In the open head section part 4, Ra explains, "Everything you think, say and do occurs biologically before you even think it - you (the mind part), are just a passenger to yourself". He goes on to say "no one gets it"... well I would like to get it. So our mind is not putting the thought there - it is already there because of the self? What is the self? Is it the 'design' that changes our physiology, that impacts our neurology & other body systems or is it the magnetic monopole who is the actual driver of our vehicle that initiates everything before the cascade of events that the mind thinks it's responsible for? If it is possible to elaborate on what Ra said I would really appreciate the clarity. I don't know if this is a chicken before the egg conversation or not. Thanks
The first thing to understand is that we are a programmed being which also defines the limitations of each form. We are too smart for our own good being so immersed in the mind as we finish up the "mind business" to quote Ra. So we are very heady right now in our evolutionary point leading to that "vanity vanity all is vanity" quote from Solomon. As mind has pretty much controlled our illusional life leaving it's wake of mental anxiety we persist in winging it and think that the mind is creative. It's not; it's a mechanical process, a very difficult thing to swallow for us vain arrogant creatures as we try to grasp the no choice reality. It just structures the stuff that originates before the thought form. A humbling thought in itself.
Don, you did a really good job describing why no choice doesn't mean that life is fated. When I began in Design, I had a very hard time understanding, if there really is no choice, why did we bother even talking about strategy. But the point really is that, although we don't have free will, mutation can always take hold (due to feedback from things you've done/heard/said/experienced) and suddenly you find that you're doing something differently. (Suddenly, you notice you're following your strategy, for example.) This is why, as Ra says, no choice doesn't mean no chance. Things can suddenly change, a mutation can take hold, and no credit can be awarded to the participant for making the change. Conversely, no blame can be awarded either.
This is, I think, where the eastern mystical traditions talk about the illusion of ego (not to be confused with the heart center)--that there really is no "I" doing anything. We have the illusion of making choices (creating what contemplative traditions call ego). but of course, the choice has already been made. May as well relax and enjoy the ride!
The original question asked what is the self. If you look at that from the point of view of the G center, sense of self is simply about direction and love. I found that really funny, having learned much earlier in psychology that sense of self came from relationships (love) and career (direction). In that way, sense of self is all about movement in space and in relationship to other 'objects'. Undefined G's lack consistent access to those measures of self, and thus seek it out.
Yes, though the unconscious is a relative initiator. What determines unconscious impulses is a product of feedback loops that also integrate our consciousness. There is no independant decision maker in the process. "No master behind the veil pulling the strings." In Design, consciousness is given a 'back seat' role which stresses the 'Witness' function. The point that is not stressed is that the capacity of the 'Witness' to make Sense of; to Understand; and to Know: (while looking out the windows), is part of a feedback loop that influences the unconscous and its impulses. The conscious/unconscious feedback loop is self reinforcing and deeply ingrained over time, fixing our self-image and routines for responding to the environment. Design is designed to throw a wrench into this feedback loop (at the conscious and unconscioius level) by challenging fundamental preconceptions of self and the role of consciousness; such as moving the role of "I" from the drivers seat to the back seat; from initiator to responder and so forth.
I checked my "Exploring Consciousness" notes. Benjamin Libets was the experimentor using EEG to pick up signals from the cerebral cortex to determine the timing of events leading to consciously willed action. My times are off in previous reply. The conscious urge to initiate action took place .35-.4 seconds after signal, then another .2 seconds for action.
Thanks Don, that helps somewhat. It also leads to a whole new stream of questions... perhaps I best read the book! When you say everything is initiated .2 of a second before it comes into conscious thought, are you referring to the unconscious mind ( that which beats our heart, digests our food etc etc) as our decision maker that initiates everything?
This is a great topic. I was first introduced to this tidbit ("Every-thing you think, say and do is initiated in the deep gray areas of the brain one half second before conscious of it") by Ra, though this is not a Design revelation. I read a book last winter by Rita Carter called "Exploring Consciousness" which spoke of an experiment in 85' where not only action but internal decision making processes where shown to be initiated .2 seconds before conscious. Another .3 seconds was required for action. The experimentor(?) was a little agitated by his findings, which eluded to the illusion of free-will. He then decided that free-will was not totally lost if it played an inhibitory role, a 'free won't'. Well, it was quickly deternimed that every impusle has an unconscious precursor. My understanding in terms of Design is that the Magnetic Monopole and the Design crystal form a dynamic tension which manifests the Body and its unconscious processes. Before incarnation the Mag. Monopole and the Design crystal are ONE. There seperation at conception is what creates form, the fetus. Ironically the direction established by this seperation is to be one again, which is the end of the life process.
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