46
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47
Off Topic / Got my computer back from repair
« on: July 29, 2016, 01:02:42 PM »
so i have a dell inspiron 3147 and the people at dell repair thing had to replace the main logic board, which is basically the motherboard, 100gb of stuff is gone from my computer so im wandering if the replacements why im missing stuff, thenks lel
48
Off Topic / Made A Song, tell my what you think?
« on: July 18, 2016, 11:54:29 PM »
I dont know if its good or not, or if the beats repetitive, just let me know, thx
its chillhop genre
https://soundcloud.com/s1nergy/sinergy-talk-is-soul
its chillhop genre
https://soundcloud.com/s1nergy/sinergy-talk-is-soul
49
Off Topic / The ChillHop Cafe, 24/7 Stream Of Chillhop
« on: July 18, 2016, 10:18:17 AM »
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mx6t6E24SSM
The Chillhop Cafe is a 24 / 7 Live Stream channel on YouTube, with an extensive playlist of audio and video for you all to enjoy.
The Chillhop Cafe is a 24 / 7 Live Stream channel on YouTube, with an extensive playlist of audio and video for you all to enjoy.
50
Off Topic / My Bitcoin Miner forgeted Up
« on: July 13, 2016, 04:46:26 PM »
I already tried the bitcointalk.com forums and my account got locked out, i forgot the password and login, they wont send me an email, hopefully someone here can help
I have a bitmain antminer u3 and the mining indicator light turns on as soon as its plugged in and it wont connect to cgminer, i need some help plz
I have a bitmain antminer u3 and the mining indicator light turns on as soon as its plugged in and it wont connect to cgminer, i need some help plz
51
Off Topic / How do I make Lo-Fi Chill music?
« on: July 08, 2016, 10:21:46 PM »
Now, wen it comes to music, I only know my way around a guitar a little, but I've discovered the genre lo-fi Chill, I love it, it's so unique and beautiful, now I wanna make it, I've seen some threads on Reddit where people use a 4 track cassette player to record some sounds, put it on a computer and yata yata yata, any one here know how to make it? What hardware do I need, what software do I need? Thx
52
Off Topic / i guess i should apologize for my stupidity...
« on: July 08, 2016, 02:54:27 PM »
I know this may seem irrelevant, but im sorry
Im sorry for all the stupid, meaningless posts i may have posted in the past.
Some of which i actually meant in good intentions, but they spiraled out of control
Im sorry for my ignorance, hard headedness, and idiocy, its my own falt and im sorry
im also sorry im not good at apologies or that theirs so many sorry's in this post already im turning canadian
but i just felt, kinda like an idiot and felt like i had to apologize for my actions
it may seem unrelated, but how do i remove a deep splinter under my fingernail? i tried with tweezers and it didnt work.
Im sorry for all the stupid, meaningless posts i may have posted in the past.
Some of which i actually meant in good intentions, but they spiraled out of control
Im sorry for my ignorance, hard headedness, and idiocy, its my own falt and im sorry
im also sorry im not good at apologies or that theirs so many sorry's in this post already im turning canadian
but i just felt, kinda like an idiot and felt like i had to apologize for my actions
it may seem unrelated, but how do i remove a deep splinter under my fingernail? i tried with tweezers and it didnt work.
53
Off Topic / Directv forgeted us over, how do I hack/reuse the hardware?
« on: June 25, 2016, 02:57:41 PM »
They took $399 from us, AFTER we left them, and we have a box full of stuff like the dvr, AT&T pace router, a u-verse cable box, wires and remotes, what type of hacking/programming can I do with some of this hardware?
54
Off Topic / Schizophrenia test
« on: June 24, 2016, 12:50:30 PM »
http://www.healthyplace.com/psychological-tests/schizophrenia-screening-test/
I scored 11.00
0-9 not likely
10-14 early stages
15+ schizo
I scored 11.00
0-9 not likely
10-14 early stages
15+ schizo
55
Off Topic / The End Of Materalism: by Charles Tart
« on: June 12, 2016, 08:52:24 PM »
The End Of Materialism: by Charles Tart
Its kinda controversial i think cause i found it in the library section of the hidden wiki
*NOTE* its kinda long
Chapter 1
Spiritual Seeking in a World
That Thinks It’s All Nonsense
* * *
SPIRITUAL (Middle English [origin: Old French and Modern French “spirituel” from Latin “spiritualis,” from “spiritus”; see
spirit noun, “-al”]): (1) Of, pertaining to, or affecting the spirit or soul, especially from a religious aspect. (2)
Standing in a relationship to another based on matters of the soul. (3) Of a person: devout, pious; morally good.—Shorter
Oxford English Dictionary, 6th ed., s.v. “spiritual”
* * *
In the introduction, I said that modern science, which has given us so much, declares seekers or the spiritually inclined,
at best, softheaded folks who are wasting their time because they’re unwilling to be properly scientific in their view of what is and isn’t real and, at worst, superstitious fools, probably with serious stupidity or a psychopathology driving them to seek the spiritual. (Actually it’s not essential science that tells us this but scientism, a rigidified and dogmatic corruption of science that we’ll have a lot to say about later.)
To illustrate the scientistic dismissal of the spiritual, here’s what Bertrand Russell (1872–1970), one of the giants of
mathematics, philosophy, and logic, and an important influence on the development of modern science, stated on the matter
of the religious and spiritual (1923, 6–7):
That man is the product of causes which had no prevision of the end they were achieving; that his origin, his growth, his
hopes and fears, his loves and his beliefs, are but the outcome of accidental collocations of atoms; that no fire,
no heroism, no intensity of thought or feeling, can preserve an individual life beyond the grave; that all the labours of
the ages, all the devotion, all the inspiration, all the noonday brightness of human genius, are destined to extinction
in the vast death of the solar system; and the whole temple of Man’s achievement must inevitably be buried beneath the
debris of a universe in ruins—all these things, if not quite beyond dispute, are yet so nearly certain, that no philosophy
that rejects them can hope to stand. Only within the scaffolding of these truths, only on the firm foundation of
unyielding despair, can the soul’s habitation henceforth be safely built.
If a really brilliant person like Russell believes this philosophy of total materialism, it’s rather difficult to put
much effort into practices like meditation and prayer, or even into the serious study of spiritual ideas. Most of what
we think of as our higher values derives from spirituality and religion: are they all invalidated as nonsense? Is ethics
truly the proper conduct of life? If materialism is really true, my reaction is eat, drink, and be merry (and don’t get
caught by others if they don’t approve of your pleasures), for tomorrow we die—and life doesn’t mean anything anyway.
If ideas like this were strictly a matter of formal philosophical and scientific theories, all believed, disbelieved, or
argued about quite consciously and logically, they wouldn’t have too much of a pathological effect on our lives. But when
any philosophy or belief system, spiritual or materialistic, sinks below consciousness in much of its operation, simply
shaping our perceptions and thoughts without our being aware of it, we tend to become enslaved by it. This is especially
true because modern psychology has demonstrated over and over again that much of what we call “perception” is not a
straightforward taking in of what’s actually in the world around us, of reality, but rather a form of automatized, very
rapid “thinking,” a processing of perception that can be strongly biased by our beliefs and conditioning so that
perception is slanted or biased to apparently validate what we already believe. We have the old adage, “Seeing is
believing,” but we have to include the opposite also: “Believing is seeing.” Furthermore, the “reality” you obviously
“see” is a major determinant of what you feel, so your slanted perception can strongly bias your emotions.
If you deeply and largely unconsciously believe, to use a simple example, that people are basically brutal and nasty, that
they’re mere chimpanzees at heart, you’ll “see” instance after instance of it. It’s not that you see some event and then
consciously think about the fact that it could be interpreted as validating your belief that people are brutal and nasty;
rather you tend to automatically see brutal and nasty events all around you, which naturally reinforces your basic beliefs
that people are brutal and nasty. If you deeply and largely unconsciously believe, on the other hand, that people are basically good (although their goodness is often veiled in a difficult world), you’ll tend to “see” instance after instance of people trying to do the right thing, even when it’s difficult, again, reinforcing your basic beliefs.
I’m optimistic about people, and I realize that my belief system may well bias me in unrealistic ways to see evidence for
this. I also firmly believe that we need to seek greater truth about people and the world as much as possible, whether
we’re optimists or pessimists, so self-knowledge, understanding how your own mind works, is vitally important, as
important as—or in many instances, more important than—knowledge of external things. One of the things I like about
essential science is that in the long run (but sometimes it seems way too long!), proper science, as we’ll see in detail
later, has self-correction processes built into it that filter out erroneous views and reinforce useful ones.
Meanwhile, in the short run, we need to know ourselves as well as our world in order to live more effective lives.
As a psychologist I long ago became aware that many people had semiconscious or unconscious contradictions in their deep
belief systems that interfered with their lives. In terms of our specific interests, spiritual possibilities, I’ve talked with innumerable people who consciously thought of themselves as spiritual seekers, who were often quite knowledgeable about spiritual matters but, nevertheless, had something in them holding them back, doubting, sabotaging, and invalidating their own spiritual experiences and knowledge.
To help people increase their self-knowledge in this area, I devised a belief experiment, the Western Creed exercise,
to use in my occasional workshops. A belief experiment is basically a matter of consciously and temporarily believing
something as best you can for a set period, while observing your emotional and bodily reactions to holding that belief.
I've taken widespread and popular materialistically based ideas (often thought of as scientific "facts") that are very
current and powerful in modern culture, and put them in a form that sounds a lot like a religious creed. (In fact,
I based this on the formal structure of the Nicene Creed, but note that this isn't intended as a comment on Christianity;
rather it's simply making use of a form with religious overtones that's familiar to a lot of people.)
The best way to experience the Western Creed exercise is do it along with my students in an online video hosted by the
Institute of Transpersonal Psychology (ITP) (see www.alternativedesignsolution s.com/itp/Tart_ITP.html).
If you can do that, I recommend that you stop reading this chapter now and go to the website. If you can’t do that, you
can do the written version in the remainder of this chapter, but you can probably get more of an experiential feeling for
it by doing it with the online video.
If you’ve decided to do the written version, here we go, working with pretty much the same text as on the website.
Western Creed Exercise
Disclaimer: Please note that the following exercise is a learning exercise and doesn’t necessarily reflect my actual
beliefs or values or those of any institution I’m connected with, nor is it intended as specific criticism of any
religious or spiritual system.
Warning: This experiential exercise was developed for use with mature spiritual seekers who deeply value truth and
self-knowledge, and are willing to risk temporary or permanent challenges to their current belief systems in the course
of seeking more truth. It’s probably not suitable for children and those with excessive emotional and intellectual
attachments to their current belief systems. It’s not essential that you do this exercise.
Transpersonal psychology, still a very young and incomplete branch of knowledge, attempts, on the one hand, to take the
spiritual heritage of humanity as being about something real and of enormous importance while, on the other hand, also
considering all that we know about human psychology, our good and bad points. Its long-term goals include separating the
real from the unreal in the spiritual area as well as discovering how psychological factors can both help and hinder the
realization of the spiritual in actual life.
I was one of the founders of transpersonal psychology, and long ago I noticed that many people might consciously aim at
high spiritual goals, but their progress toward realizing such goals was often seriously hindered by various
psychological factors, ranging from conscious and unconscious attitudes developed by each of us in our personal lives,
to general cultural attitudes and beliefs inculcated in and shared by most of us who live in the current era. In the
early 1980s I designed this experiential exercise, the Western Creed, for my classes and workshops to sensitize spiritual
seekers to some of the major cultural attitudes and obstacles we moderns share in our search.
When you don’t know you have a semiconscious or unconscious attitude or obstacle that interferes with your search,
it hinders you, and there’s little you can do about it, because you tend to project the problem as being “out there.”
When you know that some of your beliefs and attitudes may be hindering your search, you have an opportunity to try to
understand and do something about them.
The Western Creed exercise takes about twenty minutes to do. Ideally you should take part in it just as the filmed
participants (students in one of my classes at ITP) in the online video do, standing at attention in front of your
computer where you can see and hear the video and repeat the Western Creed exercise words aloud, according to the
instructions I give there, and then sit quietly for a few minutes afterward, noting your bodily and emotional sensations
and feelings. You can approximate this now by propping up this book so that you can read it while standing at attention
in front of it. You might find it best to do this exercise alone or with friends who also participate rather than just
watch you.
If this isn’t a good time right now, it would be best to wait for the right time. The Western Creed exercise is most
effective the first time you do it wholeheartedly, and it may dull with repetition.
Most people don’t “enjoy” this exercise, for they see some of the contradictions in themselves, but almost all agree
that they feel wiser about themselves and thus better able to continue their spiritual search.
You’ll see the word “scientistic” a lot in this book. This isn’t an erroneous spelling of “scientific” but, rather, a
shorthand way of reminding us that beliefs in science can become psychologically rigid instead of open to experimental
testing, as they always are in essential science. There’s much to be said for being open and flexible about examining our
own beliefs, any beliefs, testing them rather than letting them become rigid.
Your main task will be to observe your bodily and emotional reactions to doing the exercise. You needn’t bother to
intellectually brown townyze while it’s going on; you can do that later, after you’ve observed your feelings.
You’ll probably want to take some notes on your reactions, so you might get a pen or pencil and something to write on
before going further.
This is an exercise in finding out what you believe. Every one of us is a philosopher, even though we don’t know it.
Every one of us has a set of beliefs about the way the world is, the way we are, what’s a good life, and what’s a bad
life. In fact we have a lot of beliefs about things like that, and a lot of them, we don’t even know we have. We’ve
arrived at some of our beliefs consciously, thinking about our life experience and what we can make of it, but a lot
of our beliefs have simply been imposed on us by virtue of being around at the particular times in the particular
culture that we live in.
In transpersonal psychology, we’re interested in spiritual and transcendent matters, and tend to think of ourselves as
having spiritual belief systems of one sort or another. But we’re also products of the twentieth and twenty-first
centuries, where a kind of scientistic materialism is a dominant belief system that has many, many effects on us.
As a psychologist, I’ve become more and more convinced that the things we believe and know we believe can be
intelligently used as tools, because we can see how well they work, question them if they don’t work well,
and think about changing them. Things that we believe that we don’t know we believe, though, are like a set of chains.
They just automatically affect our perceptions and thoughts, and trap us.
So one of the things that’s important in any kind of psychological or personal or spiritual growth is becoming more
consciously aware of what it is that you actually believe, especially if it’s contradictory to what you previously
thought you believed.
I often do workshops or classes for people who think of themselves as very spiritually oriented, who think they’re not
held back by materialistic ideas and can just move ahead into the spiritual realms with no conflict. And I can
intellectually tell people that we all have certain beliefs just as a result of being part of our culture, but knowing
it intellectually and knowing it more deeply at a bodily and emotional level is quite a different sort of thing.
This exercise, which I call a belief experiment, is something that I devised some years ago. A belief experiment is a
process in which I ask you to believe something for a limited period, say, ten or twenty minutes. Then we do something in
accordance with that belief system or further define that belief system while you believe it. But your job isn’t to
intellectually question the beliefs at that point; instead, it’s to notice how your body and emotions feel as we go
through the belief exercise. You’re collecting data from this experiment. Then I usually ask people to share what some of
these reactions were, because your own and others’ reactions often tell you things you don’t know about what you believe
and disbelieve.
Now, how do you just go ahead and believe things? At first, that sounds like a ridiculous sort of idea. But, as an
example, every time you go to a movie, you perform a belief exercise. You don’t sit there in a movie saying, “Those
aren’t real images in front of me; those are just lights reflecting on a screen. I’m really just sitting here in this
seat, and nothing’s really happening.” You believe in the movie; otherwise you don’t enjoy it at all. Another example
is anyone who’s ever played a game like Monopoly; you have to be practiced in believing to enjoy playing it. For a short
period, those little pieces of wood and paper are very important to you, and you get very excited about them.
It’s the same with a belief experiment. You just “play the game,” as it were, letting yourself get into it for the
limited period that you have to do it.
To do this belief experiment, first ask your inner self, “Is it all right to take a chance on believing something
that hasn’t even been defined yet, in order to find out something about myself?”
1. Just close your eyes for a moment and ask your inner self, “Is it all right to do this?”
2. Take as much time as you need to get an answer.
3. If you get a yes, fine; open your eyes again.
4. If you get a no, bargain with your inner self a little. It’s only for ten to fifteen minutes. It might be interesting.
See if you get an “okay” or a “maybe” answer to that.
5. If you still get a no, you can just fake going through the motions of the belief experiment, because you can learn a
lot from that also!
6. Take a few moments to get some kind of permission. (Wait for permission before reading on.)
To use some of the social conditioning we’ve been subjected to as an aid to making this belief experiment more alive and
involving for you so that you can see things better, I’d like for you to stand up and erect, as if at attention, while
continuing to hold this book. (If you’re doing this in a group, it’s best if all of you stand at attention in neat,
orderly rows.)
Now we’re going to do responsive recitation. In a group I’d read out a phrase or line from the Western Creed, and you’d
then repeat it aloud. In this solitary book form, you’ll silently read a phrase—a dash marks the pause between each
phrase—and then repeat it out loud in a solid, formal way, as if you were pledging allegiance to your flag or reciting a
creed in church.
For example—if a sentence were hyphenated like this—to illustrate the process, you’d read, “For example,” pause a moment,
say, “For example” out loud, pause several moments while observing your bodily and emotional feelings, then read “if a
sentence were hyphenated like this” to yourself, pause a moment, read it aloud, pause several moments to observe, and so
on. Note that some words are set in boldface or italics too, meaning that you should give them a little more emphasis
when reciting aloud.
I’ve taken widespread and popular materialistically based ideas (often thought of a scientific “facts”) that are very
current and powerful in modern culture, and put them in a form that sounds a lot like a religious creed.
In fact, I based this on the formal structure of the Nicene Creed, but note that this isn’t intended as a comment on
Christianity; rather it’s simply making use of a form with religious overtones that’s familiar to a lot of people.
You’ll read a phrase that’s separated from others by dashes, pause a moment in between to silently observe yourself,
and then repeat it aloud.
To further use our social conditioning to increase the intensity of the Western Creed exercise, now place your right
hand over your heart, continuing to stand at attention, as if you were pledging allegiance to your country’s flag. (The
right hand over the heart is a specifically American version, but if you have another form from your own culture, feel
free to use it.)
Don’t intellectually brown townyze this Western Creed and your reactions as we go through it. I recognize that you may be a
world-class intellect who can logically tear this Creed and exercise to bits or use a barrage of clever thoughts to
shield you from the effects of what you’re doing, but that’s not the point: the point is to do it and observe your
emotional and bodily reactions. After the belief experiment is over, you can intellectually brown townyze to your heart’s
content. For now, notice how your body feels and any emotional feelings, even if fleeting or faint.
Now we begin. Remember to pause a few seconds in between each phrase that’s separated from others by dashes to note your
bodily and emotional feelings.
End Chapter 1, lemme know if you want me to continue
Its kinda controversial i think cause i found it in the library section of the hidden wiki
*NOTE* its kinda long
Chapter 1
Spiritual Seeking in a World
That Thinks It’s All Nonsense
* * *
SPIRITUAL (Middle English [origin: Old French and Modern French “spirituel” from Latin “spiritualis,” from “spiritus”; see
spirit noun, “-al”]): (1) Of, pertaining to, or affecting the spirit or soul, especially from a religious aspect. (2)
Standing in a relationship to another based on matters of the soul. (3) Of a person: devout, pious; morally good.—Shorter
Oxford English Dictionary, 6th ed., s.v. “spiritual”
* * *
In the introduction, I said that modern science, which has given us so much, declares seekers or the spiritually inclined,
at best, softheaded folks who are wasting their time because they’re unwilling to be properly scientific in their view of what is and isn’t real and, at worst, superstitious fools, probably with serious stupidity or a psychopathology driving them to seek the spiritual. (Actually it’s not essential science that tells us this but scientism, a rigidified and dogmatic corruption of science that we’ll have a lot to say about later.)
To illustrate the scientistic dismissal of the spiritual, here’s what Bertrand Russell (1872–1970), one of the giants of
mathematics, philosophy, and logic, and an important influence on the development of modern science, stated on the matter
of the religious and spiritual (1923, 6–7):
That man is the product of causes which had no prevision of the end they were achieving; that his origin, his growth, his
hopes and fears, his loves and his beliefs, are but the outcome of accidental collocations of atoms; that no fire,
no heroism, no intensity of thought or feeling, can preserve an individual life beyond the grave; that all the labours of
the ages, all the devotion, all the inspiration, all the noonday brightness of human genius, are destined to extinction
in the vast death of the solar system; and the whole temple of Man’s achievement must inevitably be buried beneath the
debris of a universe in ruins—all these things, if not quite beyond dispute, are yet so nearly certain, that no philosophy
that rejects them can hope to stand. Only within the scaffolding of these truths, only on the firm foundation of
unyielding despair, can the soul’s habitation henceforth be safely built.
If a really brilliant person like Russell believes this philosophy of total materialism, it’s rather difficult to put
much effort into practices like meditation and prayer, or even into the serious study of spiritual ideas. Most of what
we think of as our higher values derives from spirituality and religion: are they all invalidated as nonsense? Is ethics
truly the proper conduct of life? If materialism is really true, my reaction is eat, drink, and be merry (and don’t get
caught by others if they don’t approve of your pleasures), for tomorrow we die—and life doesn’t mean anything anyway.
If ideas like this were strictly a matter of formal philosophical and scientific theories, all believed, disbelieved, or
argued about quite consciously and logically, they wouldn’t have too much of a pathological effect on our lives. But when
any philosophy or belief system, spiritual or materialistic, sinks below consciousness in much of its operation, simply
shaping our perceptions and thoughts without our being aware of it, we tend to become enslaved by it. This is especially
true because modern psychology has demonstrated over and over again that much of what we call “perception” is not a
straightforward taking in of what’s actually in the world around us, of reality, but rather a form of automatized, very
rapid “thinking,” a processing of perception that can be strongly biased by our beliefs and conditioning so that
perception is slanted or biased to apparently validate what we already believe. We have the old adage, “Seeing is
believing,” but we have to include the opposite also: “Believing is seeing.” Furthermore, the “reality” you obviously
“see” is a major determinant of what you feel, so your slanted perception can strongly bias your emotions.
If you deeply and largely unconsciously believe, to use a simple example, that people are basically brutal and nasty, that
they’re mere chimpanzees at heart, you’ll “see” instance after instance of it. It’s not that you see some event and then
consciously think about the fact that it could be interpreted as validating your belief that people are brutal and nasty;
rather you tend to automatically see brutal and nasty events all around you, which naturally reinforces your basic beliefs
that people are brutal and nasty. If you deeply and largely unconsciously believe, on the other hand, that people are basically good (although their goodness is often veiled in a difficult world), you’ll tend to “see” instance after instance of people trying to do the right thing, even when it’s difficult, again, reinforcing your basic beliefs.
I’m optimistic about people, and I realize that my belief system may well bias me in unrealistic ways to see evidence for
this. I also firmly believe that we need to seek greater truth about people and the world as much as possible, whether
we’re optimists or pessimists, so self-knowledge, understanding how your own mind works, is vitally important, as
important as—or in many instances, more important than—knowledge of external things. One of the things I like about
essential science is that in the long run (but sometimes it seems way too long!), proper science, as we’ll see in detail
later, has self-correction processes built into it that filter out erroneous views and reinforce useful ones.
Meanwhile, in the short run, we need to know ourselves as well as our world in order to live more effective lives.
As a psychologist I long ago became aware that many people had semiconscious or unconscious contradictions in their deep
belief systems that interfered with their lives. In terms of our specific interests, spiritual possibilities, I’ve talked with innumerable people who consciously thought of themselves as spiritual seekers, who were often quite knowledgeable about spiritual matters but, nevertheless, had something in them holding them back, doubting, sabotaging, and invalidating their own spiritual experiences and knowledge.
To help people increase their self-knowledge in this area, I devised a belief experiment, the Western Creed exercise,
to use in my occasional workshops. A belief experiment is basically a matter of consciously and temporarily believing
something as best you can for a set period, while observing your emotional and bodily reactions to holding that belief.
I've taken widespread and popular materialistically based ideas (often thought of as scientific "facts") that are very
current and powerful in modern culture, and put them in a form that sounds a lot like a religious creed. (In fact,
I based this on the formal structure of the Nicene Creed, but note that this isn't intended as a comment on Christianity;
rather it's simply making use of a form with religious overtones that's familiar to a lot of people.)
The best way to experience the Western Creed exercise is do it along with my students in an online video hosted by the
Institute of Transpersonal Psychology (ITP) (see www.alternativedesignsolution s.com/itp/Tart_ITP.html).
If you can do that, I recommend that you stop reading this chapter now and go to the website. If you can’t do that, you
can do the written version in the remainder of this chapter, but you can probably get more of an experiential feeling for
it by doing it with the online video.
If you’ve decided to do the written version, here we go, working with pretty much the same text as on the website.
Western Creed Exercise
Disclaimer: Please note that the following exercise is a learning exercise and doesn’t necessarily reflect my actual
beliefs or values or those of any institution I’m connected with, nor is it intended as specific criticism of any
religious or spiritual system.
Warning: This experiential exercise was developed for use with mature spiritual seekers who deeply value truth and
self-knowledge, and are willing to risk temporary or permanent challenges to their current belief systems in the course
of seeking more truth. It’s probably not suitable for children and those with excessive emotional and intellectual
attachments to their current belief systems. It’s not essential that you do this exercise.
Transpersonal psychology, still a very young and incomplete branch of knowledge, attempts, on the one hand, to take the
spiritual heritage of humanity as being about something real and of enormous importance while, on the other hand, also
considering all that we know about human psychology, our good and bad points. Its long-term goals include separating the
real from the unreal in the spiritual area as well as discovering how psychological factors can both help and hinder the
realization of the spiritual in actual life.
I was one of the founders of transpersonal psychology, and long ago I noticed that many people might consciously aim at
high spiritual goals, but their progress toward realizing such goals was often seriously hindered by various
psychological factors, ranging from conscious and unconscious attitudes developed by each of us in our personal lives,
to general cultural attitudes and beliefs inculcated in and shared by most of us who live in the current era. In the
early 1980s I designed this experiential exercise, the Western Creed, for my classes and workshops to sensitize spiritual
seekers to some of the major cultural attitudes and obstacles we moderns share in our search.
When you don’t know you have a semiconscious or unconscious attitude or obstacle that interferes with your search,
it hinders you, and there’s little you can do about it, because you tend to project the problem as being “out there.”
When you know that some of your beliefs and attitudes may be hindering your search, you have an opportunity to try to
understand and do something about them.
The Western Creed exercise takes about twenty minutes to do. Ideally you should take part in it just as the filmed
participants (students in one of my classes at ITP) in the online video do, standing at attention in front of your
computer where you can see and hear the video and repeat the Western Creed exercise words aloud, according to the
instructions I give there, and then sit quietly for a few minutes afterward, noting your bodily and emotional sensations
and feelings. You can approximate this now by propping up this book so that you can read it while standing at attention
in front of it. You might find it best to do this exercise alone or with friends who also participate rather than just
watch you.
If this isn’t a good time right now, it would be best to wait for the right time. The Western Creed exercise is most
effective the first time you do it wholeheartedly, and it may dull with repetition.
Most people don’t “enjoy” this exercise, for they see some of the contradictions in themselves, but almost all agree
that they feel wiser about themselves and thus better able to continue their spiritual search.
You’ll see the word “scientistic” a lot in this book. This isn’t an erroneous spelling of “scientific” but, rather, a
shorthand way of reminding us that beliefs in science can become psychologically rigid instead of open to experimental
testing, as they always are in essential science. There’s much to be said for being open and flexible about examining our
own beliefs, any beliefs, testing them rather than letting them become rigid.
Your main task will be to observe your bodily and emotional reactions to doing the exercise. You needn’t bother to
intellectually brown townyze while it’s going on; you can do that later, after you’ve observed your feelings.
You’ll probably want to take some notes on your reactions, so you might get a pen or pencil and something to write on
before going further.
This is an exercise in finding out what you believe. Every one of us is a philosopher, even though we don’t know it.
Every one of us has a set of beliefs about the way the world is, the way we are, what’s a good life, and what’s a bad
life. In fact we have a lot of beliefs about things like that, and a lot of them, we don’t even know we have. We’ve
arrived at some of our beliefs consciously, thinking about our life experience and what we can make of it, but a lot
of our beliefs have simply been imposed on us by virtue of being around at the particular times in the particular
culture that we live in.
In transpersonal psychology, we’re interested in spiritual and transcendent matters, and tend to think of ourselves as
having spiritual belief systems of one sort or another. But we’re also products of the twentieth and twenty-first
centuries, where a kind of scientistic materialism is a dominant belief system that has many, many effects on us.
As a psychologist, I’ve become more and more convinced that the things we believe and know we believe can be
intelligently used as tools, because we can see how well they work, question them if they don’t work well,
and think about changing them. Things that we believe that we don’t know we believe, though, are like a set of chains.
They just automatically affect our perceptions and thoughts, and trap us.
So one of the things that’s important in any kind of psychological or personal or spiritual growth is becoming more
consciously aware of what it is that you actually believe, especially if it’s contradictory to what you previously
thought you believed.
I often do workshops or classes for people who think of themselves as very spiritually oriented, who think they’re not
held back by materialistic ideas and can just move ahead into the spiritual realms with no conflict. And I can
intellectually tell people that we all have certain beliefs just as a result of being part of our culture, but knowing
it intellectually and knowing it more deeply at a bodily and emotional level is quite a different sort of thing.
This exercise, which I call a belief experiment, is something that I devised some years ago. A belief experiment is a
process in which I ask you to believe something for a limited period, say, ten or twenty minutes. Then we do something in
accordance with that belief system or further define that belief system while you believe it. But your job isn’t to
intellectually question the beliefs at that point; instead, it’s to notice how your body and emotions feel as we go
through the belief exercise. You’re collecting data from this experiment. Then I usually ask people to share what some of
these reactions were, because your own and others’ reactions often tell you things you don’t know about what you believe
and disbelieve.
Now, how do you just go ahead and believe things? At first, that sounds like a ridiculous sort of idea. But, as an
example, every time you go to a movie, you perform a belief exercise. You don’t sit there in a movie saying, “Those
aren’t real images in front of me; those are just lights reflecting on a screen. I’m really just sitting here in this
seat, and nothing’s really happening.” You believe in the movie; otherwise you don’t enjoy it at all. Another example
is anyone who’s ever played a game like Monopoly; you have to be practiced in believing to enjoy playing it. For a short
period, those little pieces of wood and paper are very important to you, and you get very excited about them.
It’s the same with a belief experiment. You just “play the game,” as it were, letting yourself get into it for the
limited period that you have to do it.
To do this belief experiment, first ask your inner self, “Is it all right to take a chance on believing something
that hasn’t even been defined yet, in order to find out something about myself?”
1. Just close your eyes for a moment and ask your inner self, “Is it all right to do this?”
2. Take as much time as you need to get an answer.
3. If you get a yes, fine; open your eyes again.
4. If you get a no, bargain with your inner self a little. It’s only for ten to fifteen minutes. It might be interesting.
See if you get an “okay” or a “maybe” answer to that.
5. If you still get a no, you can just fake going through the motions of the belief experiment, because you can learn a
lot from that also!
6. Take a few moments to get some kind of permission. (Wait for permission before reading on.)
To use some of the social conditioning we’ve been subjected to as an aid to making this belief experiment more alive and
involving for you so that you can see things better, I’d like for you to stand up and erect, as if at attention, while
continuing to hold this book. (If you’re doing this in a group, it’s best if all of you stand at attention in neat,
orderly rows.)
Now we’re going to do responsive recitation. In a group I’d read out a phrase or line from the Western Creed, and you’d
then repeat it aloud. In this solitary book form, you’ll silently read a phrase—a dash marks the pause between each
phrase—and then repeat it out loud in a solid, formal way, as if you were pledging allegiance to your flag or reciting a
creed in church.
For example—if a sentence were hyphenated like this—to illustrate the process, you’d read, “For example,” pause a moment,
say, “For example” out loud, pause several moments while observing your bodily and emotional feelings, then read “if a
sentence were hyphenated like this” to yourself, pause a moment, read it aloud, pause several moments to observe, and so
on. Note that some words are set in boldface or italics too, meaning that you should give them a little more emphasis
when reciting aloud.
I’ve taken widespread and popular materialistically based ideas (often thought of a scientific “facts”) that are very
current and powerful in modern culture, and put them in a form that sounds a lot like a religious creed.
In fact, I based this on the formal structure of the Nicene Creed, but note that this isn’t intended as a comment on
Christianity; rather it’s simply making use of a form with religious overtones that’s familiar to a lot of people.
You’ll read a phrase that’s separated from others by dashes, pause a moment in between to silently observe yourself,
and then repeat it aloud.
To further use our social conditioning to increase the intensity of the Western Creed exercise, now place your right
hand over your heart, continuing to stand at attention, as if you were pledging allegiance to your country’s flag. (The
right hand over the heart is a specifically American version, but if you have another form from your own culture, feel
free to use it.)
Don’t intellectually brown townyze this Western Creed and your reactions as we go through it. I recognize that you may be a
world-class intellect who can logically tear this Creed and exercise to bits or use a barrage of clever thoughts to
shield you from the effects of what you’re doing, but that’s not the point: the point is to do it and observe your
emotional and bodily reactions. After the belief experiment is over, you can intellectually brown townyze to your heart’s
content. For now, notice how your body feels and any emotional feelings, even if fleeting or faint.
Now we begin. Remember to pause a few seconds in between each phrase that’s separated from others by dashes to note your
bodily and emotional feelings.
End Chapter 1, lemme know if you want me to continue
56
Off Topic / I'm a freshman now!
« on: June 04, 2016, 08:51:35 AM »
Through all the stupid acts I've done, I pulled through in school, and now I'm going to high school!
But I'm fresh meat for the Sophs, juniors, and seniors
Yay!!!
But I'm fresh meat for the Sophs, juniors, and seniors
Yay!!!
57
Off Topic / yet another ritual The Starry Guide
« on: May 30, 2016, 12:21:54 PM »
INGREDIENTS:
1. A room with at least 1 window
2. Something to cover the window (Obviously you don't need anything if you have curtains)
3. A clock (Digital or mechanical)
4. A bed
5. A pillow
6. 3 lamps
7. Something to use to dampen the lamps (for example, a bedsheet. I have found that lampshades do not work as well as something you can tie around the lamp completely.)
8. Something you hold very dear to yourself that you can fit COMPLETELY UNDER THE PILLOW. This could be anything -- a picture of your parents, a doll you loved as a child, this part is completely up to you. But we aware that depending on what you pick, your conversations will be much different than if you chose another item.
ESSENTIAL INFORMATION:
Planning the night of your session(s) is absolutely essential. Do NOT plan it on a night where it is supposed to thunderstorm or pour rain/hail/snow, this could result in a bad session and an agitated guide/warped alt-reality. Also do not plan on doing your first few sessions on a night where you are feeling any strong negative emotions, such as anger, fear, or sadness. In fact, plan on doing your first sessions when you are rather joyful or confident in the experience, as the first time can be incredibly overwhelming for a visitor who is not in a good state of mind.
The sun must be either in the process of setting (within an hour of dusk) or completely set when you begin your set-up for the night.
Make sure that all electronics in your room are unplugged, besides the lamps and your clock, if need be. I recommend putting on brand new lightbulbs on the lamps if possible (I wrote in my journal that a bulb dying or going out in the middle of your sessions could lead to serious consequences, but I didn't note what those consequences are, unfortunately). The clock just needs to be working prior to your transition into the Starry Realm, if it stops working before you fall asleep, you will simply drift to sleep without transitioning. Do not worry about the possibility of your clock breaking or stopping during your session; this is no problem and has happened to me before.
DO NOT TOUCH THE BED AT ALL UNTIL YOU ARE INSTRUCTED TO DO SO.
You are now ready for the set-up. This is the precursor to actually entering the Starry Realm, and requires you to follow a strict order of operations, so please, do not try to do it in your "own way"; if you do manage to transition on your own terms, you may anger your guide.
THE SET-UP:
1. Start by setting the clock anywhere in the room that you cannot READ IT when you lay down on the bed. DO NOT LAY IN BED TO TRY AND FIGURE THIS OUT. Just take an estimated guess; for example, if you set a digital clock on the floor next to the bed, odds are, you will not be able to see it. Or, if you hang up a mechanical clock on the wall behind your head, you probably will not be able to read the time, so that would also be completely fine (seeing the clock itself is fine if you can't make out what time it is).
2. Next, cover the windows to the best of your ability. Again, it's okay if a little bit of light shines through, as long as the light doesn't hit your face.
3. Now, turn off all of the lights in the room. Have your clock already turned on, and note the exact hour and minute of the time you flick the switch to turn to the lights off. It is okay if all little bit of light leaks in from under the door, just make sure the door is firmly shut and the only sources of light that are inside of the room come from your lamps and clock (if you are using a digital clock).
4. Plug in the first lamp. Position it on the floor TO THE LEFT OF WHERE YOU WILL LAY YOUR HEAD.
5. Plug in the second lamp. Position it on the floor AT THE END OF THE BED WHERE YOUR FEET REST.
6. Plug in the third lamp. Position it on the floor TO THE RIGHT OF WHERE YOU WILL LAY YOUR HEAD.
NOTE FOR STEPS 4-6: YOU MUST DO IT FROM LEFT TO END OF BED TO RIGHT!
7. Now, find the personal object you chose for this session without knocking over your lamps and clock (I keep mine in my pocket during the set-up to avoid this). Place it under your pillow.
8. Now, set the clock to exactly an hour before the time you had flipped the light switch.
9. You may now lie down in the bed and go to sleep. You have an hour to drift to sleep before you miss your transition frame into the Starry Realm.
THE SESSIONS:
Once you awaken, you will realize that the door to your room stands open. You will be able to very clearly see the outline of a man standing in the door. Do not move from the bed until he has beckoned you. Once he has, get up, and approach him; DO NOT LOOK AT HIS FACE AS YOU GET CLOSER. Hand him the object you chose; he will put in his pocket before turning to lead you through wherever it is you are doing the ritual; FOLLOW HIM THROUGH EVERY ROOM HE ENTERS. Never try to get in front of him, and NEVER TRY TO GET A GLIMPSE OF HIS FACE. It is unknown why he refuses to show you his face, but you will never see him from any angle but from behind. It is extremely likely this man will look familiar to you, but you won't be able to put a finger on it. DO NOT ASK HIM WHO HE IS. He will likely disclose this information to you in later sessions regardless, and asking him will only make him angry. It seems that depending on the personal object you use, some of the physical gestures and attire he is wearing seems to be similar to that of the person or people that your object links to for you personally, if that makes any sense (for example, if you choose a baseball card your grandfather bought for you, he might have the same accent as your grandfather, or wear the same hat as him).
Your relationship with this man will greatly affect what kind of sessions you have. If you bother him or anger him, you will likely have sessions that induce feelings of unbearable fear and terror. If you answer all of his questions honestly and do as you're told, you will have more control over the direction your sessions take. The Guide will often show you scenes of your future and tell you how to rectify any of the mistakes you have made, and how to move on from anything that may be causing you any emotional or physical pain if you listen to him and give him all your trust.
You will also quickly realize the Starry Realm is a mirror image of reality. The only difference is you and the Guide are the only individuals on this plane, and the sky seems to be lighted with millions of stars, although the Guide has suggested that they might not truly be stars. All of your neighbors' homes will be exactly as they were the exact moment you drifted to sleep and transitioned, but there has never been a sighting of another human being. I noted in my notebook that one user reported seeing a squirrel in one of his sessions, and that the Guide was furious about it and it quickly turned into the worst session he's ever had.
The Guide is known to do whatever it takes to make you feel comfortable to an extent. If you are feeling intimidated with the environment, or the Guide is not talking to you as much as you'd like, try to encourage conversation by telling him something about you. Maybe suggest going to a certain place, or going to a certain place that you feel like would make you more comfortable. The Guide's purpose is to help you regain contact with yourself, and although he does everything he does for a reason, he will always do what it takes to help you find what you are looking for.
If and when he stops walking, it means the session is over. He will start to turn back towards you. CLOSE YOUR EYES COMPLETELY. You will hear him approach you, and maybe even touch you. He will either tell you he looks forward to your next session, in which case just keep your eyes closed and you will awake in reality in no time, or he will ask you if you "found what you were looking for". If he asks you that, it means he does not wish to speak to you again, because either he truly feels you do not need to see him anymore, or because you have angered or annoyed him. If you respond no, you have pretty much a 100% chance of having a bad session next time you decide to travel. It is unknown what happens if you say yes; I don't know if anyone has ever responded that way.
Do not visit him every night, as this could anger him. Try to make two or three visits a week at most to keep from bothering from him.
classic me posting some paranormal things again
1. A room with at least 1 window
2. Something to cover the window (Obviously you don't need anything if you have curtains)
3. A clock (Digital or mechanical)
4. A bed
5. A pillow
6. 3 lamps
7. Something to use to dampen the lamps (for example, a bedsheet. I have found that lampshades do not work as well as something you can tie around the lamp completely.)
8. Something you hold very dear to yourself that you can fit COMPLETELY UNDER THE PILLOW. This could be anything -- a picture of your parents, a doll you loved as a child, this part is completely up to you. But we aware that depending on what you pick, your conversations will be much different than if you chose another item.
ESSENTIAL INFORMATION:
Planning the night of your session(s) is absolutely essential. Do NOT plan it on a night where it is supposed to thunderstorm or pour rain/hail/snow, this could result in a bad session and an agitated guide/warped alt-reality. Also do not plan on doing your first few sessions on a night where you are feeling any strong negative emotions, such as anger, fear, or sadness. In fact, plan on doing your first sessions when you are rather joyful or confident in the experience, as the first time can be incredibly overwhelming for a visitor who is not in a good state of mind.
The sun must be either in the process of setting (within an hour of dusk) or completely set when you begin your set-up for the night.
Make sure that all electronics in your room are unplugged, besides the lamps and your clock, if need be. I recommend putting on brand new lightbulbs on the lamps if possible (I wrote in my journal that a bulb dying or going out in the middle of your sessions could lead to serious consequences, but I didn't note what those consequences are, unfortunately). The clock just needs to be working prior to your transition into the Starry Realm, if it stops working before you fall asleep, you will simply drift to sleep without transitioning. Do not worry about the possibility of your clock breaking or stopping during your session; this is no problem and has happened to me before.
DO NOT TOUCH THE BED AT ALL UNTIL YOU ARE INSTRUCTED TO DO SO.
You are now ready for the set-up. This is the precursor to actually entering the Starry Realm, and requires you to follow a strict order of operations, so please, do not try to do it in your "own way"; if you do manage to transition on your own terms, you may anger your guide.
THE SET-UP:
1. Start by setting the clock anywhere in the room that you cannot READ IT when you lay down on the bed. DO NOT LAY IN BED TO TRY AND FIGURE THIS OUT. Just take an estimated guess; for example, if you set a digital clock on the floor next to the bed, odds are, you will not be able to see it. Or, if you hang up a mechanical clock on the wall behind your head, you probably will not be able to read the time, so that would also be completely fine (seeing the clock itself is fine if you can't make out what time it is).
2. Next, cover the windows to the best of your ability. Again, it's okay if a little bit of light shines through, as long as the light doesn't hit your face.
3. Now, turn off all of the lights in the room. Have your clock already turned on, and note the exact hour and minute of the time you flick the switch to turn to the lights off. It is okay if all little bit of light leaks in from under the door, just make sure the door is firmly shut and the only sources of light that are inside of the room come from your lamps and clock (if you are using a digital clock).
4. Plug in the first lamp. Position it on the floor TO THE LEFT OF WHERE YOU WILL LAY YOUR HEAD.
5. Plug in the second lamp. Position it on the floor AT THE END OF THE BED WHERE YOUR FEET REST.
6. Plug in the third lamp. Position it on the floor TO THE RIGHT OF WHERE YOU WILL LAY YOUR HEAD.
NOTE FOR STEPS 4-6: YOU MUST DO IT FROM LEFT TO END OF BED TO RIGHT!
7. Now, find the personal object you chose for this session without knocking over your lamps and clock (I keep mine in my pocket during the set-up to avoid this). Place it under your pillow.
8. Now, set the clock to exactly an hour before the time you had flipped the light switch.
9. You may now lie down in the bed and go to sleep. You have an hour to drift to sleep before you miss your transition frame into the Starry Realm.
THE SESSIONS:
Once you awaken, you will realize that the door to your room stands open. You will be able to very clearly see the outline of a man standing in the door. Do not move from the bed until he has beckoned you. Once he has, get up, and approach him; DO NOT LOOK AT HIS FACE AS YOU GET CLOSER. Hand him the object you chose; he will put in his pocket before turning to lead you through wherever it is you are doing the ritual; FOLLOW HIM THROUGH EVERY ROOM HE ENTERS. Never try to get in front of him, and NEVER TRY TO GET A GLIMPSE OF HIS FACE. It is unknown why he refuses to show you his face, but you will never see him from any angle but from behind. It is extremely likely this man will look familiar to you, but you won't be able to put a finger on it. DO NOT ASK HIM WHO HE IS. He will likely disclose this information to you in later sessions regardless, and asking him will only make him angry. It seems that depending on the personal object you use, some of the physical gestures and attire he is wearing seems to be similar to that of the person or people that your object links to for you personally, if that makes any sense (for example, if you choose a baseball card your grandfather bought for you, he might have the same accent as your grandfather, or wear the same hat as him).
Your relationship with this man will greatly affect what kind of sessions you have. If you bother him or anger him, you will likely have sessions that induce feelings of unbearable fear and terror. If you answer all of his questions honestly and do as you're told, you will have more control over the direction your sessions take. The Guide will often show you scenes of your future and tell you how to rectify any of the mistakes you have made, and how to move on from anything that may be causing you any emotional or physical pain if you listen to him and give him all your trust.
You will also quickly realize the Starry Realm is a mirror image of reality. The only difference is you and the Guide are the only individuals on this plane, and the sky seems to be lighted with millions of stars, although the Guide has suggested that they might not truly be stars. All of your neighbors' homes will be exactly as they were the exact moment you drifted to sleep and transitioned, but there has never been a sighting of another human being. I noted in my notebook that one user reported seeing a squirrel in one of his sessions, and that the Guide was furious about it and it quickly turned into the worst session he's ever had.
The Guide is known to do whatever it takes to make you feel comfortable to an extent. If you are feeling intimidated with the environment, or the Guide is not talking to you as much as you'd like, try to encourage conversation by telling him something about you. Maybe suggest going to a certain place, or going to a certain place that you feel like would make you more comfortable. The Guide's purpose is to help you regain contact with yourself, and although he does everything he does for a reason, he will always do what it takes to help you find what you are looking for.
If and when he stops walking, it means the session is over. He will start to turn back towards you. CLOSE YOUR EYES COMPLETELY. You will hear him approach you, and maybe even touch you. He will either tell you he looks forward to your next session, in which case just keep your eyes closed and you will awake in reality in no time, or he will ask you if you "found what you were looking for". If he asks you that, it means he does not wish to speak to you again, because either he truly feels you do not need to see him anymore, or because you have angered or annoyed him. If you respond no, you have pretty much a 100% chance of having a bad session next time you decide to travel. It is unknown what happens if you say yes; I don't know if anyone has ever responded that way.
Do not visit him every night, as this could anger him. Try to make two or three visits a week at most to keep from bothering from him.
classic me posting some paranormal things again
58
Off Topic / Old abandoned Honda CT70 might be mine
« on: May 14, 2016, 07:28:33 PM »
So I went riding my bicycle, exploring neighborhoods near me, and I found an abandoned house and I decided to look around the outside, where I found... This
An old Honda CT70, I was amazed so I went to the neighbors to locate the old owner, gave the old owner my phone number, and I might have scored a free project!!!
Whatcha think?
An old Honda CT70, I was amazed so I went to the neighbors to locate the old owner, gave the old owner my phone number, and I might have scored a free project!!!
Whatcha think?
59
Help / Lost my blockland activation key, Need it back
« on: May 14, 2016, 11:11:14 AM »
So i haven't been on blockland in a while and i tried getting on today and it asked for my key, i looked everywhere for it because i had it on a piece of paper but i guess i lost it and the email used to get blockland was deleted, i need help getting it back because i dont want to buy a new one, thx
60
Off Topic / After 2 loving years, im coming out to my friend as bi
« on: April 25, 2016, 09:22:53 PM »
well, its been 2 years, sorry for the dissapointment on the old thread, but tonight, im doing it, im so loving nervous, im gonna send screen shots of his reaction.