Someone asked me a great question regarding my post titled, “More about the power of awareness”. Though I gave a quick reply, I’m writing an expanded version here.
Here’s the question, and then my (expanded) response.
Hi Bill,
I’m convinced that watching with awareness will integrate any shadow material, but I don’t understand why Ken Wilber in his many books is stating otherwise. Terry Patten, Adam Leonard and Marco Morelli wrote in Integral Life Practice [a book recently published by Integral Institute]: “If I meditate, and meditate very deeply, what can happen? I can watch my fear and sadness arise as objects in my awareness. I can relax my ‘identification’ with them. (…) But unless I do shadow work in addition to meditating, I probably won’t truly face my shadow.”
In one of the editions of Mind Chatter [Centerpointe's now-defunct newsletter/magazine, which was replaced by this blog--hence the name, The Blog that Ate Mind Chatter] you said that you were going to ask Ken about Shadow work versus Watching with awareness, aka witnessing. You wrote that your own experience and many others showed that witnessing can resolve shadow material.
Have you ever asked that question to Ken. If you did, what was the answer? If you didn’t, will you ask it? I’m just curious about this topic. I know that shadow work can be useful, but the method you are proposing is a lot faster, easier and more effective than 3-2-1 process [a process taught by Integral Institute for re-owning shadow material] or any other type of therapy.
This is a great question. Here’s how I see it. [If you aren't clear on what a "shadow" is, you might want to read my previous post, "What's Hiding in Your Shadows".]
When the people at Integral say that you can meditate forever and not deal with your shadow material, I think they are right. You can meditate for years, even decades, and not deal with your shadows, and many people do. That’s because there’s more to dealing with shadow material than just observing your feelings during meditation and “relaxing your identification with them”.
This is a bit of a detour, but I think this idea of “relaxing your identification” with your feelings is a mis-statement of what actually happens in meditation. It assumes a separate self that feels something and then identifies (or dis-identifies) with it. What hopefully happens in meditation is the realization that while feelings happen, there is no feeler–no separate “you” who then feels something. Feelings happen, but a separate feeler is not necessary and does not exist (contrary to what nearly everyone takes to be common sense).
What we take to be the feeler is, in fact, just another feeling, a ghost in the system (you could also say that what you identify as the “thinker”–i.e., “you”–is just another one of the thoughts). I know this seems like a weird idea, but sit with it and see what happens. Look for the thinker or the feeler (or the walker or the talker or any kind of doer) and see what you find.
Here’s another example, one that doesn’t involve the question of a separate “you”, but illustrates the same point: it’s inaccurate to say that there’s something called “lightning” which then does something–it flashes. The lightning IS the flashing, and the flashing IS is lightning. There’s just flashing, but no need for a flasher, a separate something that does the flashing.
Requiring that every action (every verb) include something that does the action (a noun) may be a grammatical rule and a social convention, but it isn’t what happens in reality, and it’s the essence of an unreal and unnatural duality.
The doer is nothing more than an idea. All supposed “things” are actually actions, events. A cat is “catting”, a table is “tabling”, a tree is “treeing”. Action does not require an actor, and assuming that an actor exists ultimately creates the (seeming) duality that keeps people in anxiety about life (but that’s another story we won’t go into here, but which I have written about in other posts).
What’s missing from this Integral Institute description is the fact that those feelings (or, other consequences, such as actions taken, results created, etc.) are generated by something inside the organism (its internal cognitive processes–or, you might say, the “respond-ability”–of the organism). Feelings are a response the organism’s nervous system has to stimuli from the environment, and they happen without the need of a separate self who “has” these feelings.
The feelings, however, aren’t the problem. The problem is the illusion of a separate self. Since the feelings aren’t the problem, dis-identifying with them isn’t the solution. If there is no separate self (which there isn’t, even though almost everyone operates as if there were), who would dis-identify with them? Perhaps it feels as if there is a dis-identification in the early stages of meditation, before the separate self is seen as an illusion. Such a person is still under the delusion that there is a separate self that now “feels less identified” with the feelings or thoughts.
In fact, dis-identification with these feelings might even contribute to making them into shadows. Dis-identification causes us to say, ”This isn’t coming from me.” It makes you think the feelings must come from outside of you, when they actually come from you (not the separate-self “you”, but rather the responses of the organism you associate with “you”).
But I’ve gone far astray in order to make sure you get that the people who wrote the Integral Life Practices book are speaking as if there is a self who can “identify” with feelings. So let’s get back to the real question of whether Holosync will allow you to deal with and resolve shadow material (otherwise, who knows where we’ll end up!).
I think the point the Integral folks are making is that what they are calling dis-identification with your feelings (and what I would rather call a realization that there is no separate self) isn’t going to resolve your shadow stuff. In fact, even if you had the spiritual insight that there is no separate self–even if it becomes luminously clear that doing, feeling, thinking, etc. do not require a doer, feeler, or thinker–the shadow stuff would remain. An organism’s ”doing” is a learned response, programmed into its nervous system. Something happens, and the organism responds in a certain way. For instance, another person acts in an angry way, and you become afraid.
To continue with that same example, that pre-programmed response might include being triggered by angry people (which happens if you’ve disowned your own anger). It would also include expressing anger in covert and dysfunctional ways, which also happens when you have disowned anger. If this is the case, it won’t matter if you are “dis-identified” with the anger, or even if you’re firmly established in a no-self point of view. The shadow response is programmed into the organism’s nervous system. It’s just as automatic as moths being drawn to a porch light.
There is another way for a nervous system to operate, however. Responding in pre-programmed ways has its advantages, because you don’t have to re-think each event you experience. Disowning anger (or any other human quality) has its benefits. If anger is disowned, it probably was the best response the organism could come up with in order to deal with the anger of others during childhood.
There is, however, a largely untapped talent humans have where responses are not automatic. When this talent is developed, the person responds spontaneously and intuitively in each moment, perhaps drawing on pre-programmed responses if they are appropriate, but exercising choice rather than just responding automatically. Instead, the person responds from a wider pallet of choices that come out of the needs of the moment.
This talent, if you want to call it that, depends on awareness.
If you’re aware enough to see, for instance, that your internal representations (your internal pictures and internal dialog) directly create your feelings, as they happen, you’ll see that 1) some of the feelings created don’t serve you, and 2) that you have choice about the internal representations that generate the feelings (awareness creates choice–without awareness, internal processes operate automatically).
Usually these “creative” internal representations happen automatically, outside your awareness. If so, they create a pre-programmed response, as I described above. You can, however, become aware of the process by which these responses are created. Once you do, your responses stop happening in a pre-programmed and automatic way. They become a choice.
So it’s the awareness that internal representations (along with a few other internal processes) generate certain responses–and their consequences–that creates the shift. If you have a shadow–an aspect of yourself which you’ve disowned and projected outside of yourself, onto others–and you merely experience the feeling of it during meditation (with or without “detachment” or a no-self perspective), it isn’t going to shift anything. The automatic response will continue to happen whenever it is triggered.
That’s because there’s nothing about experiencing the feeling that causes you to realize that it was created in your own mind. You could still assume (as people do all the time with feelings) that the feeling was caused by external events. If the point of choice (which internal representations are made) is outside of your awareness, you’ll naturally assign another “cause” to the feelings. Or, you might assume that feelings “just happen,” without a specific cause.
If, then, as I said above, you dis-identify with those feelings (as the authors of the Integral Life Practice book describe it), it makes matters worse. Dis-identifying (or a no-self perspective, for that matter) certainly isn’t going to cause you to get that the feelings are being generated by your own internal processes.
However, when you become aware enough to see that what you do in your mind generates how you feel (which also includes the realization that the environment is the trigger, but not the cause), it becomes clear that you’re doing it, that what you feel comes from your nervous system’s pre-programmed responses rather than from something ”out there”.
Or you could say that you see that what internal representations are made in response to a certain trigger (i.e., experience) is a choice, and the pre-programmed response isn’t the only choice. This realization requires that you own the feeling (i.e., acknowledge that it comes from something in your nervous system), which dissolves the shadow.
Remember that “disowned” really means “it doesn’t come from me–it’s out there. It isn’t my anger, my selfishness (or whatever), it’s that other person’s.” Owning something means that you SEE (in other words, are aware of) that it’s coming from you. Seeing this creates choice. And, it’s important to realize that this doesn’t mean merely knowing that you create it, but rather seeing how you do it, as it happens.
With even more awareness, you also see the potential consequences being created, and that these consequences originate from something you do.
This is why, if you’re aware, you have choice–because the feeling being created originates in something YOU DO. Or, you could say, to the degree you are aware, to that degree you have choice. If you’re aware of what you’re doing, and how you’re doing it (what you’re doing inside to create it), while you do it, you have choice about it (which, with even more awareness, includes seeing the potential consequences).
The consequences of disowning a human quality include 1) being constantly triggered by it when you see it in others, 2) attracting people who exhibit the disowned quality so that the world seems to be full of that type of person, and 3) expressing the disowned quality yourself (though you don’t see that you’re doing so) in covert and dysfunctional ways.
In clearly seeing that the response is coming from something in you and not from something outside of you, and in clearly seeing the consequences, it becomes difficult keep doing it when the consequences aren’t resourceful. In that case, the shadow is re-owned and the automatic responses it was generating becomes difficult or even impossible to continue doing.
I want to add another wrinkle, though, for the sake of completeness. A major point of my last two posts is that despite the fact that you potentially have all this choice (if you’re aware enough to exercise it–a big assumption), and despite the fact that this choice gives you much more power and control over your life, there are still two things that you can’t escape from: the impermanence of all things and events, and the fact that you are caught in a huge web of cause and effect, most of which you have no control over.
The consequences affecting you from all the events in the physical world (galaxies, stars, the sun, the earth, gravity, cosmic rays, the weather, that rocks are hard, what your body needs to stay alive, etc., etc.), and from the actions of all the other people who have a different agenda than yours, are like “cause and effect bullets” wizzing around you. When you’re aware enough, you avoid many of these bullets because you’re more likely to be aware of them and step out of the way.
The more aware you are, the more you see this huge web of cause and effect and how it might affect you. In doing so, you have more choice. You avoid involvement with certain bullets–for instance, unpleasant people and situations, bad investments, risky situations, and so forth–that you might otherwise, with less awareness of the potential consequences, get involved with.
A shadow represents a lack of awareness. When you have a shadow, you unconsciously attract certain difficult people and difficult situations, and you act in ways that create negative consequences. Being unaware, you don’t see yourself doing this, so you keep doing it. As certain consequences happen, you place responsibility for them outside of yourself. See this process (and your part in it) with awareness, however, and the shadow is re-owned, the consequences seen, and what happens in your life changes for the better. You avoid the bullets previously generated by that particular shadow.
The more aware you are, the more of this suffering you avoid, but there’s no way to avoid all suffering (other than dying, I suppose). First, there are just too many bullets for anyone to avoid them all. With enough awareness, though, you can avoid a lot of them. Even though the choice created by increased awareness only affects a small percentage of the “cause and effect bullets,” it’s enough to dramatically improve your life.
Second, there’s no way to avoid the fact that everything in this universe is impermanent. Everything, no matter what it is, eventually falls apart. You can surrender to impermanence, and in doing so end the suffering created by your resistance to it, but you’ll never get rid of impermanence itself.
If you come to terms with these two, you become a master of your life. Few people do this, however, because there’s a price to pay to have this kind of awareness, and most people aren’t willing to pay it (by using Holosync, though, you are paying a large part of it). This “coming to terms with what is”, by the way, is the point behind the first of my 9 Principles for Conscious Living, Let Whatever Happens Be Okay.
I respect Ken Wilber’s opinion that meditation does not help a person deal with shadow material. I’ve seen many long-time meditators who are still screwed up emotionally and have lots of shadow material. At the same time, I’ve personally known thousands of Holosync users who clearly have resolved all kinds of shadow material.
Over the last 24 years, many Holosync meditators have become aware of how they create their feelings, their behaviors, which people and situations they attract or become attracted to, and what meanings they place on what’s going on around them. As you gain this awareness, you stop creating what does not serve you–which includes disowning certain aspects of being human, which is what shadows are.
My friend John Dupuy, who has applied Ken’s Integral theory to addiction recovery, and has made Holosync the cornerstone of his approach to drug and alcohol recovery, tells me that he has observed the same phenomenon: nearly all the addicts he treats who use Holosync seem to shed emotional problems in a way non-Holosync clients don’t.
Another good friend, psychologist Dr. Beverlee Marks Taub (who, by the way, has been using Holosync since the very beginning, way back in 1985) works with many Holosync users in her therapy and coaching practice. She has been telling me for years that Holosync users move through their “stuff”, including their shadows, far more quickly than non-Holosync users.
There is considerable evidence that the awareness Holosync creates dramatically accelerates the process of seeing how you create your life.
Shadows are the result of a lack of awareness. They cause you to inadvertently step in front of the bullets I referred to above. When you disown a human quality (making it a shadow) you are, by definition, unaware of it. You’ve pushed it out of your awareness because being aware of it feels painful to you. Someone in your childhood taught you (usually through positive and negative reinforcement) that it’s something bad or wrong. They made it painful for you, so you disowned it.
When that shadow, that human characteristic, does intrude into your awareness, you respond to what seems like an emergency by making it seem as if it’s coming from someone or something else, something outside of you–rather than seeing or admitting that it’s actually a part of you. It isn’t your anger, your selfishness, your weakness (or whatever). It’s someone else’s anger, selfishness, or weakness that bothers you.
So you can see that if you begin to become aware of how your feelings, all your ideas, all your premises about life and reality, all your behaviors, and how you become attracted to certain people or situations, all originate in your own mind, it becomes increasingly more difficult to disown something, to project it out onto someone or something outside of you.
For whatever reason, Holosync seems to create that awareness in a way that traditional meditation does not. I’m not sure why. Perhaps it’s just a matter of degree. Perhaps traditional meditation just doesn’t create quite enough awareness, or perhaps you just have to do it much longer to get the same result.
It could also be that the shadow recognition we see in Holosync users is at least partly the result of all the information we share with you, including the information on this blog. Whether we look at the entire population of Holosync users or the entire population of, say, Zen practitioners, we see some people who are aware of their shadows (or, we might say, are in the process of becoming aware of them, since no one seems to be aware of all of them), and many who aren’t.
When I look at Zen master Genpo Roshi, who I know quite well at this point, I see someone with a great deal of awareness of his shadows, and who works on re-owning them as fast as he can become aware of them. I like to think that I’m doing the same–my relationship with him has had helped me to become much better at doing so. I also see plenty of people in the Zen world, as well as in the Holosync world, who have lots of shadow material and seem to be relatively unaware of it. Is this just a matter of how much Zen training, or how much Holosync training, a person has? Is it a matter of how much additional outside-of-actual-meditation training a person has? I’m sure we’ll learn more as time goes by.
All I can say is that Holosync users seem to own shadow material much more easily than non-Holosync users, and with much less outside feedback, than those who use traditional meditation only. If you’re not yet using Holosync, what are you waiting for?
***
Finally, before you go, I’d like you invite you to spend the weekend with with Zen master Genpo Roshi and me in Vancouver, British Columbia, on June 27th and 28th. This will be the sixth in our series of Big Mind workshops we’ve been doing for the past two years. No public event I’ve ever done has received the raves Genpo and I get for these workshops, and nothing I could say could fully convey the huge benefit you’ll receive by spending this time with a true Zen master (and me!).
I truly can’t think of anything I’ve done over the last 30 years (other than Holosync) that rivals the experience Genpo Roshi and I have created for you in this two-day event.
Just to give you an idea of what might happen for you when you attend, here are a few of the many comments we’ve received from others:
“Hi Bill, I was one of the 220 participants in the two day workshop of Big Mind/Big Heart. I can attest that all you say is true. It is a mind blowing experience, and like the gift that keeps on giving–days after I am still basking in the glow.” –April
“I have been in the audience of many wonderful teachers, but nothing in my experience compares with this last weekend. I had no expectations really (except my usual nagging feelings of self doubt i.e., I won’t be able to get this). I must admit that my mind is still trying to figure out what took place. It’s still hard for me to put into words, but I can say the experience and clarity is beyond any doubt. I must truly say that this is THE most extraordinary experience of my life so far.” –Richard
“For someone who lives in their emotions, this may seem phony at first. But actually, it is quite liberating. It freed up a lot of stuff for me, just to see that it was possible to live in a different way. Would we attend another conference? Absolutely. Why? Because it’s a great thing to participate in the group dynamic, Genpo Roshi, Bill Harris. Did anyone mention that Bill and Genpo are funny together? They can almost go on the road with a standup routine.” –Sandy
“I knew very little about Zen or Genpo Roshi; signed up intuitively. I’ve been meditating, attending growth seminars, workshops, studying, seeking, for 40+ years and most recently Holosync-ing, which I Love! AND I was completely amazed to be in Big Mind, experiencing the Transcendent State, feeling Bliss and One With Everything completely out of the ego state within the first 5 or 10 minutes of Genpo’s process. Exhilarating! Such an elegant, simple process, masterfully facilitated by Genpo Roshi and also Bill. At the end of the 1st day I realized a lifetime of shame and shallow breathing had been released. My body still feels very light and fully breathed, effortlessly, with an added measure of Happiness, Joy; Far less grasping at what I thought was ‘Reality’. –Jani
I’ve emphasized awareness a lot in recent posts. These workshops are one of the fastest and most powerful ways to increase your awareness I’ve ever seen. You’ll not only experience the transcendent, the state of Oneness everyone talks about, you’ll also leave behind several shadows that (trust me) have been causing suffering for you for years. So please come and be with us. It will transform you.
And, this is my chance to meet you in person and get to know you. As you’ll see, both Genpo and I are very approachable and available to you during this weekend. Do come up and introduce yourself so I can get to know you.
To learn more, and to register while there still are seats available, just go to www.centerpointe.com/bigmind. Because of the tough economy we’ve reduced the cost significantly, so this is the time to attend a Big Mind workshop.
And, if you’ve never been to Vancouver, it’s one of the most incredibly beautiful cities in the world, especially in June. See you there!
Be well.
Bill, since you say you are always looking for ideas for your next post, I think it would be an amazing post to elaborate on this as quoted from you above:
Ask yourself, “Who is watching? Who is eating? Who is walking? Who is listening?” Ask until the answer comes.
Just reading this makes me think in a different way. I’m not sure if you can post on this as it could just be one of those “figure it out yourself” things, but I think many of us would love to hear more about this kind of thinking. You said asking yourself this will yield the discovery of a lifetime, and that is definitely a post-worthy topic to me.
FROM BILL: Good idea.
Bill could you expand more about the watching process and the integration to the relative ?
For me it’s kind of impossible to describe. I mean, how can we be “not watching” ? that’s impossible, we are always watching. It is always there.
The way it happens for me, is that trough the day I feel like I’m the witness some of the time, in those moments the world is like a movie and there is no center, everything is very “light”. But sometimes, specially during “difficult” interactions (emotionally charged) the center comes back to be inside the organism, and I don’t realize when it happens, I just see it after it happens, (and see that I kind of just responded automatically) and then it sort of comes back to not having a center.
I still find it a little confusing, because is like living in 2 worlds at the same time, but it’s not very stable. At this time is clear that there is no ME but I kind of loose that perspective during certain moments.
But if I “try” to watch it doesn’t work, because I can see that the one who is trying is not the watcher, it’s the ego trying to be the watcher.
I also could say that when the witness is out, the feeling is that of being an activity and when the ego is in command is like being a “thing”.
I heard Shinzen Young say that there is a period during which the “no-self” has to learn to be in the world, like a rebirth.
I can also say that when the witness is clearly realized, there is an openness to whatever arises, like every fiber in the nervous system is receptive to everything, but as I said, is not so stable (yet?).
You speak a lot about the chaos and reorganization period, does this also apply for the relative/absolute integration process ?
Would you say that living as the witness (transcendent) is kind of living in the unknown, completely open to whatever arises ? Is this what the zen people call beginner’s mind ?
Thank you so much for the help in clarifying my insights, it would be MUCH more difficult to do without the help of a teacher.
All the love,
Santiago
FROM BILL: Watching is about awareness–you can only watch what you are aware of. For instance, you are aware of the fact that you aren’t a separate self (something most people aren’t aware of–they might know intellectually, if they’ve studied this topic, but being aware of it is something else). To watch yourself HAVE a separate self instead of BEING a separate self requires you to be aware of how the illusion of a separate self arises, and to be able to watch it. If you’e not aware of it, you will think you ARE a separate self, which is where most people are.
When you were a baby you weren’t even aware of the distinction between self and other. Once you became aware of that, you still weren’t aware of your sensory and motor activities. Once you became aware of them, you were able to direct them. Whatever you are not yet aware of, you can’t watch, whether it’s your body, your emotions, your throughts, or your idea of yourself, your ego.
So it’s very possible to not watch, because you can only watch what you are aware of.
When you lose awareness, as you describe, it’s a symptom that you’re continuing to make a distinction between relative and transcendent. That’s the next step, to realize that they are really the same, not two. At one stage you become aware of the transcendent, then you become established in the transcendent (as opposed to the relative), which is where you’ve been lately. Then you integrate the two, ending the (illusion of) duality between them. Finally, you integrate the apparent duality in the relative, so that even there you see that there is no duality.
Just keep doing what you’re doing and it will come. It doesn’t come for everyone, but I dd think it will for you. The experiences you have had a very rare, which makes it more likely, I think, that you will transition at some point to the next stage. I would let it be okay to be in the relative, including the feelings, the lost feeling, etc. Part of the problem is thinking that THAT isn’t “it”–that that part of life is somehow a problem.
Remember that the ego is just your idea of yourself, so it can’t “do” anything. Doing happens, but there is no doer. Verbs needing nouns is a grammatical rule, not a rule of reality.
Bill,
I was not suggesting that there is no way to charge money for things that could accord with spiritual principles, and I was not suggesting anything about your shadow or anyone else’s. This was not a personal attack–sorry if it came off that way to you. My writing seemed to have stirred anger in you, and that was not my intent. I apologize.
What I was suggesting is that personal work–whether meditation, self-help, personal development, etc.–does not necessarily resolve *our* ongoing discussions of culture, economics, and politics–how to live together, whether or not or how much to charge for spiritual products and services, how to structure socio-economic conditions, etc. Meditation and shadow work won’t necessarily resolve issues money any more than of abortion, gay marriage, etc., in my opinion, although they can help to have a more sane and equanimous public debate!
I do have certain opinions about marketing and culture however, and enjoy the ongoing dialogue. I consider your response to my comment part of this public dialogue, and appreciate your opinions. I think selling spirituality is an enormous problem, especially at high prices and for the personal financial benefit of the teacher. I do not see things as black and white, selling for high prices or giving everything away for free. There are many models that walk a middle path with money and do so fairly successfully. S.N. Goenka has proven a dana-based model for retreats, and Insight Meditation Society a fee-based model. Jack Kornfield seems to make a reasonable living from books and psychotherapy clients. I have no objections to any of these models, albeit there is still ongoing public debate even about these organizations and ways of serving. There are other concerns with the sale of spirituality discussed regularly, including selling something that cannot be given to anyone else and the commodification of the sacred, but I won’t get into those issues here.
I think charging for spiritual services is not necessarily more of a problem than in business generally, except that spiritual teachers are seen as role models for enlightened action (but so are CEOs), and therefore amassing enormous personal wealth in particular seems out of place according to my values and what I’d like to see in a harmonious and peaceful society.
I recognize that this view is not shared by all people, obviously, which is why personal growth and meditation won’t resolve the ongoing dialogue on the subject, as it is necessarily collective, cultural, social, and economic. This is my larger point, not to try and convince you of any specific position nor attack you personally for holding a different view than me!
You seem to indicate in your reply that debates such as these are a matter of personal shadow material and could be resolved by doing personal shadow work on money. While I think such work is helpful, I disagree that personal work will solve any collective social and economic problems, for the concern is not my personal relationship with money, but *our* *collective* relationship with money and the structures of society. This is an enormous shadow of our individualistic Western culture that tends to be culture-blind as many cultural critics have pointed out.
That said, the opinion of nearly everyone I know who’s had contact with Centerpointe’s marketing has ranged from “they are relentless” to “they are obnoxious” to “they are seriously overpriced.” That was my experience too as a customer of your company, and of other companies that use a similar school of marketing. Just some feedback for you–do with it as you’d like.
Respectfully Yours,
~Duff
FROM BILL: Clearly you HAVE disowned money and the marketplace, and I would hope you would do some work to reown it.
Why should selling “spiritual” things be in a different category than anything else? Who decides what is spiritual and what isn’t? What is this dualistic point of view, as if some things were better than others?
All of you people who have money and marketplace shadows think that somehow it is “wrong” to charge money (or “too much money”) for “spiritual” things. Such things trigger you emotionally, which is a clear sign of a shadow. If you think something costs too much, don’t buy it. Why stand around whining about it all over the internet chat boards? This is just more proof that you’ve been emotionally triggered. If I think someone is charging too much for something I want, I forget about it 10 seconds later. Anyone is free to charge anything they want for their product or service, and I’m equally free to not buy it.
So to all of you who think Centerpointe charges too much, DON’T BUY. Since we are by far the largest personal growth company around, someone must think what we provide is well-worth the cost. What’s more, we’ve just barely raised the price of Awakening Prologue in TWENTY YEARS. And, Holosync deeper levels are about 30% less expensive than when the company started. As a buyer, YOU get to decide whether something is worth it to you. So, decide, but quit bitching about it if the product costs more than you want to pay. Grow up.
The question is, who should deicde what the price of an item should be? Should it come from your subjective “spiritual principles”? Or should it come from the voluntary decisions of a buyer and seller? Shouldn’t the buyer decide whether or not the price of something is “too high”? Buyers do this all the time. In fact, they do it in every transaction. In fact, the market is an extremely elegant system, where the price of everything is set by the collective decisions of millions of people. If the price gets too high, people don’t buy, and the price comes down. If it gets too low, it isn’t worth it (or practical) to the seller to offer it for sale for that price, and the price either goes up or the product is no longer offered for sale. In this way, prices seek a fair level. Not fair according to your personal and subjective opinions, but those opinions are YOURS and should only apply when YOU buy something, in which case your decision to buy or not buy. The idea that you should have something to say about what other people do in buying and selling situations, or how much money they make, is the height of arrogance. (If someone makes a lot of money, it’s because a lot of people voluntarily traded their money for the value they made available, and as a result THEY DESERVE THE MONEY!)
The only exception to the well-oiled workings of the market happens when someone forces people (usually the government) to pay more or sell for less than they wanted to. When this happens, the consequences ripple through that market and cause all kinds of problems.
So if I have to choose between having you and your pals apply your subjective spiritual principles to what I and a freely acting Centerpointe buyer do, or, allowing the market–the collective choices of buyers and sellers–to decide, I’ll choose the market. It seems incredibly narcissistic and arrogant to think that you, or anyone else, should be telling people what they can and cannot do, especially when a valuntary process that works great is already in place.
The whole New Age movement, though, has a shitload of shadows about morality, integrity, money, race, political correctness, and a lot of other topics. That’s why many New Age people are immoral, out-of-integrity, poor, racist, and arragant. As a result, they want to self-righteously tell people (I should have said “force”) what they “should” do–in fact, what they can and can’t do. As for me, I prefer freedom of choice. No one has to buy anything from Centerpointe, or from Integral, or from Big Mind. If not enough people buy products from these companies, I guess they’d have to charge less, or stop offering the products. Since no one HAS to buy anything, and in fact all three companies offer lots of great free stuff and lots of great low-cost stuff…
Oh, forget it. As long as you have this shadow, you’re deaf to all of this anyway. Let’s just say I’m pretty sick of all this self-righteous moralizing about marketing and selling. If you don’t like what we’re doing, don’t participate. No one appointed you to interfere in voluntary activities happening in the marketplace.
lol You’re too funny, Bill.
There’s a difference between moralizing and a dialogue about ethics. Moralizing is saying “I’m right and you’re wrong.” Dialogue is saying “I have this opinion given these premises but would like to hear your opinion and I’m open to questioning my own assumptions.” I’m attempting to do the latter, but you seem to think that I am doing the former!
Clearly you believe in a libertarian free-market capitalism, where the market determines the price of goods and services. This is a common political-economic belief system. Do you think that if I do enough “shadow work” I will necessarily also hold this belief system? That doesn’t make much sense to me, as political arrangements are worked out collectively, in dialogue and in political action, not in one’s individual psyche.
~Duff
FROM BILL: The market works things out collectively better than any other mechanism, because it includes the actions of EVERYONE. “Dialog” leaves out most people. I assume that in your dialog you are looking to reach “consensus” (which never happens–I’ve been there), and at any rate it’s unnecessary, since the market sorts all of that out beautifully–the actions of the market IS a dialog, Even after the dialog, some “expert” or politician or bureaucrat ends up making decisions they think are “best” for other people. There is a name for this way of making decisons. It’s called fascism. Why do you want to take away the ability of people to make free choices about what they buy or don’t buy, sell or don’t sell, and what amount they buy or sell for? No one is ever forced to buy anything, or sell anything, or to pay (or sell for) a price they don’t want to pay or offer.
You have your own idea of the way things should be (or, you think a “dialog” will reveal that way). Then you hope to impose it on others. Either that or you’re really niave and you think that with enough “dialog” everyone will see the light and do the “spiritually right” thing and you won’t have to force it on them. You, of course, are the arbiter of what is “spiritually right.” Ugh.
Duff,
I used to be in a position like yours, it seemed incogruent that someone could “sell” elinghtenmet, spirituality or wathever.
But if you look closely you’ll see that this perception of the marketplace is very influenced by a set of values that were transmitted to you and you assumed as “right “. In my case I come from a latinamerican catholic background in which “money is the root of all evil”. In this kind of culture rich people go to hell.
It took me a hell of a lot of time to realize this. Even after seeing that most of those christian conventional values where just a controlling tool, it somehow unconsciously stayed with me. It wasn’t actually until I started to see for myself all the suffering this kind of thinking was creating (for me and the people who are close to me) that I had to change my values regarding money. It was either that or loosing my company and leaving my employee’s families without food on their table.
There is nothing wrong with creating economic growth, if fact now I see that by growing my finances I can help more people (provide more work through my company, etc). Money is energy and energy is to be circulated, (not necessarily accumulated) or it dissipates. Actually if we as humanity are not able to increase economic growth is very unlikely that we will survive. I see however that an overemphasis in money has created many problems. But that is not the fault of the process itself. Making money is NOT bad.
I gotta say though, that there is something different about Bill in contrast to other “spiritual” teachers, like the guys in the secret (James Ray, Joe Vitale, etc) that may trigger shadows.
Bill is not the kind of guy that looks like he is “exuding” love all the time. In fact I rarely see him smile. I gotta say that I was projecting a lot of stuff on him (greediness, grumpiness, cynicism , aholeness). And that can be misleading…. however, EVERYTHING in the world is misleading anyway, and I learned that from him. Waking up is seeing that.
But my friend, if you have used holosync (and read this blog) you should admit the tremendous benefit this guy has brought to humanity. I have no idea why he chooses to act the way he does, I guess he just digs it.
But I really think this guy is a honest and conscious human being.
I recommend that you investigate about spiral dynamics, it helped me a lot in understanding where I was, I was in a place like you are now, and it’s actually a very advanced place (but it can be very narcissistic), is the last step before second tier.
When you jump to the next stage you will no longer have the need to judge other people’s values, like you do now when you say that centerpointe marketing is “relentless/obnoxious”. It will bring you peace of mind.
Peace and love, but most importantly, freedom, brother.
Santiago
What MrTeacup from responce 49 is telling you is that you need to look at shadow with respect to your nine principles for conscious living, because only when I identify when I don’t let whatever be ok and which thresholds are causing me problems etc will I fully integrate my shadow. Some people like to talk about shadow work because it gives them something to do–I’m “doing” the shadow work–when what’s really going on is that things are repressed for a reason and don’t need to be dealt with because there are many happy and successful people who don’t worry about this shadow stuff or how to get rid of something that’s trying to tell them something. If I continue to repress my creative nature then I’ll continue to write in here rather than coming up with my own course that shows how to eliminate suffering in your life forever, and I won’t know why; I have a shadow around creativitty and I just don’t know what to do about it. If I look at what’s important for me in that I don’t let certain things be ok, if I can determine where in the creative process I hit a threshold which for some reason I’m worried about going past, if I can look at the chaos which always comes up when I go past this particular threshold as helpful information to get me on track for what I really want to be doing in life, if I can get my head around the fact that the map (this shadow bullshit) is not the terretory (what I’m using as an excuse for staying stuck because there’s a lot of danger out there and we must always watch out for it), if I can admit that I’m no different from the person who has no shadow and can take responceability for the fact that I’m not special and can get empowered the same way as the unenlightened person does… If I do all of these things I’ll understand why I need to put certain things into shadows and I’ll have conscious tools with which to at least figure out how to look at this shadow stuff in a more resourceful way. We repress things for good reason because they are too painful to look at, and when we continue to discuss shadows and awareness and holosync (oh my) we’re just perpetuating a disfunction because we’re not willing to do the work to gain a certain level of awareness.
Often times I’ll talk a lot about shadows to my parents, for instance, and they just don’t want to hear any of it. This of course gets me all pissed off, because everyone knows that shadows are why things are disfunctional and if they would only do the work… But my parents aren’t interested in their shadows, so they continue to cause suffering for themselves and those around them? But what about my suffering? What about those things that piss me off might I own myself to make the situation better? Perhaps if I truly owned my shadow I would own their suffering and this shadow would be eliminated. Perhaps I could take on the universal shadow and get rid of the root cause of suffering for all of us. However this takes more than just awareness to get the job done; you have to give a shit, and then the awareness shows you how to do the work so that the suffering that we care about removing actually gets removed. Until then we will be doomed to discuss shadows and awareness forever, and if you are higher on the evolutionary scale than those listening to you (IE myself) then we’ll continue to listen to you thinking that we’re getting to the bottom of something; perhaps this is all it takes. Maybe my creative nature will come out when I start my business of selling holey water by the river.
By the way I don’t mean to be an asshole about this or project anything onto Bill or what he’s doing here, however I think (personal oppinion only) that a lot more could be done with respect to eleviating the suffering of the world than just our awareness of suffering or our talk about shadows. However I find myself at a loss as far as how I actualize this in my own life, and it appears that Bill is doing something great for a lot of people. If this blog helps people then there’s no reason for me or anyone else in here to write in with disagreements because this material doesn’t work for us, and in my case perhaps talking to Bill and getting permission to do my own thing with the nine principles as they relate to shadow work is much more resourceful than blaming him for not putting something into practice. I believe that we all have something escential to contribute here however I feel that perhaps many of us are not coming from a space of love and growth when writing in, and I personally want to take responceability for my contribution to the somewhat destructive feedback. I don’t know what all of that stuff is–we might call it a shadow–however I don’t want to contribute to it. I appologize for any diss-identified shadow stuff that I’m upset about that I write in here about, and I hope that perhaps we can all cut ourselves some slack. After all we’re all in the same boat together, we all might as well row in the same direction.
Hey Bill,
I was interested to hearing John Dupuy’s presentation and success using holosync to aid his work on addiction recovery.
An interesting topic I dont believe you have covered is that of Lucid Dreaming (the act of permiating the dream state with waking state conciousness) and its relation to Holosync technology.
Interestingly Tibetan buddhists have made a yoga out of this practice as a suppliment to spiritual awakening – (believing it enables a person to purposefully command the subtle body after the gross body dies)
It would be great to hear your thoughts and opinions on this fascinating topic
FROM BILL: Lucid dreaming is just witnessing while you are asleep. It happens as you progress in your meditation. I find that most people who are concerned about such things are interested because they don’t feel much personal power, and they think lucid dreaming is some sort of “power” that would change things. What’s really important is awareness. There might be some benefit of being aware of your dreams, but in my opinion it’s not toward the top of the list of important things to be aware of. I would focus on becoming aware of your emotions and how you create them, your thoughts and the internal and external effects of your thoughts, and finally HOW YOU CREATE THE ILLUSION OF BEING A SEPARATE SELF.
I’ve been using Holosync for just 9 years (this July) and I wanted to make a few comments about the resolution of shadow material as well as the nature of Holosync as opposed to traditional meditation as I see it. First of all, I think it’s important to address the question of what we mean by shadow material. I think different people see that differently. Is it the emotional reactions that we have at times of upheaval? I think that Holosync, as it systematically shakes the—“cosmic goop” I think Bill once called it—out of the nadis/energy channels, creates space, breathing room and clarity of awareness that allows one’s energy to flow more freely. That space and clarity also allows one to “see what one is doing” so to say rather than trying to make it through the china shop of life with a blindfold on. A new favorite analogy of mine.
I liked Kristian’s comment about Holosync, pointing out that it’s an exogenous coming from outside ourselves rather than endogenous (coming from inside us) like traditional meditation. In addition to that point, I see Holosync as effective also because it is measured and constant. Instead of having some meditations that are better than others, different every day, Holosync puts you into those very specific and measured states, creating a level of constancy not available with traditional meditation. I feel this steady reliability is like having yourself on rails. You don’t have to worry about going off the track like with other techniques; you’re on the pre-set tracks and just have to concern yourself with providing the impetus to move forward.
Also, traditional meditation does not allow for the same kind of specifically metered out levels, each of which goes after a deeper level of your system, constantly putting through those measured waves day after day that, over time, push through the knots and hang-ups in the system, freeing up that energy in a very specific and effective way. There is a particular kind of focus and concentrated relentlessness to Holosync that is also different to traditional meditation. I really don’t think this can be underestimated.
As regards shadow material in terms of body memories, points in our emotional AND physiological system that are like knots or blockages, held in the body/mind from specific points of resistance to things that happened in or life or which are at least subjectively linked to certain traumatic events or relationships, then I think Holosync goes after those directly by pumping enough energy (incrementally over time) through the nervous system that those are shaken loose. I think that Holosync helps resolve shadow material defined as certain reactions like anger, jealousy [write in your tendencies here] in a more general and indirect way by creating the awareness and clarity for you to see what you’re doing with regard to those emotional habits.
After 9 years of Holosync, I still have my “favorite” emotional reactions, but there seems to be a tremendous amount of conscious space around them so that, even when I’m riding out a storm emotionally for whatever reason, I can see myself doing it and see my way to resolution of that in a way that I couldn’t before. There’s that witnessing perspective that is a catalyst for transcendence and growth. Again, I feel that Holosync achieves this similarly to traditional meditation, but in a much more intense, efficient and focused way.
I feel that the clarification, cleansing, purification—however you want to put it—that Holosync systematically provides creates a strong and clear platform from which to continue becoming aware of old or new “shadow material” and to allow it to flow through the system consciously and with ease, without resisting it. I find a lot of value in techniques like the Sedona Method, Genpo Roshi’s talks, Qigong practice as well as many of Bill’s recommendations (e.g. breathing in on accepting; out on releasing). I think that use of Holosync makes such techniques more effective, and in turn the techniques help to ease and complement the cleansing that Holosync brings about.
FROM BILL: Well said.
So Bill,
I don’t know man…. about this human game we’re playing…. is ANY of this serious ?
FROM BILL: I don’t know what serious is. Is it an idea? Why apply ideas to what’s happening? That just takes you a layer removed from it.
Wow !
Thank you Bill, your answers are just f’n awesome !! I think I know what you mean. I guess I’m still trying to hang onto something…… anything. I’m starting to realize that this next step is all about surrendering to the moment by moment flow of experience. The world just can’t be freezed into “something”.
Actually it requires an even bigger surrender and trust than the ones needed to take the leap into the transcendent (as you wrote in the post about Tozan’s ranks) At least when I was there I thought the transcendent was “it”. But it turns out that there is no “it”, at least not a fixed “it”.
Right now there’s a lot of monkey mind and confusion (a lot of seeking mind). Also loosing awareness of thought (being immersed in it), and physical resistance (uncomfortable feelings) It’s like the map still refuses to let go completely and it’s fighting for it’s life (amazing how an idea can fight).
But somehow I’m cool with it. I do feel a transformation happening (and the resistance to it). I’m not sure what kind of being I’m turning into, but I’ve made the decision to take it all the way, I’m trusting you.
I can see that the separate self is a mental construct, as well as the rest of the world. Reality is direct experience, and concepts are what create the separation like you said. I can see that, but it also feels like being back to square one somehow, like being a regular, ordinary guy. It’s a hard thing for the ego to accept this. It really wanted to be “an awakened ego”. But it’s just a made up illusion.
My practice right now is just trying to be aware of the moment by moment experience, just letting EVERTHING in (or at least as much as I can), I think I may just do that and forget about everything else (including this -transition to the next step- stuff, if I can). It’s just that it’s….. well….. scary as shit sometimes, it requires too much trust to COMPLETELY let go of all beliefs and concepts at every moment. I guess the degree of freedom is directly proportional to the degree of responsibility.
I still can’t see where my actions will come from when the mind is completely silent. But as I said, I intent to take it all the way.
To really embody the fact that we do create our experience of life all the time is like swallowing a hot iron ball (as our beloved Alan Watts used to say)
Anyway, for now, I’ll just stop whinnying
I appreciate your guidance so much Bill, it’s invaluable to have access to someone who’s been so deep.
All the love,
Santiago
FROM BILL: You certainly don’t have to get rid of the separate self or your map of reality. Both are useful. You just want to stop thinking that your map is the territory, or that your idea of yourself IS your self. When you first had your awakening transcendent experience, you let go of all your ideas and concepts. That needs to happen. But once you see all that stuff for what it really is (in other words, that all of that stuff is just a representation of reality, but not the reality it represents, just as a menu isn’t the meal) you can bring it back in again. I don’t think you need to get rid of it in each moment, but you might need to go through a period where you remind yourself qhite often that your map isn’t the territory. At a certain point it becomes so obvious that you don’t need to keep reminding yourself.
As for your wondering how you will act if your mind is silent, you already do that. It just seems that your actions are predicated on your thoughts and intentions. You’d still act if your mind was silent–I suspect you’ve already had times when that was happening. It’s really the same thing that grows your hair, causes you to breath, beats your heart, and so forth. This is the dicotomy between what is involuntary and voluntary. It seems like a clear delineation, but like all polarities, voluntary and involuntary are ideas, ways of thinking about something.
When you let go of all your ideas
In short, the difference between ‘knowing’ and ’seeing’? Is that a fair synopsis? An over simplification, no doubt, but true none the less?
Here’s what I see:
I believe when Ken talks about awareness here, he’s coming at it from
the perspective of ‘knowing’. Intellectual. Because, frankly, that’s his background. That’s the field in which he thrives. Not to say he doesn’t have other talents – obviously not.
I believe that when you, Bill, talk abut awareness, you’re coming at it from the perspective of ’seeing’. Visual in a sense. That’s been your forte. Meditation through technology and the means to take responsibility through conscious awareness. Or seeing.
So awareness is a misnomer here. This is a discussion of ’seeing’ and what creates that ’seeing’. Meditation alone won’t do this EfFeCtIvely. That’s what Ken is arguing. He argues that meditation lacks an ‘active’ ingredient. Not that meditation can’t create change in itself, it’s just that it’s not a balanced approach. He talks about zen masters being homophobic, for example. You can’t meditate your problems away, in other words.
So, his remedy would be to do some form(s) of therapy or what you’d
call work on your internal map of reality, in conjunction with meditation – One’s that involve an ‘active’ role in your pursuit of ’seeing’, where neurotic unresourceful behaviors fall away organically.
In comes Holosync…
I would liken Holosync to a Super Charger: In and of itself, it doesn’t do too much (doesn’t do much for change). But once you press the metaphorical gas, in a sense, there’s a HUGE boost in performance.
A Super Charger can never replace the engine of a car; Just like Holosync can never replace your own Brain. But coupled together, they become very powerful. Further more, until you actually PRESS THE GAS (take responsibility // become honest with yourself // take a proactive role in your life // examine your internal map // do some form of therapy et al) you won’t notice that much change. You won’t.
From what I can tell – and others have concurred – this is the difference between those who make extraordinary gains using Holosync and those who have used it for years without noticing much change.
Holosync creates a lot of PoTeNtIal. From what I’ve seen, the more ‘action’ you take, the more Holosync will shine through. That’s why coupling this with the LPIP courses is a very powerful conjunction; assuming you do the exercises and apply the principles. Or any other kind self-assessment for that matter.
Holosync does indeed create awareness (another word for responsibility/honesty in my opinion [amongst others]), but that’s not to say it’ll do the work for you. It won’t. I think the confusion comes up because Holosync is more effective than traditional meditation. You can get away with less ‘action’ using Holosync, in a sense. You’re simply adjusting the ratios of meditation vs therapy. In the end, both are absolutely necessary. I just think you come at it from your perspective because of how effective Holosync is and ken comes at it from his perspective because of the limitations of traditional meditation.
(Actually Ken was concerned that traditional meditation was more effective than Holosync for creating ‘lasting results’ because there was more of an active role [having to maintain a constant focus] as opposed to simply plopping your headphones on and ‘zoning out’. But that’s another topic.) Personally I integrate both approaches and when I do I find it more effective than Holosync alone.
I think this is a shift for you, Bill. I know in the past you made claims otherwise, but this is a very well balanced perspective. I know it can be especially hard considering Holosync is your baby.
Good article.
FROM BILL: I think Ken is talking about the same kind of awareness I’m talking about, though of course he also talks about the “knowing” kind of awareness, by which I mean intellectual knowing, ie, creating a mental map of something. When I use the word awareness I mean JUST being aware, without the map-making, without necessarily naming everything and thinking about it. You can, of course, be aware in that way and then also think about it, but most people are not aware enough to separate the two.
I think what Ken is driving at is that with meditation along you don’t see certain patterns–for instance, the developmental levels/stages he talks a lot about. You need more data points than just yourself to see this sort of thing. This causes people to take certain things for granted. The homophobic Zen roshi, for instance, is living in a social context that he is likely to take for granted, because everyone else in his social setting thinks the same way he does. Only with a broader (you might say sociological or anthropological) point of view would someone notice that some people see things that way, while others see things in another way. By zooming out and seeing more data points, you are able to see these sorts of patterns (if you look, which many people don’t).
All I know is that many Holosync users report dramatic shifts in the areas Ken says meditation can’t touch. I suspect that there IS something about Holosync that makes it different than traditional meditation in this respect, but it’s also possible that it’s because of all the information I give people, which may be helping them to see mental, emotional, social, and psychological patterns they might otherwise not see. I think it may be some of both.
There are a few people who use Holosync and have lesser shifts. I’m pretty sure this is because they were much more traumatized while growing up, which creates a very strong sense of not being safe. Feeling that way, such people are less willing to give up certain ways of seeing themselves and other people, and certain ways they’ve learned to protect themselves, even though those ways of protecting have many negative and unintended consequences. If you become aware of these consequences as a result of the greater awareness created by using Holosync, but the feeling of being unsafe is strong enough, you may not be willing to give up certain ways of being even though you see the consequences. If trauma happens early enough in life, and is strong enough, you’re probably going to need Holosync AND a therapist who specializes in the type of trauma you’ve had. Then someone can help you use the increased awareness to let go of old strategies and open yourelf up to new ones.
Hi Bill,
Can you start up a ‘refer a friend’ page. I saw my friends finger go up his nose in front of a large audience and I know he needs holosync but how do I tell him.
FROM BILL: The old finger-up-the-nose syndrome, eh?
Awareness helps relax your REACTION to your neurosis. Another aspect of awareness Ken is talking about. He was arguing that that’s a good thing, but left alone it doesn’t actually HEAL anything. Everything stays the same (pretty much), it’s just your reaction to it isn’t there anymore. He said something along the lines of (paraphrasing here) “now that itch [neurosis] becomes a little more exasperated, since you’ve relaxed your reaction to it, but haven’t actually dealt with the systemic issue.” Que the trumpets and in comes the magic of therapy or ’shadow work’.
If I recall you were talking about ‘relaxing into your feelings’ as being different than awareness. At any rate, there seems to be a bit of a different stance on the awareness created by traditional meditation. Unless you simply agree? Then when it comes to Holosync, it’s a different story and whatever ‘awareness’ Holosync creates you both seem to agree it creates a more effective ‘healing’ awareness. If you say Ken is talking about the ’seeing/healing’ kind of awareness (meditation aside), then it seems he DOESN’T think it is healing on its own (This is why I thought he was simply referring to ‘knowing’, rather than ‘seeing). You do – at least when it comes to Holosync?
Either way, good discussion, but something probably best suited for in person – Conversations like these can go on for a while. I can legitimately see both of your points. What I’m going to take away from this (something you and Ken can agree on) is that a comprehensive approach, from all angles is the soundest practice. Also, I hadn’t thought about it from the anthropological/sociological angle. That’s a good point.
Have a good one …or two or three.
Hi Bill,
It might be interesting to write about language and how it relates to non-duality.
You’ve said in the past that language can’t accurately communicate non-duality. I’m wondering if this limitation is inherent to language itself, or if we are only limited by language as it exists today. In other words, could some type of new language be developed to help people intuitively grasp this state of mind?
I ask because it seems like language is already used to a certain extent to help people in this regard. Some examples might be koans and dokusan in the Zen tradition, this blog, metaphors, etc.
Thanks
FROM BILL: Language is a collection of symbols or representations about reality. NOTHING can be fully or accurately represented by symbols. You can’t eat the word food, get wet in the word water, or have an orgasm from the word sex. On one hand we have the real world, about which nothing can really be described–accurately. No matter what you say about anything, it is incomplete, given that anything you pick is connected to everything else (so you’d have to describe the thing and its entire environment) and is constantly changing, which compounds the problem times infinity. If you tell me about something I’ve experienced, I know what you mean, but what you say still can’t descrbe your experience. If you’ve been to Kansas City and so have I, and you say you went there, I’ll know what you mean, but I’ll never know exactly what it was like for you.
Ideas about things or events (which is what language is for) are not the same as the events they describe. Ideas about reality do not contain nor are equilalent to the reality they attempt to describe. The map is not the territory (something I’ve written about extensively in many posts).
When a Zen masters (or any teacher) uses language it is said to be “a finger pointing at the moon”. It might cause you to see the moon, but it isn’t the moon. And, many times, the student sees the finger instead of the moon.
I’m not against language (obviously). I am cautioning all of you to not confuse the symbols or ideas that represent things with the actual things. Almost everyone treats ideas as if they were more than just mental constructs, and the most egregious example of this is the delusion that your idea of who you are is who you are. 99.999% of people are caught in this one.
Bill,
Thank you so much for all of this.
It is great to know that people like you live in the same world i do.
All the Best,
Daniel
I just wanted to comment that my friends and I believe that Holosync and LPIP are worth far, far more than the price you are charging based on the results we’ve been getting….But don’t get any ideas about raising the prices.
And this blog offers a ton of great free useful information. I’m constantly returning to the topics on the developmental levels to further my understanding. I look foward to when you elaborate more on that topic.
FROM BILL: You are obviously a discerning and highly intelligent person.
Hi Bill,
Iam not very much into Religion stuff, but I somehow came across an Article about purgatorial fire after Death. to cleanse your soul, actually, from what I would consider shadows too…e.g. jealousy, greedyness etc.
Its described as People as living “decided” how long they will stay there simply because of their attitudes.(Tale of Sisyphus ) so that everyone comes back “free”.
What do you think about this stuff?I know you have the Point of Meaningless Life and everything is fine anyway and that WE give meaning with Attachment, but I always asked myself if there is some sort of deeper Justice, simply because I couldnt believe that someone who helps 10000 People just dies and “comes back” as someone who killed 90% of Humanity with a Nuke.
But man…actually If Iam full of bad Attitudes Id prefer Number2, lol.
Sorry if I got off Topic here, but Iam curious on your thoughts about it, and I think shadows would be what you want to be cleansed of in purgatorial fire……if there is one at least.
P.S. Have you ever held Workshops in Europe or more important, do you think you will this or next Year?
Markus
FROM BILL: If you read the posts at the beginning of the blog you will see a series on human development (which you should read–it’s very important information). One aspect of this is the development of the way we make sense of what it means to be human and how we answer questions about what it means to be here, who we are, what is life about, what is death, what causes suffering, how do we deal with it, and so on. As (and if) our perspective grows (our ability to see an increasingly complete pciture), our way of understanding these questions and navigating through life changes. The broad categories of this developmental process are a Magical explanation (we have magic powers, as children often think), Mythic (someone else has magic, or otherwise incredible, powers and knowledge–God, adults, leaders, heros, etc.), Rational, Pluralistic, and Integral (there are other naming conventions).
The purgatory explanation is Mythic: there is some power above us who “knows” and is all-powerful, and that power will judge and punish us, and that punishment comes at least partly after death. This is a pretty unsophisticated approach, not backed by ANY actual facts. It is a pre-rational attempt to explain good and evil, justice, death, and so forth. Mythic is a developmental level characterized by dogmatism: believing something handed down from the past and from people who are assumed to know because of some supposed communication with God or some other sort of all-powerful being, instead of from actual factual investigation or personal experience or inquiry.
As a way of making sense of what it means to be human, such an explanation works for some people. What happens with each of the explanations (which you can find out more about by reading my early posts) though is that they work until the person’s perspective and knowledge increases (if it does) to a point where they have information that doesn’t filt into their current way of thinking (their current way of explaining the kinds of questions I posed above). This new information or new circumstances requires the development of a new explanation–one that tanscends the old one and includes the new information. That new explanation works until additional new knowledge or new circumstances and a larger perspective exposes that way of thinking as also being unworkable and incomplete–at which point a new way of making sense of things must once again be formed.
The Mythic view was the most widely held explanation during in the Middle Ages. As science and scientific investigation of the world grew, though, the Mythic explanations were shown to be incompatible with the facts. A giant conflict ensued between these beginning scientists and the church, leading to what is known as the Enlightenment. This brought a Rational explanation into prominence. Since then other information and changing circumstances has shown that explanation also to be lacking in certain ways, leading to a Post-modern or Pluralistic way of thinking. This explanation is currently being challenged by what many people call an Integral point of view.
Every person starts at the beginning and goes through these stages, beginning in childhood, though some never make it past the Magical stage. Others stop at the Mythic stage, orhers at the Rational stage, and so forth. The Religious Right, for instance, are at the Mythic stage in explaning what it means to be human. For them, that explanation makes sense and satisfies them. God is the boss, he sets the rules, and things are pretty simple: there is Good and Evil, and you avoid the evil and seek the good. In other words, black and white thinking. Others believe in the Rational view, the scientific view. For these people, the Rational explanation makes sense and satisfies them. And so on.
I’m looking at things from an Integral or perhaps even post-Integral view. The vast majority of people never make it past Mythic or Rational stage, though there are more Pluralists today (Obama, for instance, is a Pluralist), and there are a small but growing number of Integrals. If, however, a person does continue to develop, at a certain point he or she sees that THERE IS NO EXPLANATION, that all explanations are bullshit, that life and being human is a paradoxical mystery that can’t be explained. Such a person becomes comfortable with the idea that there is no pat answer for what it’s all about.
People at a particular developmental level, though (until Integral, that is), are pretty locked into their explanation, and will defend it vigorously–until something happens (if it ever does) to force them to expand their perspective.
Go read my posts on development.
Dear Bill, First thank you so much for your work. It has changed my life completely. I have been studying some summaries of Buddha’s Four Noble Truths and I recently attended a session with you and Genpo where you announced you and your wife had become monks. I am assuming, Buddhist. If so, I am asking if you might do a blog on the idea of ending the cycle of birth and death and what that actually means. Again, thank you for your love and compassion.
FROM BILL: I really don’t advertise my personal “religious” point of view–if you want to call it that, since Buddhism really isn’t a religion, though many mistakenly think of it that way. I want to emphasized that I’m NOT trying to get anyone to be a Buddhist–or, for that matter, anything else. What I want people to do is to FIND OUT FOR THEMSELVES what is real and true, who they really are, and so forth. My hope is that the information I share is helpful, but it is not meant to be a way to avoiding thinking for yourself. Most people have accepted someone else’s explanation for what life is all about, which in my opinion has little if any value.
I’m attempting to do two things: help people gain greater awareness, which is what Holosync does (so does traditional meditation, but not as quickly or easily), and show them where to direct that awareness in order to speed up their investigation of who they are, what it’s all about, and so forth. In Buddhism, in fact, there is nothing to believe (though some approach it that way). In fact, one of the main points of Buddism is the droppng of ideas and beliefs.
I agree with Eric 100%. Holocync and LPIP are very reasonably priced and I dont have any problem with centerpointe marketing or any other company’s marketing for that matter as long as they deliver what they promise.
However I think that many companies use marketing to sell a lot of crap that absolutely does not work the way they promise and although the marketplace might sent those companies out of business in THE LONG RUN , in the short run they can make a lot of money and screw up a lot of people making them buying things they dont need or things that dont work.
I Know that the consumer has the responsability to make the right buying decision, but most people are not very aware (including myself ,now I am getting much more aware thanks to holocync) and marketing can be very manipulatively effective playing on thesed people fears and insecurities.
Ex You can see an ad on TV where a guy is lonely and then he buys a shaving cream/cologne /Car etc and after that he is surrounded by beautiful women.(after a while you might even get the belief that is all about the car etc)
Or they sell a push up device that “you can use 5 min a day and get rip and strong ” and you see a very rip , muscular guy using it . ( the truth is that that guy was born with muscular genetics and He probably spends hours in the gym.
My point is that in my opinion marketing is like science , religion etc . They can be used to help people or to screw people up.
Carlos
FROM BILL: Though I agree that many people aren’t aware in terms of buying decisions I think there’s another explanation–a reason why many people don’t BECOME more aware and exercise more diligence when they buy something. We live in a culture where people have fallen for the incredibly mistaken idea that the government will take care of them–that if there’s problem, the government SHOULD, and is the best choice, to do something about it. This is despite the fact that everything they touch turns to shit and leads to even greater problems.
Because of this attitude, most people exercise very little self-reliance. Personally, if I have a problem, my first thought is “What am I going to do?” not “Gee, I sure hope the government will solve this problem for me.” I know that the government hasn’t solved ANY of the problems they’ve tackled (and, trust me, folks, Obama isn’t going to change this).
For that reason most people don’t exercise much due diligence when they buy something, and don’t go to the trouble to develop reliable criteria regarding what they buy. They assume that the government regulators (or someone) has done that for them. Well, they haven’t. There’s no way the authorities can police everything, and even if they could their criteria is never going to be the same as yours. If they could police everything, it would rob you of your freedom of choice. If they don’t think something should be sold, you won’t be able to buy it, even if you’re sure you want it. If a person wants to be protected from scam artists, they should investigate for themselves, before they buy. Assuming that Obama or Barney Frank (or whomever) will do it for you is unrealistic.
Protect yourself. Become self-reliant. This isn’t a political statement, just common sense. Though dishonesty is and should be against the law, waiting for the authorities to protect you is a very naive position. If there was a wave of buglaries in my neighborhood, I suppose I could wait for the police to do something about it. The police, however, show up AFTER the crime. The only protection they provide is if the criminals think the police are watching, which isn’t happening in nearly all situations. Personally, I would figure out what I could do to protect myself: get a home alarm, a dog, better locks, a gun, etc. If the police pitch in, great.
When buying something, investigate for youself. Make the company prove that they can really deliver the benefits. Blame yourself if you buy something that doesn’t work. Take responsibility for your life. (BTW, this little rant isn’t directed against you, Carlos.)
Thanks for answering Bill ,
It is funny ,I grew up in Cuba where the goverment controls everything . That is probably the reason why I was so gullible when I first got to US about 7 years ago. If I saw something advertise on TV , I thought ” It is on TV , it should work as they say”
Although I dont like the idea of the goverment controlling everything (thats maybe the main reason I came to US) I believe ( and I know I might be wrong) that the goverment should control some things( I might have gotten this believe due to my growing up in a communist environment)
For example They said health care in Canada is far superior to health care in the US and deregulation in Heath care and Education has brought bigger problems in those areas .
Could you give me your thoughs about this?
I have gone through a lot of confusion in the last 7 years of my life. I went from hating Castro and idealizing America to hating america ( when I first move here) to now where I think that everything has good points and bad points.
basically I think that in Cuba you disowned individualism.
in USA many people disowned collectivism
Carlos
FROM BILL: Personally, I think that though some things might need to be controlled, the worst one to do so is the government. Most people in the US don’t realize that the whole reason for the US Constitution was to prevent the government from controlling the citizenry. Over the decades those who want power have found ways to subvert this idea, and now the government exercises a growing number of powers that were not assigned to it. Again, this is made easier by the fact that so many people buy the ridiculous idea (based on zero evidence in real life) that if there is a problem, “the government should do something!”
The only people who really think health care is better in socialist countries are those who have a vested interest in bigger government. Government controlle ANYTHING ends up being rationed.
It really all comes down to personal value for money. For me Holosync has proved to be worth more than the financial expenditure ( and I am in no way financially wealthy). That does not even include all the other valuable support, articles, this blog etc., which for me are proving to be invaluable in my awakening process. Holosync definitely creates more awareness but without all the other help Bill “GIVES FREELY” with it, especially access to his own highly intelligent opinions through this blog,
it probably would not be as effective. And I think what Bill is saying is that we do not have to take anything he or anyone else says as Gospel. We make up our own mind based on our own experience and what resonates as right with us. Thanks Bill!!
Thanks Bill,
Can you expand a little bit about the pluralistic to integral perspective ? You say Obama is a pluralist, I thought he was integral. Do you think he believes his point of view is the truth ? (that all points of view are equally valid). I think he’s able to see categories of validity in different points of view.
(Just to be clear, I also don’t believe Obama is going to save anybody)
According to my research the integral point of view is fairly new (30 or 40 years ago). But what about the awakened guys that appeared hundreds of years ago ? zen masters, etc. They knew there was no explanation, so where were they ?
BTW your rants are hilarious (and illuminating) keep them coming !
All the love,
Santiago
FROM BILL: Trust me, though the people at Integral like to think so, Obama isn’t Integral. Neither is Hillary. And Obama doesn’t believe that all points of view are equal. Pluralists say that, then turn around and call those who disagree with them vile names.
To learn more about the Pluralist developmental level (or any other) see my extensive posts about human development at the beginning of this blog. I believe the post about Pluralism is entitled “Everything is relative, right?” Or something like that.
Ken Wilber talks about two types of development, state development and stage development. Stage development is what I’ve been talking about in my recent answers to peoples’ questions, and in the early posts about human development. State development is about attaining (if you want to call it that) non-dual states. Ken would say that the ancient Zen masters were highly developed in terms of state development, but often much less developed in terms of stage development. A lot of ancient mytical thought was magical or mythic–that where the center of gravity in their society was. Rationalism, Pluralism, and Integral were yet to appear. New stages appear as they are necessary, in response to environmental, social, political, economic, etc. changes.
Wow Bill… I’m actually beginning to feel my nadis slowing down and expanding. This is pretty amazing. Is this normal?
FROM BILL: There’s no such thing as normal. You’ll be fine.
So then you think guys like Obama may observe himself as he observes his thoughts?
FROM BILL: Well, I certainly think that Obama’s attention is mainly on himself, so in that sense, yes. Not, however, in the way I’m meaning it.
So Bill if normal is defined as “the usual or expected state, form, amount, or degree”, no thing that humans experience can be constituted as usual or expected? I’m just trying to get a grasp of things…
FROM BILL: “Normal” is a word, an idea. What difference does it make if the collective idea of something is that it’s normal or abnormal? If something is “normal”–or not–it’s only because a group of people (or, sometimes, an individual) decides that it is so. Based on what? All such things are arbitrary. Nothing is intrinsically normal or abnormal.
Dear Bill,
when I holosync, sometimes my mind starts to play tricks on me and I get really really scared.
I see frightening images, or my mind tries to persuade me that if I open my eyes I’ll see a ghost or something scary, or that I will see someone standing right beside me (I was not scared of this prior to these experiences). I get really scared but if I make it and watch this and not believe it, then an amazing energy takes over me, the idea of ‘me’ drops and its just consciousness.
But when I’m not meditating and I stop my thoughts and just sit having my cup of coffee and just listen to the birds or observe the sensation on my body, sometimes again consciousness comes (i don’t know how to say this since it doesn’t really feel like “I” am doing anything) but without getting scared or anything like that.
Do you know maybe why there’s this difference?
thank you very much for all your help,
all my best,
natasha
FROM BILL: When you use Holosync, you become more aware. A great part of what you become aware of, especially in the beginning, are all those aspects of yourself and the world that you’ve disowned (read my earlier blog post, “What’s Hiding In Your Shadows?”). Everyone, to some degree, is taught while growing up that certain things are good and appropriate while others are bad and inappropriate. Especially important are all the things you were taught are wrong or bad or imappropriate about you, and all those things that are the horrible of horribles about the world–those things we sometimes have nightmares about.
We do our best to disown or push all of this bad stuff out of our awareness, and most of us do a reasonably good job of it. These disowned aspects of life or of ourselves are called shadows. You cannot, however, get rid of them. They express themselves anyway, in covert and dysfunctional feelings and behaviors, in deep and dark fears, in nighmares. Many of the problems of your life are the “leaking out” of your shadows. Much of what you are triggered by in life is the leaking out of your shadows.
So when you become more aware through meditation, one of the things that happens is that your shadows come into awareness. If you embrace them, if you own that all this bad stuff is part of being human, and part of you, and that all humans contain all the good and all the bad, then this stuff matures into beneficial qualities, and you become a rather remarkable person.
Most people resist this stuff, though, because they’ve been taught that it’s bad. Sometimes this has been beaten into them–or it has, at the very least, been taught with some sort of negative reinforcement. If, however, you acknowledge that all of this is part of you, and that it’s okay to be both good and bad, appropriate and inappropriate–if you reown the shadows by watching them with awareness and seeing what they do and what effects they cause, it will free you.
People want to feel their “Oneness with everything,” but don’t stop to think that if you’ve made half of everything bad or wrong, they’ll never feel it.
You could say that this is a cleansing, a purification, of all the negative stuff you’ve repressed. Just watch it with curiosity. Don’t resist it. Actually, nothing is good or bad. Both are ideas about reality, but not reality itself. Reality is neutral, and then people project onto it their own meanings. Just watch, and keep watching, and something amazing will happen–maybe not right away, but it will happen.
Bill, what is The Truth?
FROM BILL: An idea.
Bill,
Do you have ANY beliefs you act upon, or do you make them on the fly moment by moment ?
Did you know R.H Blyth once wrote a telegram to Alan Watts saying ” I have decided to abandon satori and are trying to get attached to as many people and things I can ” ?
Funny statement, I think I’m doing the same
All the love,
Santiago
FROM BILL: It’s okay to have beliefs, as long as you know that they are just beliefs, just ideas about reality, and not reality itself–and that you see their potential consequences.
I am very familiar with R.H. Blythe’s letter to Alan Watts. He is talking about the fact that attachment and non-attachment are two sides of the same coin. You can’t have one without the other. Life with total attachment is filled with suffering. Life without attachment is dry, with no juice. Why be here if you won’t allow yourself to be attached? As you’ve heard Genpo Roshi say, the highest achievement is to be The One Who Chooses to Be a Human Being–the one who chooses his attachments, knowing full well the consequences, but also knowing that without some attachments, there’s really no point to being here.
The aware person, instead of being unconsciously attached in a way that creates all kinds of random suffering for self and others, sees the web of cause and effect and knows what he’s getting into and what the likely consequences will be when he chooses to become attached to, for instance, his wife, his children, his friends, his students, or whatever. If he sees himself becoming too detached, as with R.H. Blythe, he moves toward the other pole, becoming more attached. If he sees himself moving too far in that direction, he may move back in the other direction and detach himself. It’s an oscillation, a play, a kind of breathing in and out, as are all things in the universe.
Some time ago I decided the reason I have run into so many ugly, mean spirited, just plain rude females in my lifetime, (I am a 74 year old woman), is that there must be an ugly female in my head – an idea of course. She changes shape, sometimes very fat, or very skinny, sometimes very beautiful or physically repulsive. Is this what you call a shadow?
I’ve identified some of the unpleasant feelings and ideas that come with them with “The family will be better off without me”, “I’m stuck in this world where there is no place I belong”, very strong anger at the current “female” and lately, even deeply felt “I hate her!” Lately to the point I want to hurt her if not kill her.
Well, I can’t kill her. She’s a figment of my imagination, so…
No doubt I had to repress anger as a child when my older sister abused me, and I had much anger at our mother for not protecting me from her abuse. I suspect I have memories of the two times my mother attempted to abort me. She wanted me gone, and I could only thwart her desire by resisting. So this female is a composite of my mother and sister as they appeared to me at different stages of our lives, with no set form or figure. “She”, the physical female, always presents as a self appointed wannabee authority over me.
From reading your three blogs dealing with shadows, I’ve concluded that the only way this creature’s behavior or a memory of past or imagined future behaviors can really affect me is by triggering feelings that are actually generated within my own body’s nervous system, and that I can choose to experience any number of more enjoyable feelings by becoming aware of this fact.
Okay… it’s the feelings generated by the behaviors of the physical females that cause me such discomfort. These feelings hit hard, fast and they don’t go away easily or quickly. Now what???
FROM BILL: Yes, yes, yes! These are shadows, and the experiences you cite are the very kinds of experiences that can lead to one’s need to disown certain human characteristics or qualities. I would hazard a guess that you may exhibt some of the qualities you abhore in these females–but may not know that you do.
The way to own these shadows is to allow the parts of you that reflect them, but have been disowned and buried, to speak. Perhaps sit down with a sheet of paper and “be” that femaile, and write down what she has to say, how she feels at being disowned, what she does (exhibits in you) because she’s disowned, what she would do if she were fully owned (it always turns out to be something beneficial). Another possibility is to do a phone session with Denise Harris, who is very good at facilitating amazing shifts with these shadows, and seems to know just what vocies to speak to and how to help you experience big insights and breakthroughs. Her number is 949 375 3043.
So being totally detached is as much delusion (and still with consequences – a dry life ) as being completely attached. Yes, you can’t have an inside without an outside.
Thank you Bill.
BTW Have you consider merchandising some pajamas with the centerpointe logo on them ? or having a joint venture with frosted flakes ?
All the love,
Santiago
Bill ,
It looks like when you are detached of something you want (at some level) you are far more likely to get it. Whether is money , friends , a date etc. If you are 100% detached you wont even want it in the first place , but being to attached to it you are likely to get in your own way.
Carlos
FROM BILL: I’m not sure I agree that detachment gives you what you want, though it might cause you to want what you get.
Bill ,
I did not mean that detachment gives you what you want.What I meant is that in my opinion when you are too atached you are more likely to screw things up . like the salesman who really needs to make the sale (attached ) is more likely to blow it. If he is a little more detached /less needy he has better chances.
Or the guy who is very attached to a particular outcome in a date will look needy and he will look like he has an agenda. but if he detaches a little from the outcome he is more likely to act relax and confident.
Carlos
FROM BILL: The salesman who really needs the sale blows it because (or if) he focues on NOT blowing it (in other words, if he focuses on what he wants to avoid). When he does that, he gives his mind an instruction to slow it.
I was wondering if you might discuss some of the stuff in your LPIP course in this blog, particularly the idea of on and off discussed in your second course, as it relates to our development. I’ve been studying some Buddhist teachings regarding the idea of emptiness and how our adding our projections of reality onto the inherrently empty nature of the universe creates our world. It seems to me that when one understands emptiness one can more readily understand one’s projections onto the world, which seemed similar to your idea of everything having an on/off aspect with the “on” representing our projection and the “off” representing the emptiness which exists always without our mind creating something with it. I think it would be quite fascinating if you illustrated some examples of this, although I’m not quite sure how applicable this would be here. I just know that these teachings have helped me a lot in getting a much clearer look at myself and the way my mind works, and quite frankly I’d like to hear a more modern teaching from you which isn’t so hard to understand due to broken language etc.
PS: I love the last comment you made; hope you don’t mind if I use it.
FROM BILL: This blog is full of discussions of these things.
So you’re saying detachment does not, at least to some degree, help give people what they want? I feel like detaching from something a little bit takes the edge off and frees up the mind to do more efficient work in attaining something. Is this untrue?
FROM BILL: You can’t have detachment with out attachment, just as you can’t have buying without selling, or up without down. Both are part of being human, both have their advantages and disadvantages.
Hi Bill
Brilliant post but I seem to be a little bit confused. Hopefully you can clear this up.
You say that “…..there is no feeler–no separate “you” who then feels something. Feelings happen, but a separate feeler is not necessary and does not exist …… The doer is nothing more than an idea.
……. but exercising choice rather than just responding automatically. Instead, the person responds from a wider pallet of choices that come out of the needs of the moment.”
My question is who is making the choice? The map of reality/ego/idea?, Consciousness? (since you “need awareness to make a choice”) or just the organism itself. If it is none of them and the fact that there is no separate self, then who is it?
The same question applies to the following statement “This realization requires that you own the feeling (i.e., acknowledge that it comes from something in your nervous system), which dissolves the shadow”
Who is owning the feeling?
Thanks
Dave
FROM BILL: AH! You’re getting it! Choices happen, but no chooser is necessary. You see, this is the ghiost in the machine, so to speak. Everyone has fallen for the grammatical rule that every verb–every doing–needs a doer. That’s a gramatical rule, but not a rule of reality. Show me the separate agent who “does.” You can’t. If you eally look for this doer (which is what a good Zen master or guru has you do), you find that there’s nothing there. Still, doing happens. So obviously doing does not require a doer. The doer is an idea, not a reality. I plan on writing a more extensive post about this. I’ll say, though, that this is one of those things that you have to experience to really get–kind of like you can’t “get” sex until you have some. All the talk about it doesn’t really clue you in. Nonetheless, I will write about it soon, at greater length.
I learned this morning that one of my heroes passed.
After recovering from the initial shock, I felt a strange sense of relief – for I know that he had suffered greatly for many years – unbearable pressures, painfully ill health, day to day life that was a cage like existence, no authentic relationships to speak of – and an all consuming self-loathing brought on by abuse he suffered as a child.
Now in the evening as I write this and reflect upon my day, it astounds me that I was able to function, let alone laugh and joke with colleagues and perform with clarity, and presence of mind.
Before Holosync, an incident like this would have completely devastated me. Yet here I am feeling….okay.
Whilst there is sadness at his passing, I also feel a strong sense of joy as I know that he can now rest, free of the torturous feelings of inadequacy that plagued his short, accomplished life. He has returned to Source and will suffer no more.
Rest in peace Michael.
love
Terry
You rock Bill… finally I have a holosync partner.. my girlfriend is now doing it too.. =)
Hope all is well.. and about shadow material…. holosync doesn’t occur in isolation.. I personally think all of your reading materials, online courses, support letters, access to the blog, videos, etc… ALL that DEFINITELY helps with the Shadow….
Just my opinion.
- Julius
It is curious how the media is saying good things about Michael now that he is dead and how they only ridiculed and demonized him when he stop selling records a while back . and yet again how they made a god of him in the 80’s. This is another reason why I believe I should not give a f… about what anybody thinks and just be true to myself.
Carlos
Hi Bill
I am looking forward to the post you will do regarding the doing minus the doer, I too am having a hard time grasping this. We’ve all been taught that the verb or action requires someone or something to carry the action out. As you said to Dave, ” That’s a grammatical rule,but not a rule of reality”. I guess this too comes back to that wonderful word you’ve used before – experiental. My other question is, what is reality and and what are it’s rules? Doesn’t our own individual concepts create our own reality and so it is constantly changing for each of us and thus the only rules are the ones we create for ourselves with our own ingrained beliefs?
Thanks
Michaela
I understand that everything in this blog–in fact everything in the universe–is an illustration of emptiness when examined closely. For instance I’ve studied the law of attraction for some time now and have not been able to come up with any examples of what they call high vibration, although if one studies Bob Doyl (for instance) one recognized that most of the law of attraction is empty or void of any actual vibration which might be discovered “out there” somewhere and that once one has it one is secure and everything just flows. However in Buddhist sutras they sometimes describe golden light which can be used to manifest things and, being that many of these paths illustrate how to manipulate the fabric of the universe, I’ve been looking at how we might use the idea of the golden light (also illustrated in your second course) to make it more likely that one gets what one wants; this means of course the entire world rather than an individual person, although some pretty outstanding results may manifest for the individual in rare–you working together with me on this–sircumstances. The thing is that there really is no golden light which can be used in this way, rather the idea is to study the emptiness behind everything in the universe and use the idea of golden light to represent the “on” or, in other words, stand for what we want. Certain things do happen when tapping into these mind streams, and a lot of this ancient wisdom is about how to get rid of what we don’t want and strive more towards getting what we all want, however it is only by reflecting on the inherrently empty nature of all things from which manifestation comes; it takes responceability taking and massive action, most of which most people aren’t interested in, however if one is willing to learn the universe’s gates open wide and manifestation becomes quite literally a breeze. I was just curious to note weather or not you’re interested in pushing further into this, however this isn’t for everyone; if you feel that I’ve missed something already regarding what the future of this exploration will uncover from your past blog entries, please point out specific examples rather than informing me that I’ve somehow missed something because this is hurtful to my self-esteem and isn’t productive of what we’re trying to do here (unless your last responce to me was inherrently empty from your side). There really is something to the whole idea of the law of attraction, however many find it really difficult to understand that we reap what we sew, or what goes around comes around. This tells me that we’re really in need of something, however I’m not quite sure what that is, and I’m hoping to work more towards that with our explanation. For instance your post “it’s all about awareness” was one when you used a certain kind of voice that made me feel good for some reason, and for whatever reason this type of education is very important to me. Some things that come easily for you might not come so easily for others, and I’m asking you to please be patient and perhaps put out something more for a baby who’s just learning to do all of this. I don’t know about high vibration, but can’t you coach us in how to put out good vibes? How do we act like everything’s fine when it’s not? I mean our lives are what we believe them to be are they not, and if not for that then everything would be empty. We’re worried about emptiness, so rather than following through with this perhaps an other is in order. But I went on too long again, as always.
Bill,
Can you comment about how we project our shadows on public figures also ? I think this helps in the realization that shadows are basically empty energy.
I was shocked at the shadows MJ’s death triggered on me. Being a musician I could feel myself relating so much to Micheal, also the paradoxes of his life, being “loved” by millions and at the same time so hungry for love and intimacy.
I can’t say exactly what it is, but it seems like the world (or at least part of it) feels the guilt of the pain he endured, we project that onto him.
Also I want to say that even though there was a lot of emotional intensity (I couldn’t help but cry watching his videos) there is no “suffering” (I am not saying “I don’t want this”, there’s no resistance and I can allow myself to mourn for someone I never knew, in fact I think I’m mourning for a part of ME that is projected)
I can even honestly say that I enjoy it, it somehow makes me connect, it makes me more open, I don’t think I would want to get rid of that, it is a beautiful expression of our humanness.
It’s feeling sorrow and joy at the same time, I could see how they are one.
It is very different when we are in the transcendent. In there I couldn’t help but thinking that if people could just “wake up” they wouldn’t suffer. Now I feel VERY human, somehow MORE human that before. Because I can let myself FEEL everything more deeply.
Anyway I thought you could use this event to expand on the post.
As always, all the love,
Santiago
If you aren’t going to go into the emptiness (difficult to articulate here I imagine) please then do a post regarding something to do with the breathing. I find that when I become the breath that everything becomes easier, I don’t have to figure anything out, and I know just what to do in every moment (until I stop paying attention or breathing) which sounds a lot like the awareness that you talk about, yet there’s still a shadow aspect of myself that I’d like to get rid of which for some reason I can’t quite get. For instance one can’t study emptiness because there is always a shadow–a stane–remaining which prooves that the self does in deed exist, however when one becomes the breathing one becomes one with emptiness and the shadow or stane disappears; you’ve no doubt witnessed this as I imagine, because you’ve talked about emptiness all through this blog. However we cannot deny that this self exists, hence there is always a shadow or stane where the self was before due to carma etc, hence there is no true emptiness because there is always something. Even when the self itself appears to be non-existent there is no getting away from the fact that there is always something left behind in the form of a shadow or stane upon the mind, therefore we know that the self exists and cannot be ignored. However it is very difficult for the self to witness the shadow that is left behind because the self is unaware of the carma that it creates while asleep in ignorance, therefore the self (in this case me) needs some sort of feedback or monetor to act as the other side to reflect what the self cannot yet perceive. I need you to do a blog post regarding the breath, because I need a monetor with respect to holosync capable of articulating emptiness right now and rather than trying to convince you I’m hoping that your post on the breathing will help clarrify some things. And if you aren’t truly interested in all of this shadow stuff, with stains from selfs that don’t exist and the empty nature of carma and how we could change the entire world with one in-out breath and all of that, please move on to something more appropriate for someone of your intelligence and experience. If you’re heart’s not really in it you won’t really resolve anything for yourself or the world, and in my humble oppinion you should create a blog post that really captures your heart and allows it to sing loudly and proudly for everyone to hear; otherwise everything’s emptiness anyway, and you’ve already discussed that so why push further in to it, blah blah blah. Do something on here that really makes you happy, and you’ll be much better and you’ll help push through this wall that’s been here for quite literally longer than time. This isn’t a game anymore, because there’s too much in the world going on right now to continue to focus on what I want and how I can make myself happy! It’s time for us to want to get rid of our shadows because we want to make the world a better place, rather than trying to make ourselves more palateable for the world around us so we can gain some sort of advantage. It is time for great enlightenment, and I’m trying to get you in on the ground floor, and if you’re not interested please make this abundantly clear; this goes for all of you complainers out there (including Sam) who’s world isn’t the way one wants it to be. If we’re not really interested in making our world a better place, I’ll fix it, but I have to know what I’m up against. There are countless forces against me, numberless cause and effect bullets and all of that, but at least if I know the world’s not interested right now that can avoid many many of these “bullets” and I can sleep easier. Genpo mentioned the crazy guy screaming about enlightenment in the middle of Zion one time on one of his talks and, rather than get arrested, I’d like to figure out if I’m the one or not. Thanks a bunch!
Hi Bill,
so I was thinking about the various stages of enlightenment and reading and re-reading and listening and re-listening to your fantastic posts on them. But I couldn’t help wondering to myself? “Why on earth would I EVER want to leave the Transcendent state?”
I hear what you’re saying about the potential dysfunction in that there’s the possibility to disassociate with the fact of cause and effect, but then I look at someone like Byron Katie (who I think we can agree is at the Transcendent stage) and I think, well she’s not only totally at peace, all the time, but she’s also extremely successful in the world. It could reasonably be argued that Eckhart Tolle is in the Transcendent space and the same applies to him.
It seems to me that in order for a person to be successful, they must either be extraordinarily fortunate (e.g. win the lottery, inheritance etc.) or have an underlying grasp and application of the laws of cause and effect – even if it’s unconscious and automatic. As far as I know, neither of those two either won the lottery or inherited a fortune.
So after ‘attaining’ the transcendent, or waking up to it, realising it, embodying it or whatever, would I be able to choose to remain there if I wanted?
T
FROM BILL: The transcendent is a place of delusion, just as is the relative world. It is also a place without heart. To have heart–to have compassion–you have to feel the pain of the world, which you do not do in the transcendent. In the transcendent everything is just fine, and you wonder why you can’t get all those other people who are suffering to see this.
Ultimately this isn’t a matter of “should you”–or even “could you”. Cause and effect keeps you from staying in the transcendent. It’s called the fall from grace. Sometimes a person is cared for by others to the point that they are for the most part protected from cause and effect, and for that reason might stay in the transcendent, even if in that case cause and effect WILL effect you.
The real pinnacle is to integrate the relative with the transcendent.
Can you please do a post regarding altered states of consciousness? It might be interesting to hear about what you’ve experienced with the audience at your presentations of big mind with Genpo Roshi, because from what I’ve experienced this is a gold mine for learning about such things. Have you experienced any alteration in your state due to your experience with big mind? I don’t think that altered states are necessary persay when working with yourself or others, however they often provide the wiggle room necessary to get useful work done.
You illustrate something in your first course called a cybernetic loupe, which you used to point out that we can alter our internal map of reality in various ways and when that when we change certain things about our map it results in subsequent changes in the other parts which are connected by way of this loupe. For instance when we change our internal representations–our sights, the sounds we hear, our internal dialogue etc–we effect a change in our behavior–we take different actions based on different experience– and our physiology–our mood for instance– is changed as well. In this way I hope to use what you teach to apply the internal map of reality to altered states of consciousness, in that understanding how our state changes might account for internal representation changes, or perhaps by thinking in a certain way we can effect an alteration in our state which can help us better understand our world. I understand from your first course that this material can actually be applied to real life and that factual information about our world can be drawn from these altered states to give us useful information about how our internal map of reality works; I used your modeling process with a recording of Ram Dass and learned that there’s always someone to talk to if I want about this if I use my imagination and wisdom. What I mean is that I imagine it possible to listen to Ram Dass and obsorbe some of his knowledge into my internal map, and if we can explore alterations in our state then we can better understand how flexable our internal representations become.
I think that shadow work is very important for our well-being, however if we can have fun with our internal map of reality I believe that we can get a lot of useful work done without it seeming like work. I notice myself going through many many altered states while doing big mind work, however when I encorporate voice dialogue process to really get shadow work done it becomes much more than just a journey into la-la land. It seems to me that holosync helps out quite a bit with this, with particular respect to my ability to come back to my center of being from somewhere to continue the work and resolve shadow material, and that if we take the right approach to this–that of a curious adventure–we could really make this a great joy for everyone. There’s a lot going on with the economic situation, the world’s not doing so great over all, however I believe that if we all do our part to be happy then the rest will all fall into place.
I don’t know if you’re interested in such things, but some pretty cool things are happening for me with respect to holosync (some of which can seem pretty scarry at times) and I’m wondering if any one else has had any experience with altered states or anything regarding personal experiences of expanded consciousness. I believe that there’s a lot of potential in what Genpo Roshi is doing in his big mind process, and I feel that perhaps we’re bearly scratching the surface regarding this exploration. It seems also that you’re on the leading edge for some of us regarding these things, and it would be cool if we could stretch ourselves a bit.
PS: if nobody is interested in such things then I appologize once again for the rant, but I felt like getting the ball roaling on something.
Hi Bill, A few months before I came across Holoscync on the net I took part in a eight day process call The Hoffman Quadrinity Process which brings into awareness the counterproductive beliefs, perceptions and emotional needs that have been adopted from parents or childhood mentors etc. This process enabled me to become aware of disfunctional patterns (or shadows) which were controlling my life. We were told it would take at least 2 years to become fully intergrated with the process. I did the process in March 08 and started using holosync in September 08 (have not missed a day!). I am sure I started using Holosync because of my renewed awareness which put me on a quest seek further self improvement. Although The Hoffman Process was benificial to me however the stress and anxiaety I was experiencing due to my marriage breakdown would still get the better of me. Emotionally I was a wreck. Holosync has elevated my thresholds to a level where even my X thinks there is something wrong with me because of my calm and relaxed behaviour. She thinks its weired especially as I no longer follow her unconscious attacks on me which because of my conscious responses now hardly occur and when they do I usually get an apology or explantion for her disfuncional behaviour. Unless i was conscious of my reaction to her attacks this breakthru would not be possible. Although she still thinks im being wierd and that i am a walking ‘time bomb’ waiting to go off, all other people in my life are amazed with the positive changes in me and know this is who i am without any underlying fear.
FROM BILL: I know the people who run the Hoffman Process, and highly recommend it. It’s one of THE best ways to deal with a lot of old stuff quickly and deeply. My wife did it and experienced a huge shift. Done with Holosync, the Hoffman Process is even more powerful.
I’m starting to feel as if there is only One Cause, and everything else is just an effect… but on the flip side, also realizing these are only labels used to represent…
FROM BILL: “Cause” and “effect” are ideas. Just like dividing the world into “things” and “events”, causes and effects are conceptual, a convenient way to talk about things, but not real in any tangible sense. You can’t hand me a cause or put an effect in your pocket. Just as you could say (as I have done) that everything is one infinitely big “thing,” or one infinitely big event, you could also say that everything is one big cause or one big effect.
You know I really didn’t think you’d be able to sell me on moving beyond the Transcendent. But you really did – nice work
I’ve heard people talk about the expense of your product but I think if they understood, just how much value it provides, they would be falling over themselves to thank you for your generosity.
I don’t think you can put a price on having someone teach you to live a life that’s happy and fulfilling, where you feel peaceful and centered regardless of what’s going on. But that’s just me.
Anyway, in ‘the early days’ when I first started (only 2007 but seems like many years ago), I was an individualist. I know that most people find it difficult to judge their own level, but after reading your description of the Individualist, there was just no doubt in my mind. My accuracy was confirmed after taking Susanne Cook-Greuter’s sentence completion test.
In the past few weeks, I had a realisation during a Holosync session. I began to think of the challenges that I faced as a child and some of the unpleasant things that had happened to me. And it became clear, on a feeling level, that had it not been for my suffering I would not have had the incentive or motivation to pursue this path, and certainly not with the persistence that I have applied even when it’s been hard. So as unpleasant as these experiences were at the time, they really were a gift and I’m grateful to life for them.
As I continued to observe my mind, I noticed that I was exercising a new found ability to create and interpret my stories in ways that would generate feelings of happiness, well-being and encouragement within me. I saw that I was applying these strategies more and more in my everyday life and had used them to achieve important personal goals…. I had become a Strategist.
It’s gratifying to have made this progress, but a huge amount of credit must go to you. There is NO WAY I would have developed this much so quickly without Holosync and the LPIP course.
I know that through regular practice, the old mental patterns will subside, and consciousness will become aware of itself through me.
You are a gift.
Terry
I have been using Holosync and have seen definite changes in what I believe is my awareness. What seems different about my sense of awareness after using Holosync is an ability to watch my own thoughts and actions. However, prior to using Holosync it seemed like I knew about these same problems, but thought that was awareness.
What I am not 100% clear about is how does knowing about your problems differ from being aware of them? I have heard you describe the difference as know “what” or “why” you are doing from “how” you are doing it? Specifically, how does seeing “how” you are doing it create more awareness? For example, I know I spend too much time watching T.V. and I do it to de-compress and relax, which answers the what and the why, but the how is still a mystery to me. Is there where awareness comes in?
FROM BILL: The “how” is what you do inside your mind that, for instance, causes you to watch too much TV. What do you say to yourself? What internal pictures do you make? What beliefs are involved, and what kinds of internal dialog and internal pictures are involved when you believe it? When you see yourself doing this stuff, inside your head, as it happens, and also see how directly this stuff leads to what you feel, how you behave, and what people and situations you find yourself attracting or being attracted to–that is awareness of what you do and how you create it. Just seeing the final result doesn’t help at all (as you know).
You should take my Life Principles online courses, where I go into all of this, step by step. http://www.centerpointe.com/life
I have purchsed Awakening Prologue in 2007 sometime. I have been using it with great success. You have been sending me advise since but now that I have changed companies, I have lost the contact with you.
The point is, I want to proceed to the next level and want to know what should I do to get the next package which is Level 1. How much will it cost me?
FROM BILL: Call support at 503 672-7117 between 9:30 and 5:00 Pacific time, or email support@centerpointe.com.