The  manas and buddhi work each in a different way. While manas is said to be a centripetal or contractive force, buddhi is centrifugal or expansive. These energies or forces work together to produce form and consciousness/sensation together with the all penetrating rays/essence from atman. Buddhi, the Light, works in the developed manas (mind) as the Christ principle, the reconciliator. Focus on your essence and pretty few things can put you off balance. You transcend the working of opposites. Let those thought bubbles that used to worry you vanish into thin air.
Question: what is really important to you? Outer success? To what extent? Inner peace? Permanent matters or evanescent trifle?

  This all reminds me of Yin/Yang philosophy and something I read in an anthroposophical article on the web. The rythmical expansion and contraction factors are visibly at work in growing plants. Just follow the growth of the stem with its nodes and leafs and parts between. A nice exercise in phenomenology!

 In a sense I can follow the concentration of essence into a form. What to think of the packing of ideas into a symbol?

More info on mind and some Sanskrit terms can be found in this yogic model. 

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Posted by m_euser at 10:57 PM MEST

Updated: Saturday, 16 June 2007 10:33 PM MEST

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Bennett sees "eternal pattern" as a kind of time-dimension.

In the here-now there are several factors at work: from space-time limitations to will (hyparchic time: see a previous posting) to potentiality (patterns). While patterns have to do with potentialities ("eternal future"), form has to do with "eternal past" (realized potentialities).  I always think of a seed with it's DNA patterns which have the potentiality of a beautiful rose, horse, man, etc., but that pattern has to be realized or actualized in a specific form.  It is in another sense like a prototype that has to be refined to be useful on this planet. The main idea is that patterns can be unfolded and combined with substance of the environment in order to yield a substantial form.

The same usually happens with an intuition: the idea has to be developed into a workable system or method such as in science. The factors that contribute in this process can be many and varied. From insight (buddhi),  manas (thinking) to desire to accomplish something useful.

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Posted by m_euser at 3:43 PM MEST

Updated: Thursday, 14 June 2007 3:46 PM MEST

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It may be helpful to understand a little bit of the three terms atma, buddhi, and, manas.

Atma is the synthesis of all qualities, it is something that is sometimes called a ray from the divine monad (see my articles). It encompasses pattern, will, and a whole lot more.  Buddhi is called: "understanding", "compassion", "intuition", subjective side of will,  will in its second stage, to give some attributes/descriptions. It has to do with value, ethics, morality.

Atma is projected into existence through its energies (elementals) which I can't say much about at this point. Atma is sometimes equated with will. It may also be a pattern to be realized.  Buddhi is involuted as a kind of awareness, sentience, feeling. Some say that without the intervention of manas (interpreting mind) one can have a direct knowledge of the world as pure intuition. Quite possible, but not so easy, I suppose.

Manas is sometimes called "sensori-motor mind",  but that epithet can only apply to the lower manas (or brain-mind), I think. It is also seen as reimbodying Ego. It is a faculty that "makes forms" or images. It also has to do with knowledge and fact (lower manas, I think), as opposed to real understanding, insight (higher manas and a quality of buddhi together).

The point of all this is that manas and buddhi must work together (while atman penetrates everything) as image/form making and valuation work together. On an earthly level, humans hold beliefs and have some moral understanding/development which is all tied to more or less concrete images and concepts. That illustrates one level of working together.

These  three energies (faculties as well) work together and mirror themselves in the natural world as I said above. From simple beings to more complex beings that have an elaborate nervous system (which can be seen as an extension of manas in the biological world), a development from a simple atom to the most complex molecules and cells takes place in cycles of evolution.

The knower of the Vedantic energies will recognize a thing or two here, but that will be considered in another posting.

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Posted by m_euser at 4:40 PM MEST

Updated: Wednesday, 13 June 2007 9:59 PM MEST

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One regularly comes across considerations about duality in postings in groups. Typically one encounters the notion of Self vs. non-Self (or "I" vs. "other"). Now, I have been pondering about this a little and came to certain conclusions. First of all, the notion of a Self implies that there is something like a Self. This latter implies, however, a certain identity, a certain pattern of propensities, character, etc.
According to Bennett, a Self is built from (at least) three energies. This is something I want to have a look at later. The notion of three forces in balance is encountered in theosophical writings too, e.g. from De Purucker. The latter holds that for an impulse to arise (e.g. lightquanta) there must be a disturbance of the balance of forces. This is rather reminiscent of the Christian notion of the Trinity and also of Eastern Trinities that are said to send out a ray (or two rays)  in order to manifest. Very deep idea, but outside the scope of this current note.

My point is that duality presupposes some division of some medium, Element, etc. This division actually requires some boundary in order to make the division. That means that there are three terms to consider, not two. So, duality presupposes, or implies, a trinity.
The third factor is a relating term. In cells, it is the plasmamembrane. For the human organism, it is the skin on the physical level. On the psychological level, it is the aura, which surrounds the human being and has "pores" that allow energy exchange with the environment.

In real life the situation is far more complex than a three term system, of course. But even when we consider a simple system of two more or less equivalent elements the question of  the boundaries makes that we have to consider two times two terms plus the general medium from which the elements spring. Together that makes a fivefold of factors. Even that is not enough, because I have left out the pattern or identity of the element  besides the substance and concrete form (and it's organization). Also, I assumed here that the medium from which the elements derive their substance is a passive, undifferentiated one. In reality, it is capable of transmitting impulses/signals  to elements, which requires an internal structure in order to do so. So, higher terms are necessary to model real-life systems. See Dramatic Universe, Volume 1, chapter on "progression of the categories", for an overview of term-systems. Volume three gives some examples from the human world.
 
To summarize: duality implies trinity, or better stated: the notion of duality cannot be seperated from that of trinity. These are all simplifications as real-life systems consist of a multitude of elements, functions and relations.

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Posted by m_euser at 12:43 AM MEST

Updated: Wednesday, 13 June 2007 4:43 PM MEST

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You have seen me using Bennett's term "hyparxis" at some point in this blog. Now, hyparxis is "ableness to be", according to J.G. Bennett. In his book Dramatic Universe, volume 4, we can find a much clearer description of this term. We find him using terms as:

"decision", "commitment", to describe aspects of hyparchic future, present and past. He also  puts "interaction" and "ableness to be" on two ends of a line with "present moment" in the center.  
There are more factors active in one's awareness of the present moment, but I will give my own interpretation of this "hyparxis" term in relation to eternal patterns.

First of all, the capability to make a decision, freedom to choose between alternatives, is a wonderful capability of living beings. If you wonder about animals making decisions: yes, they can. Think for example of the choice they make between foods growing in the wild or in the meadow. Some animals are very choicy about the things they eat. The giant panda will only eat a certain kind of bamboo, for example.

But back to humans. Regarding decisions: one can only make decisions if there are alternatives to choose from. Even "fight or flight" response implies a choice between two options. But I am more concerned here with choice on a higher level of functioning, on the level of intellect. Having alternatives mean that one can perceive alternative courses of action, alternative goals, etc.  It implies that one can see patterns, possibilities, potentialities.

These latter terms belong to what Bennett calls "eternity". I may use this term too (as in "eternal patterns"), but the term pattern or possibility is descriptive enough for our purpose.
So, we have two distinct factors here that enter our experience: possibilities/patterns and decision making. The latter implies a power to make decisions and also a power to see alternatives and make evaluations. The latter implies clearly a power to interpret situations, elements, relations between elements, etc. Power is a kind of potency. So, another way of naming these two factors is to use the words "potentiality" and "potency".
For clarity's sake, however, I prefer the words "pattern" or "possibilities" on the one side and "decision" or even better: "will-process" on the other hand. The latter implies also "agency", an autonomous power to initiate an act.

The process of active will is very complex. It has been described by Assagioli in his book "Act  of will". I cannot deal with it here at length. Maybe in other posting. I will mention the steps
involved in the will-process, however.

Reversely translated from my copy of this book, we have:

1. Goal or purpose, based on valuation, motivation and intent.
2. Deliberation.
3. Choice and decision.
4. Reinforcement: command or fiat of the will.
5. Planning and elaboration of a program.
6. Steering of execution.


This is the process of will in it's complete and ideal form.

Remarks, based on Assagioli's treatment of the subject:

1. There is a goal to be reached. One has to clearly define a goal or purpose to be realized. The faculty of Imagination (ideation) is involved in this. This is not enough to get things going. An evaluation or valuation of the goal is necessary ending in a judgment. Then a motive must be generated that provides a drive and intent for one to realize this purpose/goal.
A motive is a dynamic thing. It  is generated by the values we ascribe to the goals we want to reach.

2. As there are many goals, we must choose between them. This establishing of a preference is the result of the function of deliberation where we have to investigate several goals, our skills to realize these goals, the consequences of our choice, social desirability, acceptability, etc.

Discrimination is necessary!

3. Deliberation should lead to choice and decision.
4. Then follows reinforcement of the choice and decision. This activates the creative and dynamic energies necessary to accomplish one's goal/purpose. Compare this with Bennett's "commitments".

5. Planning and a program are needed. Methods of execution come into play as are considerations of time, circumstances , conditions.

6. At last there is the steering of the execution.



Will is like a director of a play. It is the supervisor of the whole process.
It looks to me that the whole gamut of human functions is concerned in this process: from will to imagination to motivation to discrimination to planning down to the physical execution
(sensori-motor function). QUite impressive! The physical execution itself is not a function of will, but the steering of that part is.


So, hyparxis is a very wide term. I think I prefer the term will-process as it clarefies much better what's going on (especially as elucidated by Assagioli). Eternal patterns play a role in the will-process as these patterns have to do with the possibilities/goals from which to choose.

This treatment also reveals that there are several energies playing a role in the will-process.

Potentially we are speaking of all the cosmic energies (E1 to E4 in Bennett's system), where the higher energies are working in "transcendent will" (let's say, super-spiritual will), down to,
say, sensitivity/vitality as interface with the biological world.

I already showed that this process needs at least a tetrad to describe important aspects, such as goal vs ground, skills vs deliberation/decision making. See my article on the tetrad. (http://m_euser.tripod.com/newvisiontetrad.pdf)
Higher order systems are needed to express significance, structure, etc., but these can be found in Dramatic Universe, volume 3.

Summarizing, we see that patterns and will have to work together in a complicated process where all human faculties have their role. There remains a ton to be researched. From another point of view for example, I see the six main energies (shaktis) from Vedantic lore playing a role in this
will-process, scaled down from cosmic to human proportion. Another question pertains to the working of Bennett's energies (E1 to E12). It looks now to me that he omitted a number of
important points/elements/elementals in his system. Combinations of energies or "principles" is another thing to have a look at.
But all that is material for other postings at some other time.

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Posted by m_euser at 5:06 PM MEST

Updated: Wednesday, 13 June 2007 4:45 PM MEST

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In my previous postings I discussed fanatics, corrupt or misguided governments, etc.

It will be clear that inversion of values has taken place in the minds and acts of individuals and groups concerned.  I could give many more examples, but you can easily find your own.

This posting is about enlightenment, specifically about notions of "absolute enlightenment". There are quite a few out there who think that  enlightenment means some "absolute point" or even endpoint of consciousness, eternal bliss, etc., etc.

"Infinite compassion" and the like would be attributes of this state of mind.

'God' only knows how such notions ever entered into our culture, Eastern or Western. First of all, how could a limited mind be associated with such "infinite" consciousness? No, it just can't be that way. Enlightenment is a process, neverending, because there is no end. There are relative end-points   and transitory points where so-called initiations take place, but  I won't discuss that here (better read my e-book on that). What I say here is well known to all true esoterists. You can also read about it in some works of De Purucker (see my articles).  
P.S.: single quotes around "God" are a semantic device to remind readers that a referent does not exist for that word (or is difficult to find). See my articles on Vitvan.

Derrida, the post-modern philosopher, also has made it plausible that such absolute notions about enlightenment or transcendence cannot stand. I may say more about him in another article.  Not that he seems to have grasped much about ontology (hardly any Western philosopher has) let alone about the spheres of life, consciousness, spirit-driven creativity, etc., but that cannot  be dealt with here. These are vast topics.

 What I particularly liked about Derrida were his ideas about the danger of the notion of Unity. Again, a topic that would lend itself to a volume or so. Briefly, there is a danger of condemning people who have different opinions and attitudes than believers in some final Unity. That is correct, I think. The fine theosopher WIlliam Quan Judge has written a little about that too, in Echoes of the Orient (questions and answers). He speaks against imposed uniformity of language, clothing habits, etc., if I remember correctly.

There are many ideas about Unity. Derrida believes in fundamental Duality, which can be argued for in favour. From a different angle, one can argue for qualified monism, as Vitvan does. I believe that the latter means that there are gradations in development of beings, but some stream or Essence goes through all, in one holarchy that is, and there are an infinity of holarchies. There is a fundamental difference between beings, otherwise these would not be different, but the same. Sounds tautological? Perhaps, but a horse is a horse and a flower is a flower and not a horse. The difference is a given thing, an essential difference. (I will see what Derrida exactly means by his word différance, it seems related to some of this discussion). More about that later.

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Posted by m_euser at 12:55 AM MEST

Updated: Friday, 1 June 2007 5:36 PM MEST

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Another very striking example of inversion of values is the substitution /preference of youthfulness and sex-appeal for mature age and life-experience.
Think about this for awhile.. Values of a fast and superficial life are being preferred to the wisdom that elderly age can bring. Recognize this?
The media play an important role in this. Concurrent with this is the emphasis on appearance. It is only sad that so many women fail to develop a healthy self-image. Men do not do much better, I believe.

ANother striking example of degenerated values concerns the substitution of image for truth. The newsmedia are only interested in soundbites and quick flashes of a scene instead of careful interpretation of events. Those who know how to use the media to their advantage can easily demolish someone's reputation in seconds. 

 It is the fast-food society (in the broadest sense of the word) that kills any value of healthy food, healthy work-leasure proportion, etc., that eventually kills people by overweight, stress, superficiality, etc. Either literally kills people or psychologically makes dumb people. I do not only refer to fast-food habits but especially to the above mentioned perversions in all the ramifications of these.

 Future generations will probably think these were crazy times and I would have to concur. DId I mention the use of fear to manipulate people? You see, that's another insidious mechanism used to control people. Countless repetitions of images of planes crashing into the twin towers (9/11) was a surefire way to inculcate fear in the minds of people. It's an old trick constantly used by advertizers: repeat again an again until the image "burns into the subconscious of people". In the above case it is about instilling fear in order to impose measures without much protest from citizens. Even change laws to the extreme.

George Orwell's "1984"may very well be happening now. Big brother is watching you. Your phonelines are being tapped, your email checked, your whereabouts monitored. If you use a cellphone your location is known all the time, if the thing is switched on, that is.

Naomi Wolf has written a noteworthy piece on the degradation of democracy  as I call it. Anyway, what type of democracy is it where money and lots of it buys you power and a presidency? Not much room for wise statesmen or stateswomen there.

Where will this society go? Will the people wake up?  

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Posted by m_euser at 9:28 PM MEST

Updated: Friday, 1 June 2007 5:37 PM MEST

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This world is a hazardous world. Bennett talks about it especially in volume 2 of his Dramatic Universe series. The lowest form of hazard is mechanical. A simple example is not paying attention to the car before you on the road that suddenly hit the brakes. One second of inattentiveness in that situation can kill you and maybe others as well. It could be that you were distracted by someone on the other half of the road doing something crazy. The point is, that existence is full of such and other hazards. It is typical for existence (but not for essence). 

Other examples can be given for the reactional-world or sphere. I particularly think of emotional reactions by way of evaluation of communication signals/signs/words.  Someone  clinging to  certain concepts about life (example:belief-systems, religions) may react strongly to issues of sex, alcohol, eating meat, other belief-systems, etc. The point is, such persons may be under heavy influence of so-called "inverted triangles". This is a deep subject that has to do with how essence penetrates into existence. A clear example would be terrorists who see violence as a legitimate way to express their opinion. Although the opinion may contain some trace of truth (like degeneration of behavioral standards), the overall form of their vision has taken a degenerate shape. It has become a mirror-image of essential truth. Something to ponder about!

 Bennett treats of forms of conditioned will in his second volume of Dramatic Universe. Quite interesting, though not very much elaborated, unfortunately. There is plenty of room for keen researchers to further shape these thoughts into a psychology of inverted Essence.

Existence and Essence by their interaction give rise to a whole lot of laws (that take the form of triads in Bennett's system), a whole gamut  from mechanical to psychological. This should be studied very carefully and correlated to one's own experience. 

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Posted by m_euser at 3:18 PM MEST

Updated: Friday, 1 June 2007 5:38 PM MEST

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Many religions seem to imply absolutist ideas about 'God', Good and Evil, Heaven and Hell, Salvation, and so on.

A little proper thinking , however, reveals that such absolutist notions are untenable. Related to this is the fact that many followers of religions seem to think that their sacred writings (Bible, Qoran, etc.)  are absolute truth. One simply has to compare religions with each other to see that many contradictory statements can be found in these diverse religions. That realization should be enough to dismiss any absolutist claim from the side of religion and its followers. There may be a bit of relative truth in religions, but that's all there will be, imo.  Now, experience of inner worlds, that's something different (although still relative to context, level of development, and perhaps to the society of which one is a part). Study my free e-book on my site m_euser.tripod.com
and you will start to understand what I am talking about. Maybe there is One Truth, but there are many truths, as Gautama Buddha tells us. In other words, humans are limited in perception and understanding and can never claim to understand the whole Truth. Maybe little parts of it, called 'truth', relative to one's understanding, that's all what's possible.

Absolute good and evil don't exist, as far as esoterism teaches us. What is appropriate in one sphere of life can be utterly out of place in another situation or context. Relative evil does exist: it's like the clash of wills, especially acts and thoughts not in harmony with the situation. 

All this has something to do with post-modern ideas, but not with the extreme forms of these as a total relativity of values means to deny the existence of levels of morality, etc., which has been proven to exist (Kohlberg). Also, total (absolute!) relativity annihilates post-modernism itself as is immediately obvious, because other philosophies would be as valuable as post-modern philosophy which surely is not what the extreme relativists have in mind. Total relativity simply is lousy thinking.

You know, there are gradations in everything: love, hate, evil, good, selfishness and selflessness, etc. All rather obvious, but necessary to bring to the forum for reminding people who lack nuance in mind and thought.

In this regard we need also remember that it is only relatively recent, since the beginning of the 20th century that Einstein's relativity-theory changed the notions of absolute time and space held in science at that time.
Imagine the confusion at that time. No absolute time? What is time anyway? Without going into too abstruse discussions we could speculate a bit about "the creation of time" brought about by photons interacting with matter. Events, as they are called in physics, change the world, bit by bit.
Is motion the outer cause of time-experience? Acceleration? Perhaps.
Is recurrence a manifestation of 'time'? Or the reverse? Cycles are very important in nature. Think of maintenance/renewal (a form of recurrence, it seems). Is recurrence a manifestation of a timeless pattern?
Quite possible. You see, 'time' may be different on the molecular/atomic/subatomic level than on the mental level. Psychological experience involves diverse patterns and  faculties (sensori-motor,memory, history/context, interpretation, etc.). It  is all worth a deeper investigation than philosophers and scientists have been attempting up to today.
If you can contribute anything substantial, why not post a comment?

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Posted by m_euser at 10:10 PM MEST

Updated: Friday, 1 June 2007 5:39 PM MEST

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Last week I watched an episode of Oprah where she talked with the producer and in some way affiliated authors of a DVD called "The Secret".

 The basic idea behind this "secret" is often called "the law of attraction". Loosely stated this law boils down to "you manifest those events/situations in your life where your mind is attuned to".

Now that is part of what I have been talking about in my theosophical writings (see articles on this site). In that sense I have promulgated that idea (for free) for over a decade.  

In my writings I have added some comments about this "law" which I want to  elaborate here (and perhaps in a follow-up) .

You know, one should take into account several factors that play a role in one's life besides this law of attraction. Think of the following: 

• influence of the environment, milieu, etc.
• health, age, temperament
• past and future karma of self and others
• cyclic factors, "Zeitgeist"

 This list will be enough for the moment.

I think it will be abundantly clear that one's environment exerts a powerful influence on  oneself. If you don't understand that, then have a look at ghetto's, slums and other concentrations of misery in this world. Then ask yourself what influences you send into the environment!

 Young children have often little choice but to undergo the negative influence of other kids and adults. Hundreds of millions of children in India alone have been abused in one form or another. The same story applies to the rest of the world. So, this "order peace of mind, wealth, health, etc. from the universe" idea  that is often preached in newage circles, seems a little cheap to me. Did the victims of war ("collateral damage") in Worldwar II, Vietnam, Iraq, Darfur, etc., etc., order these events? How cruel to think in such a way! What about ill health? Just "order good health from the universe" and expect it to arrive within a couple of days/weeks/months? What a simplistic vision of the world!

 No,  one has to be a bit more realistic than that. As  studies in physics and biology show, there are almost invariably "lag-factors" in play, e.g. one's body needs time to adjust to a new environment, diet, exercises (not only physical but mental ones too!). Thinking about that, one's mind also needs time to adjust to new insights, new information. The lag involved differs for different people and different situations. An open society with responsive people will simply allow a freer flow of creative energy (see Bennett about energy types and qualities). That kind of energy is needed to change situations for the better! The higher type of creative energy is impersonal, and may follow ways that the personality may never expect in the first place. "Ordering a $5,000 income a month from the universe" may turn out a little different than expected. You may have to work a little harder than you are prepared to in order to earn that amount..

Where's the ethic in all this "ordering business?". It looks very much a self-centered, consumerist affair to me. Not very spiritual at all. Think about that. 

 One cannot expect that someone with bad health just "magically" can turn  into a vibrant healthy person.Common sense shows that that is next to impossible. 

Having said all this, it is of course wise to adopt a positive attitude towards life, in thinking, feeling and action. A constructive attitude, based on understanding of life, will inevitably bring benefits to self and others.

As all true religions teach, selfless service to others is the road to fulfillment.  Then one will tune in to deeper levels of reality, one's inner pattern, and things will start to shift from the inside out, instead of from the outside in (external factors). But one has to follow one's passion in doing all this, nothing contrived or it will fail.

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Posted by m_euser at 1:04 PM MEST

Updated: Sunday, 15 July 2007 11:51 PM MEST

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