© 2003 R. K. Ebert Ph.D.
Personal responsibility for the state of our lives and physical being is the absolute basic assumption underlying Attractor Field Techniques. For AFT, it is the energy of our being, reflected by our values, beliefs, thoughts, feelings, impulses, and behaviors, that is the source of what happens to us. Our Level of Consciousness is the nonlinear attractor, the unseen source, behind the observable events that occur in our lives. This includes the illnesses that befall us, as well as our economic and educational achievement, happiness, sadness, and the satisfaction we experience in life. For AFT, the energetic content of our minds, for better or worse is the magnet invisibly orchestrating our lives. Words from Mahatma Gandhi say it nicely:
Keep your thoughts positive because your thoughts become your words.
Keep your words positive because your words become your behaviors.
Keep your behaviors positive because your behaviors become your habits.
Keep your habits positive because your habits become your values.
Keep your values positive because your values become your destiny.
Mahatma Gandhi
But are we really responsible for what befalls us? After all, consciousness does not arise in a vacuum; there are multiple factors that contribute to the content of our conscious mind.
Certainly we are not alone in the world, and we alone do not create the circumstances in which we may find ourselves. It is the consciousness of humanity, locally and collectively, that contributes to the emergence of wars and famines on one hand, or peace and prosperity on the other hand. The national, family, and economic social surroundings within which we develop can easily be understood as an important part of the context within which the content of our consciousness is formed. Our social surroundings have their own inherent limitations or assets that reinforce our mental attitude. Further, the human species has evolved from lower animals, and our nervous system carries within it the primitive remnants of this heritage. Finally, our biologically inherited intelligence and physical form interact with social circumstances to provide unique and sometimes apparently insurmountable experiences through which we form our values and beliefs. These influences all contribute to the sense of self that we cherish and identify as "me", or "I" and constitute the content of the mind.
Despite all of the obvious worldly contextual factors that provide the backdrop of the content of our thinking, it is still the energy of our being, originating in, and of, our ego - our sense of "me" - our thoughts about the contextual factors, that results in our manifest reality. Form, or content, and context are not separate, but rather reflect the consciousness of the person observing. In the final analysis, the assessment and perspective of any event depends upon our focus of awareness, our values, our Level of Consciousness. In life, it can truly be said that attitude is everything.
But if disease, illness, and our manifest reality are really the result of our ego and our thought, how can we explain infant child abuse, or the appearance of congenital disorders and genetic disorders? How can these seemingly innocent victims of predators or nature's mishaps possibly be responsible for what has befallen them? To truly understand these occurrences requires us to take a step backward, and to conceptually enlarge the context of our being.
Simply put, our sense of self, our ego, is not solely a product of what is learned, concluded, or experienced in this specific life span, but rather is a continuation of the energy of our being, our Karma. Karmic energy is responsible for the Level of Consciousness we are born with, and is thus the source of the context through which we perceive whatever ensuing content we encounter. Karma and ego are thus synonymous. Karma is the unseen attractor field of the manifest personality. Even newborn infants thus have an ego; they merely lack the learned methods of expression developed later in life. Karma is generated on a continuous basis; every action and thought that we have adds to our Karmic "charge". To modify our Karma we must tame or transcend the mind. Transcending the mind is the path of Enlightenment. Taming the mind/ego is the path of Salvation.
The goal of Enlightenment is achieving the state of non-duality and realizing the unity of God and Self. Salvation has the goal of achieving a state of Unconditional Love, true happiness, and the avoidance of the consequences of "sin". "Sin" is being enslaved by the judgments, attitudes, and behaviors associated with Levels of Consciousness below 200 on the Map of Consciousness, developed by Dr. David Hawkins, MD., Ph.D. Sin ultimately denotes a lack of love. Jesus taught Salvation. Buddha taught Enlightenment. Either the attainment of Enlightenment, or achieving a state of Unconditional Love, break the Karmic cycle, and preclude the need for further reincarnation.
Salvation is a process of spiritual purification, activated by intention and an attitude of willingness. It is a process of cleansing our "sinful" thoughts, feelings, impulses, and beliefs through forgiveness. Dr. David R. Hawkins has rigorously practiced Eastern views of reality and favors the path of Enlightenment and oneness with God. Dr. Hawkins is exceptional among Realized Beings for his ability to communicate his insights to his fellow man. God has blessed us with his presence. The attainment of Realization, or Enlightenment, typically removes one from interaction with the world of daily events.
AFT, following the context initiated by Jesus, promotes the attainment of true happiness that can be achieved by being "in the world, but not of the world", of not joining the majority of humanity that is enslaved in "sinful" thoughts and activities. Enlightenment tends to occur once, and remain unchanged once achieved. Salvation is an ongoing process. According to Hawkins, historically one in ten million achieves Enlightenment, while four in a thousand achieve Salvation.
Enlarging our context through understanding that our current Level of Consciousness is rooted in past life experiences holds the possibility of relieving guilt over our current energetic state. All past lives occurred in the context of the consciousness of the time in which they occurred. Our physical being has an animal heritage with primitive survival mechanisms, desires, and impulses that continue to strongly influence us. Further, humanity and what was acceptable and normal behavior 100, 500, or thousands of years ago was far different than what has evolved since. We cannot be guilty for our historical legacy. We can only take responsibility for our behavior in the present. Kinesiological testing can identify the ultimate source of our current Level of Consciousness, and can make the process of self-acceptance and forgiveness more palatable. Blaming modern day descendants of Germany or Japan for the atrocities of the Second World War makes no sense since most were not even born when the Second World War took place.
Each of us clings to our thoughts and memories; we see them as our personal reality, and they define our identity, which we fiercely defend. We believe that our thoughts are important and unique since they are "ours", and they are necessary for our personal continuation, our very survival and success. We are in love with our thoughts, for they are who we are; they provide the continuity of our identity; they provide the justification for our actions and reactions. After all, who would you be if you had different thoughts and recalled history differently?
Our strong identification with our thoughts creates a significant barrier to change. We cling to the idea that our perceptions are real, rather than arbitrary, that there really is a "right" and a "wrong", and that "wrong" behavior deserves to be punished. We believe that "evil" should be rooted out, exposed, and repaid, and that life is unfair if the innocent suffer while the wicked prosper. In reality, our apparent facts or truths are illusions dependent on the context provided by our Level of Consciousness. Needless to say, the limited perspective allowed for by our Level of Consciousness does not provide a sufficiently broad perspective to make the judgments that we hold so dear. The breadth of vision needed to judge only exists at the level of Omniscient God, who comprehends the contribution of every current and historical event that is connected to the action, behavior, or thought being judged. We are incorrect when we judge because we are incapable of accurately comprehending what we are judging. We apply our limited context and understanding to something far more complex than we can possibly comprehend. We are like Neanderthals trying to make sense out of a flashlight.
At every instant the actions that we take, the feeling that we feel, and the thoughts that we think are the perfect reflection of our values and beliefs, derived by our personal-cultural- national-ethnic-Karmic history. At any and every instant, it is not possible for us to respond in any way other than the way we do respond. We are caught in our own limited world of perception. It is only in reflection that we can credit or blame ourselves for how we responded. Similarly, every other individual in the universe responds perfectly out of his or her own energetic matrix. The problem is that we judge their actions by our own history. We impose our history on their actions, and judge them by our personal rules. We operate as if our own limited context has the truth and understanding of Omniscient Divinity. We project our views onto the world, and call it perception. This distorted logic is the same as judging Neanderthals as primitive and bestial when they were in reality the most evolved species on the planet at the time of their historical prominence. Judging Neanderthals by today's rules and values makes no sense at all. The world of perception is based on interpretation, not fact. We do not know fact. God knows fact. Our method of understanding the world is learned, rather than given by God, as is the case with Enlightenment; it is selective in its focus of attention, and inaccurate in its interpretations.
Is it possible to escape our world of perception, our internal frame of reference?
No one can attain perfection while he is in the body for the simple
reason that the ideal state is impossible so long as one has not
completely overcome his ego, and ego cannot be wholly got rid of
so long as one is tied down by the shackles of the flesh. Mahatma Gandhi
Clearly, it is almost impossible without help, since everything in our senses tells us that we are right, and unless "the others" agree with us, they are wrong. Any possibility of our being wrong threatens our existence, the very fabric of our being.
The preface to A Course in Miracles states:
Nothing real can be threatened.
Nothing unreal exists.
Herein lies the peace of God.
These are powerful statements that hold the key to undoing the world of perception. Our world of perceptions is our illusion, something that we have woven together from our point of view, an abstraction that holds no reality. Our perception is always threatened and needs our continual defense because it is unreal, and for no other reason do we defend it. God, through His Grace, has provided us with the answer to our dilemma, the way out. As Jesus told us, the mediator between His reality and our world of perception and interpretation is very simply forgiveness.
Through the Divine energy of forgiveness we can unlearn our mistakes and reverse our thinking and tame our mind. We must learn to forgive, not because it is the good or charitable thing to do, but rather, because our perceptions are limited and lead to unreal conclusions and interpretations. Carrying any "unforgiveness" burdens us and creates a festering sore that disturbs our very spiritual core. Forgiveness is for our benefit. The mind and body are isomorphic. Our wrong thinking not only contributes to the collective negativity of the world, it damages us. Forgiveness is the means through which God's Grace can reverse our thinking, unload our burden, and allow us to find peace. In effect, Jesus told us that Love is real. Anything other than love is an illusion.
By the limitless Grace of God, we have also been provided with a tool that allows man to discern truth from non-truth ... kinesiological testing. Utilizing this tool has allowed the development of a process that markedly increases our ability to utilize the Divine energy of forgiveness that God has made available to us. In AFT we refer to this process as "Belief Change". Calibration indicates that the use of this process, with the intention of becoming a loving being, and having an attitude of willingness, increases the chance of achieving Salvation from the historical average of four in one thousand to over twelve in one hundred.
Gloria in Excelsis Deo!
References:
A Course in Miracles,1996, The Foundation for Inner Peace,
Penguin Books, New York, NY http://www.acim.org
Power versus Force: An Anatomy of Consciousness, 1995,
Hawkins, David R., Veritas Publishers, Sedona, AZ http://www.veritaspub.com/
The Eye of the I, 2001
Hawkins, David R., Veritas Publishers, Sedona, AZ
I - Reality and Subjectivity, 2003,
Hawkins, David R., Veritas Publishers, Sedona, AZ
MOHAN - MALA (A Gandhian Rosary) compiled by R. K. Prab, http://www.mahatma.org.in/books/showbook.jsp?book=bg0007&link=bg&id=1&lang=en&cat=books
http://www.the-tree-of-life.com/Content,%20Context,%20and%20Forgiveness.html
