The purpose of this work is an
attempt to provoke or promote"Your work is to discover your work, and then, with all your
heart, to give yourself to it.'........Buddha
Supplimentary Introduction : Preface to the 2005 update
" Kierkegaard stressed upon the ambiguity and absurdity of the human situation.
The individual's response to this situation must be to live a totally committed life,
and this commitment can only be understood by the individual who has made it.
The individual therefore must always be prepared to defy the norms of society for
the sake of the higher authority of a personally valid way of life ".
...from .......Microsoft®
Encarta®
The purpose of this work is an
attempt to provoke or promote
a goal within the reader of this work to examine , explore and
experience one's known and unknown self within the parameters
of normal consciousness, through the process of self analysis & self
observation, and self synthesis or self integration, that is,
preferably without resort to specifically seeking
an altered state of
consciousness.
(artificially , drug induced or special agreement induced )
And as a result of this
exercise, to develop the ability of
creative self-expression that enhances the potential of
one's knowledge.
(note : While the focus of this work is centered on normal states
of consciousness , I am neither biased nor advocating for or against
the use of drugs, or aids used to alter the state of one's mind .)
The generalised goal
of this work is an open ended but critical
examination into the validity of one's held knowledge, and there
after, an expansion and exploration into the limits of the potential
of this knowledge, particularly in the expression of this
knowledge.
" My aim is to bring about a psychic state in which my patient begins to
experiment with his own nature - a state of fluidity, change and growth
in which there is no longer anything eternally fixed and hopelessly
pertrified." ...... C. G. Jung
When it is said "one's held knowledge", it means that set of learned
concepts and beliefs that have been taught or " programmed " as a
result of education or interactions in society and culture as well as
those that have been developed internally.
Such learning that has been acquired from society is appropriately termed
as programs here, a term that refers to a fixed set of behaviorial responses
conforming to this acquired learning.
Those programs that have undergone addition, change, integration or
transformation are termed here as metaprograms.
What is Purpose ?
" It is not enough to
be busy; so are the ants. The question is:
What are we busy about?"......Henry David Thoreau
"Everything on earth
has a purpose, every disease an herb to cure it,
and every person a mission. This is the Indian theory of existence."
.......Mourning Dove ( Native American )
A purpose is a direction that one's held knowledge takes. This term refers
to a conscious knowing of this direction ( even if it is abstract or not well
defined ) and its destination - the accomplishment of a goal. A simple
goal is a direction taken by an organism's system by default.
"If you don't know where you are going, any road will take you there."It must be clarified here that a "purpose" is ultimately only a subter-
fuge, to generate an internal force to seek......whatever one finds
will then itself be indicative of one's Will and thereby indicative of
what is to follow. So the purpose although is a very serious affair,
should not be held too tightly but only as a working or transitory
( flexible and fluid ) goal seeking force , without which our human
nature has a tendency to take everything too easy, making us
vulnerable and prey to other negative forces or
trapping routines.
"A person who stands
for nothing will fall for anything."
..............Malcolm X
A Purpose ( consciously operating goal ) therefore serves as
the
means by which one can get to one's Will - or one's real purpose,
by a conscious feedback - observation - analysis - evaluation -
synthesis or integration
process.
This exercise is the focus of this work.
"As far as we can
discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to
kindle a light in the darkness of mere being. It may even be assumed
that just as the unconscious affects us, so the increase in our
consciousness affects the unconscious".......Jung
" Explore thyself.
Herein are demanded the eye and the nerve".... Thoreau
"Inside everyone is a frontier waiting to be discovered.".
Tagline of "Dances With Wolves" movie.
What is the applicability of such an exercise ? What are the rewards of this
kind of quest ? These are important questions that are central to any quest
that one undertakes and unfortunately there is no general answer for there
can be unforeseen risks and rewards when one ventures deep into one's
known or unknown self.
"Fear is a
question. What are you afraid of and why? Our fears are a
treasure house of self-knowledge if we explore them"..Marilyn French
And yet the testing grounds that will answer these questions will eventually
be one's quality of experiences ( as a result or process of this journey into
oneself ) that not only should prove rewarding and fulfilling to one's purpose
but also enhances one's effectiveness and efficiency in one's day to day
routine existence by testing, validating and upgrading one's operating
beliefs, concepts and paradigms of reality. But how does one go about it ?
This work tries to answer this question in the most open ended or
general manner as possible (applicable to most people).
Clearly the path of self-exploration is possible only if there is a forceful
desire to do so. And how does such a desire arise unless the rewards are
apparent? Our minds tend to setup or accept only those goals that have
seemingly clear benefits in the near future or at least hold the promise
of happiness &joy.
"Unless one says
goodbye to what one loves, and unless one travels
to completely new territories, one can expect merely a long wearing
away of oneself and an eventual extinction"......Jean Dubuffet
And as one sets out initially on this path, there are not only difficulties
and frustrations but also instead of rewards, a potential risk to one's
normal health and balance of body and mind, because the very process
involves tinkering with the foundations of one's own constitution,
studying and critically examining the very processes that drive oneself !
Initially, instead of rewards, one is instead bound to encounter fear,
pain, isolation, conflict with society, even despair and frustration,
rather than pleasure and happiness.
So the person who treads this path, in order to proceed without getting
mired must be able to defy the inbuilt default tendency of the mind to
seek the state of happiness , contentment , pleasure, bliss
and self - satisfaction.
( This does not mean depriving oneself of a state of happiness .)
Now if happiness, pleasure or contentment cannot be the driving forces
for self- exploration , how and why should one take to this path?
Thus the self-explorer comes
across the first vital question that
is crucially valid to one's very existence :
What are one's purest of motivations, i.e., devoid of any default
tendencies to seek health, happiness, security, love, contentment
or bliss and to avoid or minimise pain, insecurity, fear,
misery, terror and
death ?
But we humans aren't merely creatures that find only sophisticated means
and methods for our survival needs : we are also creatures that are driven
by curiosity and wonder about not only the world but also about our
own nature and meaning.
Above and beyond the primal pain
and pleasure drivers or motivators
are the motives of curiosity and wonder : our desire to know ; to
seek, to explore, to
discover, to create.
These motivations are realised when one encounters strange experiences,
sudden, unexplainable emotional bursts or jolts, or moods of sadness
without any apparent cause or when one encounters tragic, even near
death experiences.
There are bound to be instances or experiences in almost any being's
life when one's being is shaken or moved by the sheer intensity of an
experience; and subsequent to that usually follows either a state of
revelation or a state of intense wonder.
Whereas a state of revelation
is indicative of a course of action or " For all knowledge
and wonder (which is the seed of knowledge) is
an impression of pleasure in itself "........Francis Bacon
This state is often rationalised initially by the reasoning part of the mind in
the form of questions to oneself like : Who am I ? What am I doing here
on this planet ? What is the purpose of my existence ? What is the
meaning of all this, of my
life or of all of life, of the universe ?
" The goal of
all art is.....to explain to people the reason for their
appearance on this planet; or, if not to explain, at least to pose
the question"...Andrey Tarkovsky
These, and questions like these that address the core Self, driven by a state
of wonder, give form to the motivational basis for self exploration and should
continue to be so for a self- explorer at least until a stage reaches whereby
just seeking a state of
happiness becomes redundant .
" It is better to be a
human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better
to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied"...John Stuart Mill
In other words once the rewards of self exploration are realised , one also
realises that one becomes increasingly detached from the primal and
inbuilt goal of seeking a state of happiness (or avoiding
a state of pain and suffering ).
Alternately, a state of
suffering, fear or pain , provoked by internal ( body ) orWhat is important to realise is that those states that at first instance seem
to be negative, may not be just those that need to be avoided, but rather
to be confronted or challenged for an indicative breakthrough.
Viewed in this manner, pain, fear and suffering becomes another emotional
control tool for the purpose of self exploration rather than a state to be
avoided at all costs.
"Ultimately we
know deeply that the other side of every fear
is freedom".....Marilyn
Ferguson
When one has learned to turn anger and stress into allies ,
one becomes
" Freedom has a
thousand charms to show,
That slaves, howe'er contented, never know. "
...... William Cowper
Apart from these two basic and opposite (in nature) driving forces of
the mind ( and their related sub forces ) , of which almost everyone
is conscious of, in varying degrees, of their influence on oneself, there
are other forces that cannot be analytically accounted for : the source
is hidden : and therefore best classified as unknown forces & from
essentially unknown sources ( within oneself or outside oneself is
irrelevant : as a self explorer will potentially realise) that can drive or
influence oneself to certain experiences or seek a certain state of
mind or set of beliefs or knowledge.
An important part
of self exploration is to be aware of and identifyWhat has been brought forth in the above passages is that as a start
one needs to look at the key motivations that drive oneself, and that
even the basic emotions are vital tools for the defining of, control and
shaping of one's core motivations.
So the tools are all there within oneself, those very tools will work on
themselves to sharpen and upgrade themselves , you only need to boot
them on and set the ball rolling by unplugging oneself from the routines
and traps of mundane, survival necessities, ( you have to initiate and
maintain the process) and the rewards will eventually be realized even
for a special purpose or role that you have identified for yourself.
The discovery and
development of one's abilities are essential
for the realisation of this potential, which itself will point
out the direction that this ability will take to reach out to
its limits of
perfection.
" The aim of
every artist is to arrest motion, which is life, by
artificial
means and hold it fixed so that a hundred years later, when a stranger
looks at it, it moves again since it is
life"...............William Faulkner
The Use of Language & Related Concepts
Realisations are fortified by expressions, and without
expressions
realisations dissipate or become static. But it must be clearly
understood that a language expression is only a form of the
realisation, not the realisation itself.
Those expressions that lead to further realisations, or trigger
intense, moving experiences, are the one's that are really
powerful as well as meaningful.
Thus the aim of the self-explorer is to express every realisation
in a form and manner that leads to newer realisations, that
then demand better expressions. To enter into this cycle of
self-developed ascending order, and to sustain it, is the
goal of this work.
"I never know what I
think about something until I read what I've
written on it." ............William Faulkner
It has been pointed out at the outset that the end result of the self exploration
process is not an end in itself but the means for developing and realising one's
given potential. This can only take place if this potential finds expression,
because without the testing grounds of expressions, the potential will not
remain potent, but its potency will dissipate. On the other hand, creative
expression enhances the potential. Merely seeking a state of bliss is not the
focus of this work.
Expressions in language are given importance, because of their potential
for promoting intra-human communication ( within a society) as well as
inter-human communication ( cutting across social, cultural barriers ).
"Self-expression must pass into communication
for its fulfillment."......Pearl S Buck
But first of all these expressions must be meaningfully useful in enhancing
one's own potential.
" Words have the
power to both destroy and heal, when words
are both true and kind, they can change our world "......Buddha
The use of language, words and their corresponding concepts are not
meant for a literal meaning in this work, rather the use of language here
is only for the sake of eliciting a response from the reader in order to
further the reader's quest for oneself's knowns and unknowns and the
validity of these in one's life. There is no attempt to form a system of
knowledge, rules, procedures or fixed beliefs : that is, there is no
attempt at furthering any 'objective' quest, only a 'subjective' quest:
an attempt to further a quest of the subject and for the subject and
not for any object or agreed upon system of thought .
Whereas
there is no thrust for any objective quest in this work, the "Without knowing the force of words, it is impossible
to know men"......Confucius
Therefore, words, concepts and language style should not be taken
in a specific literal meaning but in a broad overall sense or in a sense
that seems valid for oneself ( allegorical ), that is, in a sense that fits
well in one's existing construct. Language is considered in this work
not only as an intra/inter-human communication tool but also as
an internal tool ( in the province of one's own mind ) to clarify
and refine one's grasp of reality. This may contradict the
mystics assertion that this is not possible, but this assertion
is being challenged in this work.
"Most of the
things worth doing in the world have been declared
impossible before they were done"....Louis Brandeis
One of the important beliefs in this work is that language can be the most
general purpose tool and medium by which one can not only refine, give
shape and handle, bring into focus, give form and expression to
one's experiences but also as an important means to correlate and gain
from the experiences of others so as to further enhance the quality of one's
own experiences and expressions.
One of the ultimate
challenges for a self explorer should be to translateAmongst all forms of expression , the use of language is the most
general purpose, although like the other forms it too has its fair
share of limitations. These limitations are particularly galling when
the use of language is without focus or clear purpose. The warning
here is that language can, and is used to obscure and hide the ugly
truths of personal, social
and cultural wrongs.
" Men use thought
only to justify their injustices, and
speech only to conceal their thoughts"......Voltaire
The dark side of human nature always takes cover behind
sophisticated
philosophy and terminology.
"How smooth must be
the language of the whites, when they
can make right look like wrong, and wrong like right."
........Black Hawk, Sauk-(1767-1838)Ma-ka-tai-me-she-kia-kiak
" Intellectual slavery masquerading as sophistication
is the worst form of
slavery"........Ngugi wa Thiong'o
The use of language
should be to clarify, not obscure.
" Philosophy is a
battle against the bewitchment of our
intelligence by means of language".....Wittgenstein
" In Man
there is a basic need for imagining
wishfulfillments. Man's
wishful thinking becomes interwoven
among his best science and
even his best philosophy. For the intellectual
and the emotional
advancement of each of us we need certain kinds of ideals.
We also
need ways of thinking which look as straight at the inner realities as at
the physicalchemicalbiological outer realities. We need truly objective
philosophical analysis inside ourselves as well as outside ourselves."
...John C Lilly
The whole focus of this work is the use of concepts and beliefs in their
widest context . It would not be incorrect to say that this work also
attempts to ' deconstruct ' that part of the mind 's construct that has
become rigid ( a tendency to operate from fixed beliefs and notions)
so that, reconstruction is an available possibility or option at all times
(which is quite indispensable for a self explorer ) :
"At every step
philosophy sloughs a skin into which creep its
worthless hangers-on."......Soren Aabye Kierkegaard
So that one's concepts
and beliefs become truly general purpose "I would not
think of quarreling with your interpretation nor offering
any other, as I have found it always the best policy to allow the
film to speak for itself." ............Stanley Kubrick
(note:Again this does not mean that words must always have vague and multiple
meanings. On the one hand while dealing with our own experiences , words and
concepts are more useful in a broad sense, on the other hand while communic-
ating with other beings, specific usage of words is more frequently required :
especially where agreement has to be established. For this purpose I have
tried to define the context in which words have been used here in as much
detail as possible , alongwith their dictionary definitions.)
In this work it is being asserted that language and a linguistic description of
reality need not be limiting if one trains oneself to deal with concepts with
a flexible, fluid and wide context and construct that has an exposure to multi
cultural constructs of reality.
However in one's communication in society, it must be kept in mind that not
every one in a particular society can be expected to be of a wide ranging and
flexible construct, and the linguistic reality plays an important role in every
society. The average person in a particular society interprets words usually
from a narrow and definitive socio-cultural construct. Then again, in the
context of a person to person communication a lot depends whether the
intention of both is not at cross-purposes and evasive to the issue at
hand, because then nothing will be accomplished, however sophisticated the
language used.
AND so that by a more
appropriate usage of language we are able to evolve Supplimentary Article : Expressions in Language
The concept of Personal Validity is meant to be the language tool by which
the self explorer defines, explores and develops one's unique self so that he
is not constrained by the limitations imposed by the objective , physical
world wherein society has developed a system of General Validity which
although itself undergoes changes from time to time, but at a particular
time and place tends to impose a set of beliefs or at the very least a set
of norms of behavior upon the individuals of that society. These norms
have to be conformed to by an individual in order to survive, but once
bare survival is assured, these norms and especially the beliefs that
have been acquired as a result, become a limitation as well as a
un-necessary burden that can be and should be dumped.
( If there is a realisation
that these are useless. )
" A man may pay too
dearly for his livelihood, by giving, in Thoreau's terms,
his whole life for it...and becoming a slave till death "........R L Stevenson
In any social system this seems
inevitable at present, for although a
society cannot function or last without agreed upon rules
( morals), a society can function well enough without
agreed upon beliefs (
religion)
Most problems stem from the inability of key elements in a society to
distinguish between beliefs and rules, rather than just the breaking of rules.
So it is imperative for an individual to understand and follow the said and
unsaid rules of a society at least in interactions with the other members of
the community in order to harmonise one's social as well as one's personal
self. In order to change the existing belief construct of society, one must
have a clear predilection and goal to do so otherwise it will never be worth
the while. Within oneself, of course, one can have the freedom to believe
or experience whatever one chooses.
"Man is condemned to be free" ...... Jean Paul Sartre
"To sing about
freedom and to pray for its coming is not enough.
Freedom must be actualized in history by oppressed peoples who
accept the intellectual challenge to analyze the world for the
purpose of changing it"..........James Cone
The next article deals exclusively with the differentiation and
distinctions between the domain of Personal Validity and the
domain of
General Validity :
NEXT PAGE 03 : 1.5 The Two Domains of Validity
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