What do we really know? If we look closely, and dare to be honest, we have to admit that we can only know very little. Absolute Truth, like it's called in Buddhism, can only be approximated in words, 'lesser' truth reflects just our concepts about our own existence. After centuries of often rapacious scientific explorations, we come back to the origin of all 'knowledge', 'science' and 'religion' - our own experience.
If we stop believing for a second in some of Aristotle's ideas about reality, many 'divisions' of abstract concepts stop making sense (which doesn't stop anyone investing lots of energy in selling specific concepts to fellow humans). That doesn't in any way imply an utter meaninglessness - to the contrary, once we become aware that all meaning is created individually and collectively, we are no longer bound to simply accept arbitrary believe systems but can pick and choose instead.
If we stop believing for a second in some of Aristotle's ideas about reality, many 'divisions' of abstract concepts stop making sense (which doesn't stop anyone investing lots of energy in selling specific concepts to fellow humans). That doesn't in any way imply an utter meaninglessness - to the contrary, once we become aware that all meaning is created individually and collectively, we are no longer bound to simply accept arbitrary believe systems but can pick and choose instead.
What we think is what we get. It's kind of absurd to deny the 'existence' of free will or soul. By inventing the words these concepts came into existence, independent of any measurable truth. Yet science is just another believe system, its value for mankind derives rather from the scientific method than from the data set explored and elevated to (immutable) fact.
As fan of Leary's 8-circuit model of consciousness I spend most of my adult life exploring my and others believe systems, which didn't stop me from holding on to my very own fixed ideas sometimes, or doing things that look in hindsight rather stupid. I noticed that many maps of reality have a resonance, based in their inherent logic. Confronted with experiences or facts that don't resonate with an individuals believe system, cognitive dissonance maintains the integrity of the believe system instead of the sanity of the individual. The prankster god of the bible hid some dinosaur skeletons in the soil of our planet, just to give believers in him a demonstration of his omnipotent pranking powers and deride those misbelieving Darwinists.
The word God resonates with religious persons different than with atheists, the word soul creates harmony or dissonance based on the filters of the individual's believe system. The cultural programming allows a certain predictability of reactions to stimuli, which is helpful once we want address groups of people with a common interest or profession.
The word God resonates with religious persons different than with atheists, the word soul creates harmony or dissonance based on the filters of the individual's believe system. The cultural programming allows a certain predictability of reactions to stimuli, which is helpful once we want address groups of people with a common interest or profession.
Our culture neglects 'holistic' resonance by creating an abstract reality in which illusionary concepts engage more illusionary concepts. While we need nurturance, safety and company for survival, the believe in money has largely been conditioned as primary means of survival. The currencies in existence are purely virtual, they have no values of the 'physical' world attached to them anymore. Although money is a purely illusionary concept, the leaders of society suggest a scarcity of this invented product (which mostly exist as binary information stored on computer systems anyway). Instead of reconsidering the way mankind produces money, another illusionary concept (market forces) is invented to distract from the principle of redistribution of common wealth by threat and execution of violence.
Alexander took care to present his principles in a highly inclusive way. Unlike many abstract systems fighting for the attention of human hosts to keep them alive, AT doesn't declare itself as the 'one and only' way to happiness. Instead, it claims universal applicability, which seems more and more apparent to me the longer I apply Alexander's principles to my own life. In teaching situation, there's usually too little philosophy involved to allow for a clash of believe systems.
I think we can improve the clarity in communication about the holistic background of AT by carefully avoiding explanations that base on the body-mind-soul split. 'Self' as conglomerate for emotions, feelings, experience, awareness, consciousness, body, movement, for short, for the suchness of human nature avoids many pitfalls more specific phrases come with.
Contextualisation helps us a lot to teach Alexander's ideas. Our hands can convey very concise information, which in conjunction with the words we use to frame the experiment can provide valuable learning experiences. Using imagery and narrative helps as well. I think John will enjoy hearing that one his imaging exercises I used during a table turn with one of my first students stayed useful for her for more than two years.
Contextualisation helps us a lot to teach Alexander's ideas. Our hands can convey very concise information, which in conjunction with the words we use to frame the experiment can provide valuable learning experiences. Using imagery and narrative helps as well. I think John will enjoy hearing that one his imaging exercises I used during a table turn with one of my first students stayed useful for her for more than two years.
When we tune into the present moment, we perforate the veil of illusion that dominates the life of most people. At some point, we might encounter more about how the fabric of reality is woven, and how to create patterns in it ourselves. The cultural patterns that play out at the moment don't resonate well with the way other parts of nature evolve.
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