Originally posted November 23, 2011
2 Incredibly easy and vitally important experiments you can perform surreptitiously
The goal of these experiments is for you to see if you can actually discover new views of reality by stripping away everything in your mind that is unproven.
To recap from the prior post:
You don’t have to believe in anything. In fact, that would bias the experiments. You have to set aside all beliefs, and suspend disbelief, in order to start.
The object of these experiments is to level set reality – you reopen your mind to the existence of all possibilities, you strip away all hidden assumptions, and then allow reality to teach you what it is, without you imposing any restrictions on it.
The reason we say you can perform these experiments surreptitiously is because there are no obvious outward manifestations. It is all going on within you. No one else knows what you are doing. You cannot lose face, so while you are still attached to that, it cannot distract you from the experiment. This is highly useful because distraction is the main means by which Acceleritis™ reduces our effectiveness. Any way distraction can get tuned down or nullified, use it, so that your entire mind is swept as if by a ring of brooms back from its diffuse expanse, into single-pointed focus.
Experiment 1: Dis-bar Assumptions
Dis-bar or dis-enfranchise, the idea here is that you will no longer automatically throw the weight of your innermost approval instantly on every thought and emotion welling up inside of yourself.
You will leave these arisings on the drafting table a little while longer so you can drink in what they are and reflect on how it is that you have these arisings of this thought or that feeling.
The first experiment therefore is to take advantage of a stolen moment in which you can do whatever you feel like in your mind, to play this game.
If you have a moment now, you can try it for a minute or for as long as you enjoy it.
Pay attention to what you are thinking and feeling and look at it as if from the outside, constructively critical.
Communicate to yourself internally that you are serious about reopening all assumptions. You mean to include reflexes, so the autonomic systems in your body know you are talking to them too. You don’t have any prior evidence whether this sort of hopeful internal communication can work or not, but your mind is open — this is an experiment. You don’t want to bias it in any way. If you sense a sarcastic smile on some face inside you, make sure it is not a bias causer.
Then you wait. The test period is 72 hours after the prescribed action.
The first manifestation will be that you catch yourself making an old assumption or reaction and some part of you calls attention to that. You then probably experience an idea cascade where one idea leads to the other so quickly it’s good to jot down one or two “trigger words” to be able to recapture each stream of thought.
It can take a lifetime to root out every last assumption hidden inside of you, yet the relief and happiness that comes each time you get rid of each single one makes the journey pleasurable and ultimately, not overly frustrating to the point of impatience.
You may find you have prejudices you thought you had utterly stamped out years ago.
You may find out you have vain reasons for jumping to some conclusions.
The list of possible self-revelations is infinite.
About 72 hours after you start, jot down any observations regarding the experiment and if you are so disposed, either anonymously or otherwise, share your observations with the rest of us as comments (see below). Make sure everyone knows which experiment you are talking about – thanks.
Experiment 2: Communicate with the Dead
You may have done this experiment before, but not as an experiment. Inside, communicate with someone who has died. “Yes, I talk to my father all the time, but I don’t know if he hears me.”
This time, realize fully that science says the jury is still out. There is voluminous anecdotal evidence for such communication being possible, and no scientific theory that rules it out except from extreme materialism which is out of fashion in modern day physics circles.
Let yourself be amazed by the realization that it is actually scientifically possible that he or she hears you, according to the latest physics thinking e.g. John Wheeler. If, as that giant and The Theory of the Conscious Universe (TTOTCU)* both posit, information is the ultimate residuum of reality, and as TTOTCU further theorizes, consciousness is that which experiences information, and energymatterspacetime is a projection of universal consciousness – if all these things turn out to be true, then your reaching out might actually connect.
To quote from Wikipedia:
“In 1990, Wheeler has suggested that information is fundamental to the physics of the universe. According to this “it from bit” doctrine, all things physical are information-theoretic in origin.[6]
Wheeler: It from bit. Otherwise put, every “it” — every particle, every field of force, even the space-time continuum itself — derives its function, its meaning, its very existence entirely — even if in some contexts indirectly — from the apparatus-elicited answers to yes-or-no questions, binary choices, bits. “It from bit” symbolizes the idea that every item of the physical world has at bottom — a very deep bottom, in most instances — an immaterial source and explanation; that which we call reality arises in the last analysis from the posing of yes — no questions and the registering of equipment-evoked responses; in short, that all things physical are information-theoretic in origin and that this is a participatory universe.”
Note the term “participatory” – Wheeler was not as specific on the details of how we might participate in the creation as is this writer’s Theory of the Conscious Universe. Yet both of us and a whole leading generation of physicists today among other thinkers are seeing reality in a new way, which closely resembles the oldest way. They undoubtedly got there by not only thinking deeply about science and its revelations but also by going inside in ways quite similar to these experiments.
For 72 hours after the experiment (or forever) listen and look for an answering communication in everything around you and inside of you. It need not come as words in the mind. If there is an exceptional feeling, note what is in the field of your senses, e.g. a voice on the radio, movement in corner of eye and you turn to see… what? Regard your every perception as a possible communication from something or someone somewhere.
After 72 hours or so, jot down your observations, if only for yourself.
In the next post, two more experiments.
Best to all,
Bill
*The Theory of the Conscious Universe was the working title of my book, “You Are the Universe: Imagine That”, released in 2014 . In the Theory of the Conscious Universe, the brain is the energy emanated by the Original mind, wound into matter, and our experience transcends dependence on the brain as we are a part of Original mind (and the whole of its experience of selfness). In modern day materialism, the mind is an energy field emanated by the brain. In ultra-behaviorism, the mind is an impotent epiphenomenon of the brain, making believe it is calling the shots but is really just along for the ride.
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