Tag Archives: Consciousness

The Theory of Accidentalism

Powerful Mind Part 23
Created August 11, 2023

Welcome to this week’s Bill Harvey Blog.
Read Powerful Mind 22

For millennia, most human deep thinkers of whom we have kept records, humbly kept an open mind about the nature of reality. They knew how little they knew and admitted it. Anything might be possible. They could not rule out any possibility.

With the rise of scientific thinking in the past few hundred years, scientists gained confidence in the scientific method. They especially appreciated the methodology of not considering something proven until numerous experimenters verified the results. This disciplined standing back from prematurely accepting one’s own experimental proofs gradually became more and more important to the scientific community.

Scientists accordingly became more judgmental of each other as regards the perfect embodiment of this principle. Now in the 21st Century, they can be stern with one another, calling each other out. Membership in the scientific community can be cast in doubt for those who appear to transgress against this principle by theorizing in ways that include unproven specifics.

William of Ockham in the 14th Century had added the idea of parsimony or elegance as a heuristic criterion for the construction of scientific theories. Essentially this meant to start from the fewest assumptions possible to come up with the simplest explanations for things. Half a millennium later, Einstein was to modify this idea with his own notion: “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.”

Although this heuristic was never intended to be taken as a scientific principle, its close association with the scientific principle of replicated verification reinforced the idea of scientific simplicity as a clue to probable truth. This is ironic since everything we have learned about the universe so far proves the exact opposite: the universe is incredibly complex.

The formation of a scientistic culture around these ideas of demanding replicated proofs before asserting truth plus parsimony, created what might be regarded as an aesthetic: a way of preferring the world to be, for unspoken and perhaps non-articulatable reasons. A world in which true scientists would cling to the proven, and not add to that anything theoretical that was more than a stone’s throw away from the collection of proven facts. Scientists deviating from this aesthetic could lose their status, and their ability to receive funding for their work.

It was into this context that scientists began to treat the idea of a Godlike intelligence as being too far out to qualify under Occam’s Razor: God became classified as an unnecessary assumption.

This did not mean that science had proven the non-existence of such an intelligence, merely that it was at odds with a heuristic and a culture which had grown up around science. Some have compared today’s class of scientists to the ancient priest class: a group of people who feel superior, use codes that the non-members of the class cannot understand (advanced mathematics), and have an agenda that extends beyond the specific work of that class.

In order to avoid the invoking of “the unnecessary assumption,” science had to give credit to how much could be explained purely based on accident. We now as a world culture are willing to assume that life and then consciousness came about simply by the accidental crashing together of matter and energy. None of us has ever seen a beautiful and intricate sculpture being built out of a sandy beach by the action of the waves, and yet this is what we as a civilization largely “believe in.”

The theory of Materialistic Accidentalism has become our default explanation for reality at a non-conscious level. That theory has not been proven and yet science is willing to assume it as a default, and to defrock scientists who write about ideas which can be quickly pigeonholed as “magical thinking” and “superstition.”

Einstein Rejected Accidentalism

Einstein did not accept Accidentalism. As he famously said, “God does not play dice with the universe.” He also wrote in 1954 in an article “On Scientific Truth”: “Certain it is that a conviction, akin to religious feeling, of the rationality or intelligibility of the world lies behind all scientific work of a higher order… This firm belief, a belief bound up with deep feeling, in a superior mind that reveals itself in the world of experience, represents my conception of God.”

“A superior mind.” This is what Einstein was sure had created the universe. He did not say that the universe and that superior mind were the same thing, nor that each of us shares consciousness with that superior mind; I cannot claim that any famous respected scientist has ever taken that position. For the moment, it’s just my theory.

“A superior mind that reveals itself in the world of experience.” Did Einstein mean our own conscious experience, his own conscious experience, or the experience of taking measurements during scientific experiments, or did he mean all of those things? We don’t know. In the final chapters of my book, A Theory Of Everything Including Consciousness and “God”, I lay out certain experiments readers can undertake on their own which might convince them through their own experiences that there is something to my theory, as they realize they have hunches that turn out to be accurate, read people’s minds accurately, and receive inspirations that contain information beyond anything they have ever heard or thought before.

You ought not believe my theory, simply keep an open mind, do not assume that science has proven anything yet about my theory, positively nor negatively. Having an open mind you will have experiences and notice them that may constitute evidence convincing to you on way or another as to whether consciousness is a connected thing.

With an open mind you will begin to notice how often you experience synchronicity: you are thinking something, and then something occurs in the external world which is relevant to what you have just been thinking. A song on the channel you are listening to might come on just at that moment, or someone might say something to you, or you might notice something going on around you that seems like a comment on your recent thought.

As if someone is listening in to your mind besides you yourself, someone who is able to make things manifest to the world of your senses. When you notice how often this happens, and your gut tells you that so many coincidences happening accidentally are unlikely, and when you detect that you are learning important lessons through these synchronicities, you may also feel a degree of alignment with my theory.

The most important thing is not my theory, it’s the openness of your mind. Letting in all experiences without filtration based on hidden assumptions of materialism and accidentalism, and forming your own independent theory of what is going on, based on weighing all the evidence of your own experience. Updating your own theory continuously. Deconditioning the imposed cultural assumptions and applying the unbiased scientific method to your own life.

Watch this 1-minute video of Bill talking with his daughter about Materialistic Accidentalism.

Love to all,
Bill

 

Bill Harvey guest on Moments with Marianne on KMET radioIf you weren’t able to listen to the radio show where I talked about my books, or you want to hear it again, it is now available to listen to anytime. Click below.
Mind Magic & Agents of Cosmic Intelligence with Bill Harvey

What Is the Meaning of Life? – Revisited

Updated July 9, 2021

When I was younger, I would ask this question whenever anyone, even a tour guide in a museum, asked me if I had any more questions.

The greatest thing you'll ever learn

Internally, it’s the question I asked myself multiple times a day all my life until I felt sure of the answer, which occurred sometime in my 30s.

The underlying question is “What is the meaning of ‘meaning’ in this context?”

The intent of the question is to understand what life is, what its purpose is (if any), what the universe is, what its purpose is (if any), why we are here, who we are, how we are to behave, what our relation is to one another, is there a God, and why are we compelled to consider any of this as relevant or meaningful to the second-to-second management of our personal business of existence.

One alternative to asking and answering this question to one’s own satisfaction is to go about life happily without caring about the question (which could be a Zen-like answer in itself, essentially filing the question away into the “Overthinking” file). Another alternative is to consider life meaningless, which many existentialists did in the last century.

Other than an intuition I had at age 12 that “I am God and so is everyone else”, which I tucked away as an interesting but unexplained aberration, the meaninglessness of life was my own position for the first 30-odd years of life. Around age 20, as I studied philosophy, I put reasoning around this earlier intuition, deciding that one took positions like this based solely on aesthetic preference, since knowability of the answer to What Is the Meaning of Life? was apparently beyond our scope.

In my 30s I had some unusual experiences that also reminded me of similar experiences in my childhood, at which point I felt as I do now — a very strong conviction that I actually know the answer.

The way I see it, all that exists is a single consciousness of such great computing power as to know everything that goes on within itself instantaneously at all times (though God or the One Self is above time). Since we don’t share this omniscience, God gets to play our roles with more drama and excitement. So the meaning of life must be to realize and enjoy this game as our true Original Self does, and thereby re-merge into the Original Consciousness.

I talk about this theory more in my book You Are The Universe: Imagine That.

From a practical standpoint, life becomes most meaningful for us to the extent that we realize our own unique gifts; we love doing the things inspired by those talents; we develop a life plan around sharing these things with others, and then we go forward with that plan without being attached to the outcome.

We then have a Purpose, a Mission, which satisfies the thinking mind of our own meaningfulness. Just as I go into meetings with awareness of my preferred outcomes, I set them aside at the last minute so I can go with the meeting flow, taking the standpoint of simply trying to help out everyone else in the meeting as best I can. Pragmatically and empirically, this appears to work best in balancing out the complexities of life as well.

So “What is the meaning of Life?” Enjoying it, loving it, loving all, and helping others to do the same.

“The greatest thing
You’ll ever learn
Is just to love
And be loved
In return.”
— “Nature Boy”, by Nat King Cole

Pragmatically, one’s philosophy of life – i.e., one’s values – will tend to lead to the most rewarding outcomes, to the degree that it does not contain seeds of negativity. For example, if our worldview includes the tendency to sit in judgment of other people, this will create situations of unhappiness for ourselves in the long run. This realization is why Jesus said “Judge not, lest ye be judged”.

The founders of the great religions were, at minimum, seers, visionaries, who grasped the way things work in life, and shared these observations to help others.

The Perennial Philosophy is the synthesis of all this wisdom.

Game Theory leads one to recognize that in the game of life, one is always making bets. If one is betting that the universe is benevolent not accidental, one will live a happier, more fulfilling life. Pragmatically, that is the bet to make, according to Game Theory, whether or not the universe is an accident in reality.

At this time of great crisis in the world, what we all really need the most is the spirit of cooperation and sharing.

Ideologies we have become attached to, groups we have become identified with down to the core of our being, the deification of competition as a perfect Good, the Marxist dialectical materialist love affair with contradiction, mindless devotion to an authoritarian leader, lazy subscription to ideas of others rather than one’s own contemplation of personal empirical experience, are baggage which must be left behind in a deep mind cleanse and reset that is open to new learning from attentive worldly experience, the scientific method applied to life, rising up above the pettiness of one’s own robotical negativity to embrace higher states of being which come with pure unclouded observation as if seeing everything for the first time.

I propose that if you are not yet in that state, to allow it a try. If we all do it starting now, events will unfold that will take us away from the spiral of doom now seemingly at our doorstep.

Love,

Bill

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The Power of Gratitude

Welcome to this week’s Bill Harvey Blog – November 22, 2024
Created February 9, 2017

One rainy day I was driving a little too fast plus the cruise control was on. I got onto I-84 East and as I reached the highway itself I must have hit an oily patch for the next thing I knew I was going backwards, staring straight at Eastbound traffic bearing down on me at high speed — a truck passing a car, both coming right at me with many cars and trucks behind them.

Reflexively I righted the car and pulled off on the grassy median just as the honking truck and cars rushed past, missing me. A car pulled off and drove up alongside to see if I was alright. He said he was a Navy fighter pilot and complimented me on my reflexes, then drove off while I sat for a minute breathing deeply.

I bet you know what I was feeling because we have all felt it at one time or another — grateful for being alive. Life was suddenly so sweet. Every second was precious. The average workday that lay ahead was now an exciting prospect filled with interesting possibilities. The rain hitting the windshield was beautiful and I could see rainbows in each drop. The air tasted delicious.

Authentic gratitude is a very healthy emotion that I strongly suspect increases immune response and is conducive to Flow state. As I grow older and hopefully wiser I find myself more often being grateful simply for this life, for life itself and especially for the interesting and fun life I have had so far. But any life is better than the alternative of never having existed. Even a life of pain is more interesting than eternal unconsciousness, never having a sense of self, never having even one experience.

As long as one is alive, there is the chance to fix or accept anything
disturbing. That’s what creativity is for. Troubles can be overcome
in a flash of inspiration. Life is filled with endless possibilities.

Over time I’ve noted that when I am feeling the most gratitude, my luck runs high. Could it be that being truly grateful results in receiving even more to be grateful for?

By luck I mean opportunities for feeling love, deeply personal good things happening involving other people. I doubt that Vegas would play along with an experiment where variations in gratitude attitude could be related to winning money. However, recently I was playing games of chance with my granddaughter who was trouncing me game after game, getting fabulous hands while mine were terrible, yet all through it I was feeling very grateful for the time together. As far as I can tell, luck and gratitude are not linked in the sphere of winning at games of chance, but I continue to observe that they are linked in winning at the game of life.

When you’re on a beach chair gazing at the ocean, or at a lake, or sitting by a stream, or at any quiet moment, it’s easy to get in touch with the gratitude you have within you.

 Gratitude is always there, like a carrier wave on which
there are overlays of more temporary modulations of feeling
in reaction to events.

Maybe if you’re lucky there is a place on your property or near your apartment where you can sit in nature or see a body of water. If not, you can still experience peace and wonderment inside yourself by meditation. If you’re not an experienced meditator here’s what I recommend.

For a new meditator sitting on the floor or even in a chair can be non-conducive to parking and losing track of your body. One trick to get your body to become “invisible” is to lay down on the floor, face down, with your hands folded on the floor in front of your face to form a comfortable cradle for your face. Make sure your body is stretched out as far as it will comfortably go. Close your eyes, breathe deeply, relax, and stay attentive to what you see and hear in your mind’s eye/ear. It’s a position in which you can stay as long as you want. If thinking is going on, just watch it as an observer. Don’t try to achieve anything.

Refocusing our awareness on basic gratitude for living gives us
immense power to rise above any negative emotion — making it
possible to always feel gratitude no matter what is happening,
especially when we are angry or sad.

Finding that switch inside that you can use at any moment will give you great strength. Use it well and enjoy yourself. Joy is the most likely reason The One Consciousness is doing this dance of life and expressing itself as you and me.


Ann Hampton Callaway sings “Grateful,”
a song of giving thanks by John Bucchino

When you’re grateful for all you have, then Thanksgiving is eternal.
Happy Thanksgiving.

Best to all,
Bill

 

Image by Xander John Dacyon

The Role of Feelings in Decision Making

Updated August 7, 2020

During this time it’s easy to harbor negative feelings almost continuously, but it only makes things worse for ourselves and our loved ones. Negative feelings not only bring us down, medical evidence shows they also weaken our immune system, making us more prone to disease, and they distract our cognitive concentration, thereby reducing our effectiveness. This is also a time in which consistently making clearheaded decisions is more important than ever before, to protect those we love including ourselves.

Bad feelings can also serve a positive function — as an alarm system to quickly get us to pay attention to a problem. Ironically, if bad feelings continue unabated while we are grappling with a problem on a rational level, it will take longer to solve the problem because we are stuck in a cycle of negativity. Most of us have experienced this cycle.

Are you more driven by thoughts or feelings

Are we generally more driven by our feelings than by our thoughts?

Freud established that thoughts are more likely to be rationalized in support of feelings, rather than our being able to use our thoughts to control our feelings. And yet, how valuable it is to be able to do just that — to have the mental self-discipline to focus our thoughts effectively even when our feelings are in an uproar?

Feelings are urges that arise within us, within our minds and within our bodies. Feelings are experiences, states of consciousness resulting from our motivations, sentiments, preferences or desires. These terms all really mean the same thing: what we value, what we want, what we are trying to get, what we want to avoid.

Feelings are how we respond internally to outer and inner events, based on what we are trying to get and avoid, and how current events can help or threaten our desired outcomes.

We feel positive if current events appear to favor our targeted outcomes, and we feel negative if events seem to be heading away from what we want to have happen.

Positive feelings are valued universally. There’s no argument: we all like them, and would like to have more of them!

Generally speaking, feelings are also a manifestation of our motivations colliding with the external world. What would we feel if we had no motivations?

You can discover this by meditating. While there are many meditation techniques, all of them have a mind/gut mirror effect of showing us what our motivations really are, where they have gotten us, and why we have each of our experiences. Through practicing meditation we can achieve this objectivity, turning off certain motivations at least for the moment and seeing what that feels like. What visions of future possibilities arise now that X motivation is gone?

The perspective we gain through meditation can give us a unique vantage point on our feelings and our motivations. Meditation helps us consider deeply our own feelings and their consequences in the world. It also generates positive feelings, so it’s good for our overall health and well-being. Practicing meditation and becoming aware of the role our feelings and motivations play in our lives allows us to better understand the value of both in our decision making process.

My best to all,

Bill

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