (to levels of meaning-making we haven’t looked at yet), you will develop additional strategies for making sense of being human and dealing with the fact that it’s hard to be here. At these transpersonal, transrational stages, something really amazing begins to happen: you stop organizing your experience of life around what you always thought was “you”–the separate ego, the separate self.
There are several levels of doing this, culminating in what is generally referred to as enlightenment. We’ll get to these stages in another post. All of these perspectives, however, are ways of dealing with, of coping with, of making sense of the fact that it’s hard to be here, it’s hard to be a person, it’s hard to exist in a universe where things come into being and eventually pass away, and where you sometimes don’t get what you want and sometimes get what you don’t want.
Wherever you are in the developmental spiral, you’ll stay there until that particular way of making sense of the world doesn’t work for you any more. At that point, if a transition to a higher stage is to happen, you experience a crisis of sorts, sometimes intense, other times easier (it often depends on whether or not you have someone to help you through it or not).
In this “change crisis,” you notice that the old way doesn’t work very well any more, which creates uneasiness, discomfort. The world doesn’t make sense anymore, which can be a quite disconcerting feeling. The problems of being human I listed at the beginning of this post become more obvious because your old ways of keeping them at bay don’t work as well. You go through a period of chaos, where things temporarily don’t make sense. Finally, hopefully, your view of yourself, the world, and life reorganizes at a new and higher level, one where you have a larger and wider perspective. Then, once again, things “make sense.”
I have written quite a bit about this process of chaos and reorganization and how humans respond to it. I’ll post something about this at some point, since this process is one of the most interesting things I’ve ever noticed about how the universe works.
But I digress (again). As we develop, each new and broader view sees with more clarity the reality of the problem of being a human being. At the same time, the wider perspective of these higher stages better equips you to deal with these challenges. At the highest levels, it becomes clear that these problems really aren’t problems after all. They exist, but you begin to see that making them into a “problem” is a choice. You develop the ability to “let whatever happens be okay.” And, at the highest levels you no longer identify yourself as a center of action and thought (a separate self). You have a “self” but this self isn’t who you are, any more than any other idea about something is the same as the thing it represents. At this point, the “problems of life” aren’t really problems. They are conditions, perhaps, but not problems.
Let’s look at a few change points between developmental levels, to see how an old way of seeing things and operating in the world can stop making sense, requiring a new way of seeing and being.
When you went off to school for the first time, you entered a new world. At that time of life you were very likely, in a developmental sense, pre-rational, preoperational, and narcissistic. You were pretty good at making sense of your world at home, centered around mom, dad, the rest of the family, and your immediate neighborhood. What’s more, how well you made sense of it wasn’t that crucial, because other people were taking care of you.
This new situation, however, was quite different. You were with an adult not from that small circle, and that adult had a definite agenda for what was going to happen. There were a lot of other kids, but it wasn’t a play situation. There were rules, and a new kind of order and structure. You were expected to learn many new things, take your turn, and keep to a schedule. You had to get up in the morning at a certain time, leave for school at a certain time, go home at a certain time, eat lunch at a certain time. While you were at school, someone else decided what you were going to do, when you were going to do it, and for how long.
To deal with all of this, you had to develop a new set of skills and a new, more group-oriented perspective. For most children, this kicks off the beginning of conventional, concrete operational thinking. And, in developing that new way of seeing things, you had to transcend your old way of making sense of the world, and at the same time include parts of it in your new view. For a while, you were a bit unsteady on your feet, but after a while you mastered this new way of understanding things and being in the world.
It’s very likely that another developmental shift happened when you went off to high school (or even middle school). Now you were expected to get yourself from one room to another, and do so on a tight schedule. You had to keep track of your assignments and books and get quite a number of tasks completed on time, which meant you had to learn to manage your time (something you were learning in grade school, but were now much more on your own in doing so). There were many other things you had to learn: new ways of being a part of a group, new ways of thinking and using your mind, plus dealing with a new interest in the opposite sex (or, perhaps, the same sex), new kinds of social events–and a lot more.
Again, your old way of making sense of things was not adequate, and new skills and perspectives had to be mastered. Some mastered them better than others. Generally those who stayed at concrete operational were at a disadvantage over those who began the transition to formal operational. Many high schools (for better or worse) divide students into at least two tracks, consisting of the formal operational college-bound kids, and the concrete operational kids who may not go to college. Do you remember those standardized tests you took way back then? Many of them were designed to determine if you were concrete operational, or formal operational college material.
Another transition happens when a person goes off to college. Now, in addition to everything else, you have to manage many tasks you previously had help with, or which someone else took care of: keeping track of your own checkbook, paying your bills, finding a place to live, buying your own food and preparing it, being the sole caretaker of your car, and so on. Plus, once you’re in college it’s less likely that anyone will check up on you if you don’t go to class or turn in your homework. To a much greater degree you’re on your own.
Again, in order to deal with all these new things, you must develop new skills and new perspectives. If you do, you make it. If you don’t, life is more difficult. It’s almost a cliche that college freshmen come home for Thanksgiving not so sure they like college, but usually by Christmas break they’ve learned how to deal with the demands of their new life.
There are other transitions, of course, including entering the job market (this time not for pocket money, but because you have to pay your rent), and getting married and starting a family. As before, these new situations require new skills and new perspectives. Those who develop these new perspective are more successful in these situations; those who don’t struggle. My point is that all through life, as our situation changes, our old way of making sense of things may need to change, and that change involves seeing things from a wider perspective, which involves a developmental leap.
Some people have trouble making these transitions, which means they are “in over their heads” in their new situation, as Harvard developmental theorist Robert Kegan has put it. My role, in many ways, is to help those who are in this situation to learn better ways to deal with life (and, to help those who have these skills and larger perspectives to go even further).
Holosync, by the way, very powerfully helps a person make these shifts. I’ve noticed this over the past 22 years, and Ken Wilber has noted that he sees it, too. Holosync moves people more quickly through these developmental levels.
Why does this happen? Remember that in each level we are at first immersed in something to such a degree that we are it (it is subject, who we are). In shifting to the new perspective, we must step out of this immersion. As this happens what we were unconsciously immersed in becomes object, something we have. We move from being unconscious of it to being aware of it. Instead of unconsciously being it, we can now do something with it, have some choice about it, “operate” on it. Because Holosync powerfully expands awareness, it makes the process of seeing and adopting a new and wider perspective (becoming aware of what you have been immersed in) MUCH easier, which tends to move you much more quickly to a new and higher level.
In a tangible sense, what does this mean? If you are struggling with some part of your life, there is a very high probability that your way of making sense of life, the world, and who you are, isn’t quite up to the challenge. You just might be “in over your head.” To resolve this, one of two things needs to happen: either you need more horizontal development–more and better skills and perspectives at your current level of development. Or, if you have adequate skills at your current level of development, it might be time for a vertical shift, a move to a higher, wider, more inclusive perspective.
Holosync helps with both. In addition, I also suggest that you take my Life Principles Integration Process online courses. As I said above, the first of these courses is specifically designed to increase concrete operational skills and abilities, then transition to a formal operational perspective, and then–in the second course–to move to the transpersonal levels beyond. (The third course is about how to apply all of this to accomplishing what you want in the world.)
So if you aren’t yet using Holosync, I hope you’ll start. Those who wait generally look back once they’ve used Holosync for a while and wish they’d started sooner. If you are using Holosync, I hope you’ll be regular in your use and continue to move to the deeper levels of the program as you become ready for them. The further you go in the program, the more profound the results become.
And, please, register for the Life Principles courses, or at least check them out. You can listen to a free preview Life Principles lesson at www.centerpointe.com/life/preview, or read about them at www.centerpointe.com/life.
If you want to experience Holosync for yourself, you can get a free Holosync demo CD at www.centerpointe.com.
Finally, here a few other items you might find useful or interesting:
1. My friend Zayra Yves has just published a new book of her amazing poetry. And, she asked me to write the introduction for the book, which I did! Zayra’s stuff is amazing, and I highly suggest that you go to her website and get the book. Her CDs, where she perfoms her poetry, sometimes with musical accompaniment, are especially cool. www.zayrayves.com
2. I mentioned my friend Saniel Bonder at the beginning of this post as someone who has pointed out that “it’s hard being here.” Saniel is one of the highly regarded teachers associated with Ken Wilber’s Integral Spiritual Center, and I highly recomment his work, especially as it relates to the topic of this post–the fact that it’s hard to be a person. If you’re interested, check out his website: http://www.sanielandlinda.com/
3. I just returned from an amazing workshop given by Susanne Cook-Greuter and here colleague Beena Sharma. Susanne is one of the top–if not THE top–expert in the world in the field of human development. She was a student and colleague of Harvard’s Robert Kegan, another huge name in the world of development, and has extended and built upon the work of another giant in the field, Jane Lovinger. Susanne’s model of development is backed by twenty years of her own research, building on the work of Lovinger extending back to the 1950s. This is the most compelling and complete model of human development out there, in my opinion.
There are several fascinating papers you can download for free on her website, and you might consider taking her developmental testing instrument to discover where you are at in her developmental scheme (with comments to help you understand it). The test isn’t cheap though–$325. This is because it isn’t a computerized test but rather must be hand-scored, which takes quite a bit of time, and involves a scorer with several years of training. Definitely worth it, though. For the downloadable articles, click on “papers and resources.” For the test, click on “SCTi Assessment.” http://www.cook-greuter.com/
4. Finally, our next Centerpointe retreat will be April 8-14 at beautiful Glen Ivy Hot Springs just south of Los Angeles, and there are still a few spots available. If you’d like to experience (and I really mean this) 6 months of growth in just 5 days, I’d love to see you there and personally work with you. For more information go to www.centerpointe.com/retreats
In my next post I’m going to answer some of the questions you’ve asked over the last several weeks.
Be well.
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, January 22nd, 2008 at 3:42 pm and is filed under Uncategorized.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Comment Feed.
Interact:
Add a Comment |
Trackback Link |
Permalink
Share: 
Email This Post
| google | yahoo | furl | digg | del.icio.us | technorati | stumble
Subscribe: 
RSS Feed (what's this?)
Save: 
Print This Post
January 23rd, 2008 at 1:05 pm
Excellent Bill. Thanks for moving on to a “lighter” subject.
I agree it IS hard being here — but I think that is the real deal, I mean the EXPERIENCE of life and all part of our existence — and the many many ways of viewing the world- making “sense” of it that is LIFE and the ExPERIENCE of being alive in this body.
My own evolution excellerated when I accepted the view point that life IS hard some of the time. I just IS. And no amount of any kind of protest or putting a “nice face” on it, will change this. So in my experience, accepting that it IS hard being here was a great relief and (ironically) a source of joy. Hey it is what it is and resisting causes me more suffering, so once I just relax, sit back and say HMMMM to myself, the HARD part is not nearly as potent. And I able to actually view the HARD with a different vantage point that somehow changed the HARD — some times an opportunity, some times just a new appreciation for HARD that I hadn’t been able to see before.
This has revolutionized the way I view/observe my life daily and how I act/react/proact to/with life. Every day I become more and more conscious and aware and it is most amazing and dare I say, FUN! (mostly — except when I forget to accept that it is HARD being here. and then I am lost in the sea of problems, issues, drama, and suffering. lol -)
The challenge was being able to accept that it is HARD and letting everything that happens be okay. I realize now that I had evolved along this path prior to Holosynch, but I know that my pace was slow and I doubt I could ever achieved what I have WITHOUT Holosynch. This is a most amazing and wonderful technology and I REALLY appreciate it and am excited about the future!
January 23rd, 2008 at 1:44 pm
Thank you Bill for the time and effort you put into this Blog to share the knowledge you have gained. I appreciate that you keep the “shameless plugs” pertinent and to a minimum considering the wealth of information you share freely.
I don’t know what operational stage one learns to take what makes sense and leave behind the rest, but my experience has often been that even the stuff left behind was a seed planted that requires one more time to germinate. Those have likely been the “Ah-ha” moments later on in linear time I experience. Suddenly something makes sense because my perception shifted, or that puzzle piece of information finally locked in. Seeds, puzzle pieces, tools…thanks for helping everyone that wants to understand who and how they are and where they can go from here.
LnL, Bryan
January 23rd, 2008 at 2:08 pm
I didn’t find myself enjoying this particular post. It seemed to me like your goal was a gentler overview of the Piaget developmental model that you covered in previous posts. In some ways it succeeded, but I felt it had several problems.
For starters, its absolutely loaded with plugs - plugs for Holosync (several!), the LPIP courses, friend’s products, workshops, retreats.. yikes! Is this a blog or a brochure? I realize that these products may have great value. I myself use Holosync AND take your LPIP courses and find them quite helpful. I also know that you advertise your products or your friend’s products in most blog posts.
But laying the advertisement this heavily throughout the post is a turn off.
Also, at one point you begin giving a series of examples to support the idea of how simpler developmental levels no longer suit you as you grow up and take on greater challenges. What I dislike is all the assumptions you made about the reader. I say ‘about the reader’ because you use ‘you’ statements. For instance, I noticed the following assumptions:
- You are from a nuclear family.
- You are from an American school system.
- You became interested in the opposite sex (i.e. you are heterosexual.)
- You decided to go to college instead of being one of those “concrete-operational” people who were filtered out through testing.
- You want to get married.
- You want to start a family.
Some other common values were embedded too (i.e. you need to look for a job, you need to pay your rent, etc.), but while those things hold a fairly neutral charge, the points I outlined above are not true of many people.
Now I’m not trying to be a nit picker or be difficult. I realize that you’re simply using an example, probably taken from your own life or from your idea of what environment ‘most people’ grow up in. But as a commentary on your writing, I would suggest that you list these examples as what they really are - of some fictional person, not ‘you the reader’. They are simply concrete example of conditions in which the mind could be pushed to reorganize itself. As its written, I felt that you were implying that I either had, or “should have had” these experiences.
At least you didn’t assume we were all males or all females!
I can see it now: “You then had your first period and realized…”
In any case, criticisms aside I look forward to your post on the Transcendent Operational stages beyond Formal Operational.
January 23rd, 2008 at 2:40 pm
Might you ever have a retreat in beautiful Virginia Beach. VA?
January 23rd, 2008 at 4:05 pm
Bill,
You’re a genius =). I appreciate all of the explanations, and also the psychological terms, since I am a psychology graduate. Best of luck and cheers, I look forward to eventually meeting you. I’ve just graduated last June and am starting to build my financial foundation via business ventures. Once that settles, I plan on attending one of your retreats; late 2008 or early 2009; as I am already a holosync user and a LPIP student.
Cheers and thanks!
January 23rd, 2008 at 5:03 pm
Thanks Bill that was so much easier to understand.
January 23rd, 2008 at 6:21 pm
Hi Bill and everyone else,
I enjoyed this post, though i just scanned through most of it. What got me hooked was your use of the term “cause and effect” as opposed to “law of attraction”. Law of attraction seems to me to be magical thinking where as cause and effect is very real and practical. I’m taking your LPIP course right now and i thank you for creating it.
I think that the information that you are presenting here is quite interesting and useful if people are willing to be flexible enough to work with it. I’m sure for some people it could lead to a sense of over load, but given what i have learned in the past month or so I’m okay with not having to understand every bit of what you are talking about. The subject you are tackling is rather dense and you are attempting to make it understandable for everyone, that is a big job.
Some people seem to be taking it personally if you examples do not fit into their experiences. Others seem to be offended if they feel like they are operating on one of these lower levels rather than than taking personal responsibility for their own state of mind. I’ve had to grapple with some of this and the rewards have been well worth the effort.
Thanks
Sam
January 23rd, 2008 at 8:53 pm
“It’s hard being here, isn’t it?” Couldn’t have said it better myself. Bill. ’bout time somebody came right out with it!
Thanks.
Appreciating you, appreciating me, and the whole crazy lot of us:)
Lynne
January 23rd, 2008 at 9:31 pm
[…] It’s hard being here, isn’t it? Here is another Great Post from Guru Bill Harris It’s hard being here, isn’t it? […]
January 24th, 2008 at 6:05 am
I wish they had taught this in school! Of course, who knows at what level I would have received the information in. It definitely makes me feel better about my discontentment with church. I suppose it just wasn’t working for me.
Thanks, Bill!
January 24th, 2008 at 7:00 am
Hi everyone, Hi Bill.
I refrain from comments most of time - I just listen and learn and don’t disturb your background with ‘what if’ s… Everyone has the liberty to read / not read your blog - and assuming you do say smtg that makes sense, I try to understand as much as possible out of it.
Unlike some others, I also appreciate v.much your recommandations of yours and other specialists works - which, once again, one can consider take-it, or not - as each-one pleases…
As most of us here, I’m a Holosync student and, at yr recommandation, I took also Ken Wilber’s I.L.Practice. A comprehensive, but difficult-to-swallow all informations.
And now, reason for which I write you this msg :
Thank you very much for exaplining us every concept, in a very didactic way, because, while you explain the concepts and definitions first and only afterwards ‘play’ with them explaining developmental stages, the other philosophers just gamble with concepts, asuming that reader already knows them…
To give you an example, one has to read first Ken’s books to see definition and concept of ”centaur” , while in his ILP , the ‘centaur’ concept is just a small word on a big map. And to give you an even much better example, Ken is using ”the map of reality” concept with such a simplicity, that, if you did not learn before about definition of ‘map of reality’ from a great maestro like Bill Harris, you just risk to overlook the depth of the information !
Bill, please continue to explain to us, like to kindergarden, please, all and everything you consider appropriate. Because I trust, you duly have the ability to put them in the proper way, for us to be on a continuous up-wards life perspective.
And since some girl asked you to marry some time ago, while you said you are not available, until you will consider and find a new ‘grey’ possibility, I suggest girls that want to interract with you, make an official qew :):) - because I’m sure very many of us really like you a lot !!
).
( I’m one of them, of course
Looking forward your next posts with thanks and appreciation,
Emilia
January 24th, 2008 at 8:49 am
no matter where you go there you are,and what ever happens good,bad, are indiferent,. it’s your doing,no one else.
January 24th, 2008 at 11:39 am
Dear Bill and others,
I thank you very much for sharing your thoughts. I feel very good when reading your Blog because it makes a lot of sense to me and as an avid user of Holosync It makes me stronger.
Peace
Nikola
January 24th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
Thank you for the wonderful outline for the ‘road map.’ I suspect all roads lead to where I am going… concerning ’cause and effect’ … my suspicion is it is but a snap shot of a moment. My cause is some others effect. Maybe all there really is …is effect..effect…effect… The original Cause facinates me.
The struggle to get what I want can be dealt with by wanting what I ‘got’… not an easy task but once mastered at one level leaves the wanting for more at the next one. The ‘good’ stuff disappears right away. The ‘bad’ stuff hangs around for a long long time… wanting it just the way it is will disappear it. Wanting anyone to understand you or wanting to understand someone else or even understand yourself… want what you got.
Setting aside my wants or what I want to cause but instead aligning with Cause …
Thank you for the fresh breeze.
January 24th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
im new to all this but its seems to me that when we struggle to make sense of why its so hard to be here-
it is a balancing act between right and wrong- black and white etc. then when we find a balance of what we know we evolve to a a new level and for a while things make sense. until we add more information and the process to evolve starts over again. it looks like triangles on top of each other.
January 24th, 2008 at 10:15 pm
Your third review of the Piaget develop model has wet my appetite to move to the 2nd tier discussions.
January 25th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
It makes such perfect sense: If a system of thinking is not “working” anymore, build a new system of thinking.
The question arises then, if my world view is not “working” for me anymore, is it because my world view has become too difficult/ inconvenient/painful to maintain, or because it was too narrow/biased/conventional to begin with? How can I know if I have I reached a broader, wiser understanding of the world and my place in it, or if I am attempting to reinvent the rules of engagement for the gratification of my ego – not unlike buying a larger sized clothes instead of giving up sweets. At what point does a graceful yielding to life, become caving in to sloth, gluttony, etc? And if I cease to make critical judgments about behaviors (mine and others’) am I not then just a mental jellyfish—a glob of digestive tissue letting the indifferent tide determine the path of my journey through life? Maybe the only answer to that is: there IS no answer to that.
Has anyone constructed a set of rigorous questions by which one can to help determine if the interior changes taking place—especially as a result of emotional conflict—are truly life affirming and soul-expanding and not simply self-indulgent rationalizations? I seek an not an answer book but rather a question book.
Thanks for ANY feedback
SR
January 25th, 2008 at 6:04 pm
There is an Buddhist saying that goes something along the lines of “there’s no theory only practice.” I have read most of the material you have sent or written in blogs or in the old Mind Chatter. And the discussion on human development is another explanation of the same things you have said. I would like for you to address the fact that online courses, meditation, affirmations, etc…are not going to solve mental illness problems. I think that is very important. Sure, “way you see the world” or “trauma in development” is all good explanation and I am with you on that. But I think in this self-help era, there is a critical lack of understanding of how the brain actually functions. There is a reason why there are therapies that have been developed, why those who have a harsher reaction to Holosync stop using it. As detailed as your explanations are about the theory of human development, you do not address the fact that some wounds need to be left to a professional. I don’t buy the human development thing completely - I have learned from personal observation and experience that there is an overwhelming genetic/biological component. Sometimes, the brain has actually been damaged or the brain has given into predispositions. Those who have succeeded on all 12 levels - good for them. But I think you need to start studying biochemistry alongside psychology and spiritual theory - and really understanding the limitations some may truly have.
January 26th, 2008 at 1:22 am
Well done, Bill!!! This is more practical than what you wrote before. I think we still have a long path ahead of ourselves, but thank you for leading us through so we can understand better ourselves and people around us!!!
January 26th, 2008 at 8:56 am
Bill, as a committed holosync user it is always stimulating to read what you have to say, but this time you added an important extra. You had mentioned Zayra before and I had been touched by her wonderful poetry; this time you mentioned her CDs and that prompted me to invite her to listen to my improvisations. Now we are going to try working together, and anything that comes out of it will be thanks to you!
Blessings, Nicholas
January 26th, 2008 at 11:20 am
Bill,
Thanks for this post. I look forward to the piece on transcendence. Cut the ads for your buddies. I signed up for ETR and found it to hype at its worst. I am taking your advice to “just do the holosync” - for the past 2 1/2 years.
Loretta Holscher
January 28th, 2008 at 11:18 pm
I have to agree that life seems hard sometimes. Now even more since I’m trying to change. My question is how do you grow from level to level when when it can hurt so bad. I know you say that it doesn’t matter what the situation is but how can you let the life that you always known. The life that you have come to get used too go. I know you will say something like I feel comfortable with what I know and are afraid what I don’t know over the next hill or level. I care a lot about my family and I have grown a lot. Now that I know and realize the lies in a relationship that I have. How can I accept the end of a relationship because of lies and infidelity as the next level. I would think learning why I excepted the first lie and affair. How do I become more clear and honest with myself? I know that I can witness myself make a fool of myself. How can I make me more precious to me? How can I love me more than I love the life that I have come accustom too? I feel that if I let go of this relationship I will hate myself for giving my life away. Break it down to me about the cause and effect of life.
January 29th, 2008 at 12:03 am
Will-I-Am Harris-Krishna,
What is the mark of a true teacher? Perhaps being an avid student, passionate about the material taught, and willing to repeat thyself as many times as necessary to convey the message (patience). That was a whopper dude, how are your fingers doing? Smoking perhaps? It’s always nice to see that the effort brought positive results, as many seemed to have a better understanding from this post. And for those who already understood it, what a great opportunity to bring about a broader understanding. Increased exposure seems to bring about a deeper, more implemental meaning; less filter involvement perhaps. Anyway, for those who are chompin’ at the bit waiting for the next installment, I recommend reading the very first post located in the September archive. This covers a basic overview or “skeleton” of the developmental stages. And there are four paragraphs specifically on the “transcendent” or “unitive” level, with other interesting and pertinent material to boot. Oh yeah, it’s on MP3 as well. But if you really want to read about the next level right now, you could just go online and look it up yourself; or not.
May we all be happy together. . . . : -)
Your Hobby-iscus semantically linguistical friend,
Khad Me-Ka-El Ka-ley Lugh-Y
January 30th, 2008 at 1:45 am
Thanks Bill
Love
Frank
January 30th, 2008 at 9:32 am
I see that it is important to adress vereyone in such a way as to make the information clear. I wanted to say that for myself, i found all this human development model stuff facinateing and feel you have done a fantstic job of condensing a lot of material and models into an understandable format. I would like to have hard copies of this topic. Thank you for shareing your thoughts.
January 30th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
I follow your blog with interest and must admit to mostly scanning quickly; being already quite familiar with Ken Wilber’s work (spiral dynamics) and having been a student of human spiritual evolution since my teenage years.
Firstly might I say that it is very difficult to see that which is or could be when one is in the soup, as it were. Every thing tastes of soup and objectivity is not (IMHO) completely possible.
There are many maps of ‘reality’ and, (again IMHO) all are valid for those who use them. Different maps provide access to different spaces and places. There is a space and place we might call mastery (with a number of useful maps available) where all is transformed through a process of conscious discernment and total alignment with and through heart. Here alone (IMHO) one is capable of focusing the experience of “I AM” presence. For most of us this is a conscious space we aspire to once we have glimpsed or experienced it; it becomes a strong motivator for personal transformation of our ‘inner cognitive mapping system’. For indeed that which one believes to be true ~ is.
I find the map we inherited from the Mayan peoples (particularly as elucidated through the work of Carl Johann Callemann) to be very useful (it fits my direct experiential knowing). There is a ‘magical’ way of being which I believe may be experienced at an even higher level on the spiral of conscious evolution and this comes when one aligns the head and heart as the focus for consciousness (one becomes the divining magus and can sense or know the natural flow of the creator energies).
The alchemical path of self transformation is my choice at this time (embrace all that is experienced as resistance and reveal the gold it conceals).
I must completely and strongly disagree with your quote from above blog entry, ~”I don’t think George Bush is dishonest”
I would suggest that based merely upon the film evidence of the Michael Moore movie 911, George is dishonest. Watch the scene where he is informed of the attack on New York (while sitting reading a children’s book in front of a class) and ask self; is this a man who fully understands his position and the significance of what has just occurred? Or is this a person who having aligned with a course of action now finds himself immersed in a situation where one lie after another will unfold to deceive the people and allow the co-creation of a TRUTH which is intolerable for most of the sovereign persons upon this planet. (This is only possible if one assumes the seperated and isolated victim self as real)
I hold all Citizens of the United States in compassionate embrace and decree that Great Spirit give them the strength and perceptive ability to see the truth of the heritage being co-created in their good name on planet earth at this time.
Wake up folks there is a greater story being told than any single one of us can grasp; for grasping (an activity of the egocentric mind) is the very act that prevents the knowing of this most delightful of spaces.
Be opened to the great diversity of divine unity expressing within and through conscious commuity.
Open self to know and then grow within the flow.
Blessings for all on this journey; from Aotearoa (New Zealand)
January 30th, 2008 at 5:21 pm
I love this series. It’s helped me understand myself and others better and has actually changed the way I interact with people - for the better. Thanks, and keep writing.
January 30th, 2008 at 5:54 pm
Thanks I have been greatly informed. You have vebalised very clearly the concepts I have seen so clear in action. This gives me the words to explain what is happening and makes sense of where I stand.
January 30th, 2008 at 6:20 pm
When you can make the workings of your own mind the object of your particular level of cognition, then you are ready to move to the next level of development.
February 1st, 2008 at 11:24 am
Yes, it’s hard to be human but for the first time globally in history we are coming into awareness of how not to make it so. And yes, I do believe we make it so.
In ancient - really ancient - times before “civilization”, when humanity was living tribally rather than in organized city-states like today, mere survival was hard. You couldn’t always grow or hunt enough food to eat. Disease killed people with little control over preventing it. Lightning struck and started fires, perhaps burning down one’s dwelling. Although we lived more in harmony with nature, it may not have been easy to do so.
In modern times, since we have learned to dominate nature, we have a different set of difficulties. And the truth is, we have largely made it “hard to be here” all on our own. Whether as a distraction or a huge misstep, all our efforts to make life less hard have actually perpetuated more obstacles. It’s not only ironic, but funny.
I boil it all down to conditioning, conditioning, conditioning. Modern humanity has developed a scripted path to supposed happiness that is indoctrinated into all of us since birth - and most of us are unconscious to it. Bill’s post is a fine example which illustrates the conditioned path modern society has both overtly and subliminally told everyone they should pursue in order to be happy. So yes, we go to school, many go to college, we fall in love, marry, have children, buy a dwelling, acquire stuff, etc. all because we are falsely led to believe these accomplishments will make us happy. And it’s all a big lie.
So I pose to all of you who read this - when will we wake up and change the story? Update the conditioning? In advancing our own awareness, when will we stop indoctrinating our children into this fairy tale of how life “should” go and instead teach them to become consciously aware? Teach them how to find and follow their bliss as their highest life;s goal? When we can impart to future generations that it’s more important to be happy than to fit in, be rich, or be right, we will have succeeded in creating a future of humans that recognize and live their divine potential from birth.
Yes, when it comes to children teach them, by all means provide general education, but stop teaching them that they need “A” to get “B” to get “C” which in the end results in the acquisition of a bunch of stuff that can keep people pretty miserable, if not enslaved, and certainly rarely results in them forging their own unique life paths.
I’m a mom so I’m trying with my own child. Let’s stop the madness of the hamster wheel of what is deemed a fulfilling life in today’s day and age, and evolve. If you’re trying to get off the wheel youself, here’s my humble advice. Don’t wait for it to slow down or stop or you’ll have a long wait. Instead, jump. Many are waiting to catch you. And you’ll be glad you did.
February 1st, 2008 at 1:43 pm
I have never thought it was hard to be here. Truly! I have always thought that the world was a magical place. I’ve been sexually abused, had 3 members of my family die in 1984 and have had 3 failed marriages. (And no I am not the proverbial Blonde). But, I’ve got two incredibly well adjusted children, I am incredibly healthy, never get sick and look 45, but I’m 56. Why? Because I am Pollyanna and that is the ulimate truth. I don’t know why I went through those things but I do know that there is a place where we all connect and each time I experience this I rejoice and I know I will experience it again and again.
Bill, when I read and listen to you, I am always so impressed by how you can take esoteric material and make it palatable. You truly are doing your life’s work. Keep on and those who are rattled by what you say are just being stimulated into change. They obviously love it or they’d quit reading your blogg.
February 3rd, 2008 at 9:25 am
Bill,
I think you may be mistaken in assuming that the Christian viewpoint towards other religious groups is that they are “wrong.” Jesus taught us that “in my Father’s house there are many mansions.” He said that many would come from the East and the West who would hold higher places in heaven than His followers.
Christianity is not as simplistic as you seem to believe.
February 3rd, 2008 at 11:32 am
Hello Bill,
I am new to your work and have one queston for your. Have you read the book “The Sleeping Prophet”?
Thanks,
Peace and Good Health,
Bill
February 4th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
Hi Bill:
Life is not hard. Life is life. Hard is just an assessment people make when what they are endeavoring to do is greater than their current ability. Is it hard to brush your teeth, eat breakfest, make love, etc.? Not if you are competent.
I get your point, but with all the fonder about polarity, and then a blanket claim that life is hard, seems like a step back from the rigor in language path you set your self out on.
Taking it easy,
Mark
February 5th, 2008 at 10:06 am
I’m amused by the comment above that Bush is a liar…and how do we know that? Because Michael Moore said so. Say what?
I agree with your analysis about Bush - that’s his worldview. But what about the left? As a former liberal, it appears that the left is becoming more hateful than the right.
I also agree with another writer above that your comments on Christians might be a bit simplistic, but I don’t necessarily think you really believe that. Perhaps some further analysis is in order.
One last thing - and this is not to be argumentative - but I think you mentioned that most conflict is between different developmental levels. Are you saying George Bush and the muslim’s are on the same level? Or are the fundamentalist muslims another subset? I’d appreciate some clarification.
February 5th, 2008 at 4:21 pm
Stella Reinwald said:
“Has anyone constructed a set of rigorous questions by which one can to help determine if the interior changes taking place—especially as a result of emotional conflict—are truly life affirming and soul-expanding and not simply self-indulgent rationalizations? I seek an not an answer book but rather a question book.”
You might like to look into the technique developed by Robert Williams. As I am in Australia and can’t attend the workshops, I got his DVD and book and did the work myself from them. It was quite remarkable.
http://psych-k.com/home.php
The other thing that you could try is watch your dreams. They are movies of what is going on in the unconscious and offer very powerful insight into what is happening at that level.
February 5th, 2008 at 7:07 pm
Dear Bill, When i found out about your courses i was very excited. i felt you were not ‘plugging’ them enough. I just began the first course last week and it is extraordinary how things are moving/changing. i’ve been told I’m pretty aware, more so than most. I’ve done a lot of work(which i feel has helped and also made more challenging this work with you, relearning, yet again). i think i know my core beliefs and have experienced them on different levels. Holosync and the course have not brought up new ones thus far………However, doing your homework……….and practicing what you have suggested has really changed things for me…quite extraordinary……..I was skeptical at first when i first listened to the course……….but DOING it created a very different experience and thinking. I had a lightness of being and happiness today unlike that i’d ever experienced. Different, much less attached. Also deep spiritual joy connect at times on a body level……..this all mixed in with stress/ fear………all the resistance and feelings Holosync has brought up in a very sensitive person.
I wished i’d begun the course when i began Holosync.
Thank you so much for all this.
Very Best,
Lynn
February 6th, 2008 at 5:51 am
how long are we as human beings going to postpone the inevitability of waking up to what we actually are. the house is on fire metaphorically speaking, and here we are engaging in all these practises and analysis, all the while postponing the simple act of tasting the reality of what it is to be here. there seems to me ,Bill, a certain irony to all this focusing on teaching people how to create what they desire-it seems to fuel more of the self-interest that is bringing our planet to its current crisis. The truth of what we are is not hard to see-it doesnt take years of practise or unravelling of the mind-all of this is beside the point. As we allow the light of truth (what we actually are) to saturate the mind, an ease comes into life-a sweetness-and this doesnt take very long. I urge anyone reading this who truly wants to be finished with suffering to listen to JOHN SHERMAN @ http://WWW.RIVERGANGA.ORG. On the relative scale, humanity is faced with a looming crisis the like of which we have never seen -directly related to global warming- for anyone who still has their head in the sand with regard to this issue-please, please read GEORGE MONBIOTS ‘HEAT’ or watch AL GORES ‘AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH’ We no longer have the luxury of navel gazing and pruning the branches of our lives- it would appear that waking up is a biological necessity.
Om Shanti
February 7th, 2008 at 5:22 am
This is my reaction to Emilia’s post and also a big question for Bill, since this is a “development” question:
what is up with women falling for the men who are in charge? why do women need to worship the singers, the teachers, the leaders, the doctors, the professors,….? Is it their YIN energy or is it the culture pushing them to fall for powerful men? what is the source of yerning since we do not see the same desire in men at all. Men fall for the servers and care givers, like their babysitters, makeup artists, nurses, school teacher, waitresses,…. How come men yern and fall for care givers, who are serving them, versus women want the powerful man in the spotlight?
February 8th, 2008 at 5:54 pm
I have not yet used Holosynch, having ordered it just today, and I have only read Bill’s first post, above, so I’m hardly an expert on what he has to say. I have used other binaural beat products and found them to be quite interesting in promoting my own development. Neither do I have any formal or informal grounding in human development, and have not studied or read about the developmental stages that Bill refers to in his post.
However, I independently came to many of the same conclusions as in Bill’s blog, and have observed that the skills learned at every stage of development can and do provide the essential foundation for continued development.
I’ll use magical thinking as an example, since the essential dichotomy between describing cause and effect using the empirical method when compared to using magical thinking seems to produce so much confusion. The empirical method has been one of the most important revelations in human consciousness. The species has developed powerful tools using empiricism.
Yet, despite the obvious and important success of the empirical method in isolating variables to determine what causes what, magical thinking can also be applied effectively even after one has moved far beyond it as a sole means of making sense of the world. The reason, I think, is curious and has to do with scale, non-linearity, and behavior.
At the human scale, magical thinking works in mysterious ways that are not obvious. We do know that at the extreme micro (i.e. the quantum) scale, observation influences the outcome of measurable experiments. We have not yet had the tools to describe how this might work at extremely large scales, but I would suppose we would see similar results.
I have personally experienced that, at the scale in which we live, focused intention, when coupled with certain behavior, appear to influence outcome–just not in an entirely linear and measurable way. This may be that we do not have the empirical tools to measure the workings of an empirical phenomenon–or it may mean that you cannot measure the non-empirical using empirical tools. I don’t have a clue which one it is, or whether there is another, better way of looking at this.
Part of the puzzle has to do with the behavior of not becoming attached to the outcome–paradoxically making the desired outcome (or something close to a desired outcome, anyway) much more likely to take place. What a strange world we live in! If you want something to happen while employing magical thinking, you have to not care whether it happens nor not. Once freed from the attachment to an outcome, then we can take our consciousness, reach out into the world with magical intention, and proceed to clothe the intention with action and detachment. There’s a lot more nuance about this subject, but these seem to be the basics.
There’s a lot of dogma surrounding the practice of magical thinking, but the techniques go beyond any associated dogma, so dogma is really quite irrelevant. My point is that you can move past magical thinking (and you really do have to move past it to grow) and still incorporate it in an effective way, if you pay attention and develop the means and methods for doing so. At least this is what I have personally experienced.
The larger point is that each way we have of coping with the world becomes an important part of moving to another developmental stage. To truly grow, one doesn’t simply abandon each previous stage when we move on. In this sense, each way of looking at life modifies and conditions the next way we look at it.
By the way, in no particular order…
I agree Bush is honest (in his own lesser evolved way as you explain),
You did mention that people may become interested in members of the same sex,
Your plugs were appropriate and not offensive,
Yes, some people have serious mental illness, yet I have no idea how this technology may or may not help them (my experience in this is only that my brother is/was a non-functioning schizophrenic or maybe now dead, I’m not sure)
February 11th, 2008 at 7:26 am
Hello Bill,
It’s a funny world, isn’t it? We all accept that our earliest experiences colour our attitudes to life in general and our own lives in particular. So when I read your statement that “life is hard sometimes” I remembered the story you tell somewhere about when you tasted your first ice cream at the age of four, and had a moment of ecstasy. Then halfway through eating it, you realised your experience of bliss would end when you finished it.
At a similar age, I, too had a life-changing, attitude-setting experience. It was a couple of years after WW2 and life was not yet back to “normal” over here in the North of England. I had spent my first year of life in underground shelters as we had been severely bombed and left homeless - so I learned about “tough” very early on. However, at aged four, I was out walking with my grandmother and noticed some daisies on the roadside. I picked one and held it up to my face. As I did, I noticed that the underside of the flower was the same colour as the sunset and in that moment I knew that the daisy, God and I were one and the same. I later told my grandmother that I had “seen God”.
This ”peak experience” has informed my entire life and not for one moment have I ever believed that life is hard. It is what it is, as far as I can see - and the way I believe it to be is what I get. I work as an astrologer, transpersonal therapist, writer and teacher with the distinct aim to enable others to connect with Divinity as I was blessed to do as a small frightened girl all those years ago. I have no idea, nor do I care, what “level” of thinking I operate from - for me it’s all about love and being.
Thank you for Holosync - I look forward every day to switching on and chilling out - keep up the good work, Bill.
Dawne
February 13th, 2008 at 12:49 am
Just wanted to comment on what Tim said earlier about my post (he indirectly referred to it). Since my first posting, Bill modified the blog entry slightly when he added in the Podcast version. The new version added the same-sex amendment, among other things (wordings, etc.).
This leads me to believe he agreed with my critique of his post, and I do appreciate and admire his willingness to respond to feedback from his readers. It was a pleasant surprise I didn’t expect.
As for the plugs, I did find them a little intrusive. However I recognize the need for a business to let people know about their products and those of their business partners. And Bill does tend to choose good products to back.
He also didn’t push them in the Podcast, and I appreciate that as well.
As always, I’m looking forward to the next entry. Thanks Bill
February 20th, 2008 at 6:16 am
Hi Bill,
I enjoy reading your blog as I learn much from it. I haven’t been able to attend any of your workshops but believe me there is much that you teach in what you say in these blogs and I agree we are free to read and/or not read and must be responsible for our own. Thank you for your hard work and I look forward to learning much more. Be Well.
February 26th, 2008 at 11:11 pm
Hey Bill,
Another good post. I have put a lot of thought into this subject myself over the years, and I have made a few observations I would like to share.
I tend to take a more philosophical/religious approach to this topic, and I have a strong belief in God (creator, universe, etc.)
But for a moment, I’d like to mention that, from the more psychological standpoint, it seems to me that whatever stage we are at, we tend to be the type of being that likes to make comparisons. If you see what makes many of us unhappy now, you will usually notice that it is because we are comparing ourselves to a self-imposed ideal. We get a view of what we believe the world is like, or should be like and when we can’t place ourselves into that picture, we experience, “hardship”. For instance, someone may look at their car and think, “What a dump.” However, if they were able to take that same exact car back in time just a few short decades, the people of that time would likely consider the same car to be a luxury. At one time, it was not uncommon for duels to occur in the middle of a street, where one man would be dead and the other would be praised as the hero and the righteous person. If that same thing happened today (at least in the U.S.), it would be considered heinous.
So, as you mentioned, no matter what level we are at, life will be hard.
From a more religious perspective, I had often wondered why a loving, caring, creator would allow so much pain to be in the world. Now I see that hardship is actually a blessing in disguise.
As you mentioned. When certain circumstances come into our lives, in order to remove or reduce the hardship, we generally need to move to the next level. So, if God wants us to grow and improve, it makes sense that He would visit pain on us.
I remember listening to someone at one time speaking about this concept, and he gave an example of an airplane manufacturer. He mentioned how one thing that was common practice was to place sandbags on the wings. They would continue to put sandbags on the wings of the prototype until the wings fell off. The reason that they did this was so that it would be clear how much the wings could hold. I think God tests us in this way so that we can see our current level of development and so we can be inspired to improve ourselves.
I met another person who also added some insight on this for me. He said, imagine for a moment, that each of us was born straight into heaven. We would completely skip this world and all the pain that it contains. As a result, we would never have had an experience of pain, and would have no real appreciation of heaven from that standpoint. Additionally, we would know of God’s existence and all of his glory and perfection immediately. This doesn’t sound so bad, except, if we were in such a position, could we possibly deny God’s existence, and what’s more, if we can’t deny that existence, could we even conceive of not loving that existence? The problem that we then experience is that we would instantly be devoid of any free will in loving God.
Another factor that often plays into our “hardship” here is our ego. This is the part of us that wants to make comparisons and strive for more than we have. I see this, too, as being important here.
Again, if we were born directly into heaven, faced with God’s glory and awesome power. In addition we would have a serious sense of personal humility and an unavoidable God fearing nature, we would then be faced with this overwhelming desire to be close to God, while simultaneously realizing our undeservingness to draw closer to Him. In this world, we have an ego, that shields us from God’s overwhelming glory, and while that ego is often the cause of many of life’s evils, it also provides us the incentive to try to become close to our creator. I believe that once we pass beyond this world, it will be much more difficult for us to become closer to God.
I hope this offers some food for thought and future discussion.
bye for now
March 8th, 2008 at 7:10 am
“Life is hard” is an affirmation. I affirm that affirmations create our reality. Whatever I affirm immediately appears.
Bill Harris gets all excited about all kinds of approaches. Good for him. I affirm that all I get from my environment is information. I am the one who assigns meaning to that information. I affirm that Bill Harris i having a ball getting excited. God for him. Good for those who disagree with his getting all excited. Whatever floats his and your and my boat. My boat is afloat right now a I bloviate in this blog. I think I’ll beach my boat and chew the cud.
March 30th, 2008 at 10:47 am
Yes, it’s hard being here, sometimes! I’m wondering if Bill Harris would have any comments regarding an important book just published, by Eckhart Tolle, called “A New Earth”, which really relates to an “exit” strategy to relieve the burden of our being here, which is to enter the power of the present moment through becoming that Presence, which erases Ego, the source of all conflict. And doesn’t the practice of Holosync accomplish the same thing? This being present here now, through doing the Holosync meditations. Bill, you’ve given us all a valuable “tool”, to help us all find that being of Presence! Have you ever met Toole yourself? You’d be men of the same cloth, I’d say! Many thanks, Bill!
April 8th, 2008 at 9:45 pm
OK, yes, life is hard. But if it never was, if we didn’t go through the tough times, the adversity, the sadness and despair, how could we recognize, feel and appreciate the easy times? The good and joyous times?
To those few who don’t feel their life has been hard, I would say you are truly BLESSED! Or perhaps you were born with a brain chemistry which prevents you from dwelling on the negative in your life. Or maybe you had a parent/early caretaker who instilled in you a great sense of positvity and an attitude of “I can’t be kept down.” Whatever the reason, you are, in fact, in a small minority. Be eternally grateful! I’m so glad for you!
Maryann Macdonald Said:
I think you may be mistaken in assuming that the Christian viewpoint towards other religious groups is that they are “wrong.” Jesus taught us that “in my Father’s house there are many mansions.” He said that many would come from the East and the West who would hold higher places in heaven than His followers.
Christianity is not as simplistic as you seem to believe.
Perhaps if Bill had narrowed the field and replaced Catholic with Christian this might be more accurate. I was brought up Catholic, but in my teens I started asking questions regarding the Bible, Church dogma and “rules.” I couldn’t get any answers to my satisfaction; “It’s just the way it is!” By my early 20’s, I stopped attending church and began researching other religions. Now in my forties, I believe all religions have some positive aspects to offer, but none are without flaws. My Mother has always been very upset with my decision, and she firmly believes that “Catholicism is the best religion,” it’s the only RIGHT religion, and anyone who is not a Catholic won’t go to heaven! She even said it was “the first one,” and I had to enlighten her that Buddhism was much older. We’ve had many discussions/arguments over this, and she still prays for my soul daily, hoping to gain my sinning butt into heaven.
So yes, Catholics (at least in my family-my mother and her 11 brothers and sisters) do believe other religions are wrong. It also seems to me they only use passages from the Bible which suit their needs.
To charles, who wrote:
no matter where you go there you are,and what ever happens good,bad, are indiferent,. it’s your doing,no one else.
Sorry, the last phrase doesn’t fly. Perhaps in many situations, yes. But you cannot make such a blanket statement. A five-year-old molested by a pedophile. Not the child’s doing. A seventeen-year-old walking out to her car after work who is kidnapped and raped. Not her doing. A 25 year old diagnosed with breast cancer. Not her doing. A 30 year old driving home from the jewelers, where he picked up the engagment ring for his fiancee is struck and killed by a drunk driver. Not his doing. Is that enough? I think I made my point.
Bill, this was really interesting. Greatly enjoyed it. Thanks