[Barra]

There are many truths, in my view there is a different truth in each of us, and that fascinates me. As I see it, if we are lucky, we get to see our tr
[See the full post at: https://truthofself.com/my-truth-is-not-your-truth-lets-celebrate-that/]

[Barra]

I agree with the premise here but I would draw the distinction between universal and personal truths, as the true meaning of truth is it is true, and it thus has to be so, otherwise it is not true, it is false.  Regardless of what we believe to be true, if it is in fact not, then then it is not a truth.

Therefore I view the idea of truth as two forms.. universal truths which are like laws which form the foundational structure of the universe in which we exist and cannot be changed or broken, as sure as 2+2=4, application of these truths with always give the same results.

Then we have personal truths which are more akin to beliefs.  Now we can believe anything is true, but it does not make it so.  However on a personal level if we believe it, it forms a basis of who we are, how we act and interact with the world around us.  Beliefs determine what we attract and what we repell, and this process informs our beliefs which form personal truths. These are of course different for each of us, formed from personal experiences which cannot be shared, as viewed by another they are viewed through different variables of perception for each personality.

So on a personal level even if we believe something which is NOT true, we can still gain great benefits from this belief, just as much as one can cause self harm. We can believe something about ourselves, not knowing for certain if it is true, and the law of attraction will provide us with evidence of it, until it becomes one of our personal truths.

The old saying “fake it til you make it” is apt here though I would change it to “Believe it until you become it!”

The task is to test the ideas we discover and retain that which works for us at that time, and discard that which does not. And once they have served their purpose by bringing us to a new realisation and level of self awareness ,we  are always replacing them with new and more appropriate beliefs.   As our beliefs continue to develop they begin to allign more and more with universal truths. Adversely beliefs we hold which are not true, by the power of this belief, will cause the reality to provide false evidence and will take us further away from the higher truths, and further into darkness.  However anyone working consciously on their spiritual development will be developing the skills and awareness to avoid such pitfalls and instead utilise the belief system to their betterment. As Abe Hicks says “A belief is only a thought you keep on thinking”.  Is a belief the same as a truth?

I see it as a sliding scale , at the top universal truths such as hot/cold, on/off, +/-. which cannot be disputed,  descending down the scale to mutable truths, good/bad, right/wrong, normal/abnormal which tend to be generally agreed by a group, society or religion etc. Until we get to personal truths – Im good at this/ Im bad at that, I like this/ I dont like that, I want this / I dont want that;  which although may seem to oneself at times to be fixed as the moon and sun,  they are wholly mutable and flexible and the substance of which determine our development and progress in life, as our beliefs become our truths which then we use to define us.  (see inception).

Here is an excerpt from a book by Dion Fortune, which stuck with me ever since I read it many years ago.  Although the book relates to the study of the cabballa, the following statement holds true across all paths.

“The nearer the source the purer the stream. In order to discover first principles we must go to the fountain-head. But a river receives many tributaries in the course of its flow, and these need not necessarily be polluted. If we want to discover whether they are pure or not, we compare them with the pristine stream, and if they pass this test they may well be permitted to mingle with the main body of waters and swell their strength.

So it is with a tradition: that which is not antagonistic will be assimilated. We must always test the purity of a tradition by reference to first principles, but we shall equally judge of the vitality of a tradition by its power to assimilate. It is only a dead faith which remains uninfluenced by contemporary thought.”

THE MYSTICAL QABALAH by Dion Fortune

https://selfdefinition.org/tarot/Dion-Fortune-Mystical-Qabala.pdf

 

 

[Barra]

Yes I’m talking about personal truths, which are often misunderstood by the individual concerned but none the less they are the truth of that particular individual at that moment in time, and they can also stray into areas of universal truth and distort them in one way or another due to heightened if potentially misunderstood knowledge.

As I see it, this universe is immensely vast and yet it is for the most part hidden, it seems very few get to see additional facets of it in any detail. Those few, it seems to me, rarely get to see exactly the same aspects of that wider universe and it is in part these things which go to make up our own personal truth, it is this uniqueness that I am looking to celebrate.

[Barra]

MISGUIDED INNER AUTHORITY
Remediation of Misconceptions & Self-Delusions in the Search for Self
by Iona Miller, 2013

It is common for very infantile people to have a mystical, religious feeling, they enjoy this atmosphere in which they can admire their beautiful feelings, but they are simply indulging their auto-eroticism. ~Carl Jung, ETH Lecture 11 – Jan 1935, Pages 171.

“If the collective unconscious answers to spiritual questions based on unitive thinking, then they have metaphorical and phenomenal value. But if mystical moments lead to ontological claims independent of scientific evidence or logical reason, then they open themselves up to being judged based on wish fulfillment, emotional prejudice, or subjective intuition imbued with idiosyncratic meaning ”
https://www.processpsychology.com/new-articles2/Jung.pdf
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The Self is the center of the psychic labyrinth where we battle with ourselves for the treasure hard to attain.
The labyrinth is a powerful central symbol of the subconscious.
Soul-loss (being lost in life) is analogous to what Jung referred to as ‘losing the Ariadne thread.’

“There is no light without shadow and no psychic wholeness without imperfection. To round itself out, life calls not for perfection but for completeness; and for this the “thorn in the flesh” is needed, the suffering of defects without which there is no progress and no ascent.” ~ C. G. Jung, CW, Vol. 12, para. 208

“DAATH: The God of the Gap”
Self-Delusion, Misguided Inner Authority & Obsessions
Premature claims to Knowledge and Enlightenment

ABSTRACT: Grave distortions and fraudulent claims to power characterize the spiritual path in our times. Discernment can be aided by a taxonomy of periodic risers in the stabilization of spiritual states of consciousness — the milestones of transformation — and learning the dynamics of self-delusion and misguided inner authority. Ready access to disinformation in beliefs and ideas created by others magnifies the problem. Emotionally appealing truths are sandwiched into idiosyncratic notions ranging from the speculative to the fantastical, and trap many individuals like flypaper, because our minds love a good story. The brain feeds on stories, but the wrong stories just lead us down the garden path into ancient worlds that never happened, and mythic scenarios that were never meant to be taken literally.

Accepting the generalized commentary of so-called internet or media experts without critical thinking can derail the dynamic process of self transformation, by leading us down the garden path of false beliefs. Accepting such beliefs uncritically is precisely the opposite of what Jung recommended as individuation. Such false beliefs tend to cluster around an individual’s personal issues, but are mistaken for and confounded with historical, philosophical and scientific ‘reality’. Much of the “self-delusion” can be linked to exposure to memes functioning as emotional strange attractors or cultural artifacts or fallout,, as well as pre- and pseudo-scientific notions of by-gone centuries, and lack of understanding of standards and discernment. It’s a truism that mediocrity (gaps and gaffs in awareness) boasts the loudest.

Through hysteria, lack of critical judgment, and naive enthusiasm, a false idea can be hyped by the mainstream media to the point of not only looking entirely plausible, but even certain.

Keywords: literalization, concretization, epistemology, metaphysics, self-delusion, misconceptions, pseudo-science, emperor’s new clothes, role-boundedness, trickster phenomena, adaptive changes, species survival, transcendental models, symbolic abstraction, critical thinking, disinformation, misinformation, conscience, social communication, neuraloscillation
Things here are but signs that show to the wise how
the Supreme God is known; the enlightened sage
reading the sign may enter the holy place and make
the vision real. This Term, attained only by those
that have over-passed all, is the All-Transcending.
There is thus a converse in virtue of which the
essential man outgrows Being, becomes identical
with the Transcendent of Being. He that knows
himself to be one with This, has in himself
the likeness of the Supreme; if from that
heightened self he can pass higher still–
image to archetype— he has won
the term of all his journeying.
-Plotinus, The Enneads :: “The Flight of the Alone.”
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Men fear thought as they fear nothing else on earth–more than ruin, more even than death. Thought is subversive and revolutionary, destructive and terrible; thought is merciless to privilege, established institutions and comfortable habits; thought is anarchic and lawless, indifferent to authority, careless of the well-tried wisdom of the ages. It sees man, a feeble speck, surrounded by unfathomable depths of silence; yet it bears itself proudly, as unmoved as if it were lord of the universe. Thought is great and swift and free, the light of the world, and the chief glory of man. –Bertrand Russell, Principles of Social Reconstruction

We all desire by our nature to know. The chief cultural factors which influence us include: hunger, sex, self-defense, power, possession, fear, unseen powers, law, custom, hope, self-respect, position, achievement, need for fun, companionship, concern for other, need for children, exercise of skills, appropriate degree of social, political, and individual freedom, appropriate degree of tradition, knowing where one stands with respect to each of the above, role and goal of man. Our needs are expressed through environmental, bodily needs, political, religious, legal, social, human relations, gambling, ideals, identity, knowing the system. Physical and non-physical (or psychic) merge in the human mind

We imagine we know a lot, much more than in the past. But there is no unified theory in physics. Furthermore, there is certainly no unified theory in psychology. Sometimes we fall into the experiential and imaginal cracks in reality. We seems to retain some of our ancient hardwiring. No clear epistemological framework sets the stage for defining the disciplines and coherently unifying the major paradigms in the field.

To construct or own worldviews we are still confronted with the old formula – the cosmological creative and destructive cycles of time. Cosmology is the study of the origin and nature of the universe. Ontology studies the nature of being as being and existence. We have to fit the pieces together from epistemologies and psychodynamics into some sort of cumulative understanding. Some basic epistemological agreement about the phenomena under examination is needed. Metaphysics abstracts universal conceptions. Some of these grand narratives are more fanciful than others.

We can be sincerely convinced of the utterly wrong. Why do we continue to accommodate the irrelevant and easily falsifiable? Are we conscientious about our own self-delusions or simply unconsciously immersed in them due to a delusional perspective on our own misguided “gnosis” and obsessions with misguided theoretical perspectives? Even conscience is no ineffable guide to inner authority. There is no shortage of new myths to capture our attention. Dreams tell us who we are, collectively and individually.

If Inner Authority is linked to authentic power and wisdom, we need to examine our personal interaction with inner wisdom figures (archetypes) and values in order to create lives of positive action that arise from deep inner wisdom. Most of us shirk such important inner work, substituting a fantasy of transformation and mindfulness. Delusional self-improvement projects are aimed at adorning the ego.

People claim to hear messages that ring in their hearts as truth, or ‘resonate’ with material that confirms their own tacit or recognized beliefs, but most it originates in cultural conditioning and memetic patterning. All we hold is a piece of the Mystery. Buzzwords such as True Nature, intentionality, and mis-identified integrity compound the situation. Premature spiritual fixation can just as readily be a form of transcendental escapism.

Both the strategies of “transcendence” and “reduction” are expressions of bad faith — i.e., forms of self-deception and escapism that seek to deny the realities of the human existential situation. Self-delusion may be self-evident but few give themselves a reality check on it and doing so is compounded by our own psychological blindspots. This is a form of escapism or neo-mythology.

Metaphysical Assumptions

Utopian dreams of Vernor Vinge’s numinous ‘Singularity’, grand cosmic narratives, free-will, intentionality, and resonance have been coopted, mis-applied, and mis-attributed to delusional biopsychosocial processes. But, some suggest magic may be a fundamental property of the human mind, embraced at whatever level by otherwise completely rational people.

We can harbor a subconscious belief in the supernatural. For example, Einstein read alchemy for relaxation. The interface of our inner and outer worlds appears in the paranormal, as well as our beliefs about phenomena and principles. Is continually catching ourselves in the reflexive act of self-delusions the most we can hope for?
“Culture is wired in the brain,” Smail writes, and “cultural practices can have profound neurophysiological consequences.”

Subbotsky reports, “Research also shows how engagement in magical thinking can enhance cognitive functioning, such as creative thinking, perception and memory. Further, this paper suggests that certain forms of social compliance and obedience to authority historically evolved from magical practices of mind control and are still powered by the implicit belief in magic.”

He concludes, “Unlike magical thinking, which remains a conscious practice throughout the life span, the belief in magic in adult educated individuals becomes mostly subconscious. This view links together phenomena that thus far have been studied separately from one another: magical beliefs in ancient and medieval cultures and modern developing and developed cultures, magical thinking in mentally disturbed patients, children’s magic, superstitions in adults, religious beliefs, indirect suggestion and persuasion effects in politics and commerce, military and political terror, and the use of magical effects in the entertainment industry.”

Describing Transcendental Pragmatism, Evans says, “Careful thinking about our existential situation reveals the following initial convictions: 1) Good evidence for metaphysical beliefs (e.g. the existence and nature of God) need not consist of a deductive, absolute proof, but sufficient evidence to satisfy a rational person; 2) An argument for a comprehensive life philosophy should be a cumulative case, i.e. it should consist of evidence from all areas of human life and experience; 3) Metaphysical propositions are not “guilty until proven innocent”; no special burden of proof lies on the religious believer, since atheists are committed to equally risky worldviews; and 4) Evidence for living problems cannot be mechanically interpreted by experts, but must be interpreted by every individual with sensitivity, since each of us is responsible for the consequences of our beliefs (Evans 53).”

Pragmatism, according to William James, is “first, a method; and second, a genetic theory of what is meant by truth” (Pragmatism 33). As a method, Pragmatism locates truth by finding the most expedient/useful belief(s). As a genetic theory of truth, Pragmatism is the explanation that all knowledge is in the process of becoming. Truth is always being made (not discovered), always in flux, always being reformed, always plastic, always tentative, always relative. The truth is “only the expedient in the way of our thinking, just as ‘the right’ is only the expedient in our way of behaving” (James, Pragmatism 100). The process of the development of truth is a kind of dialectical progression in which an old truth is reformed into a new truth as people come into contact with new experiences that challenge old truth.

Pragmatic “truth” is not truth as traditionally understood; it has no necessity (it is plastic) and no universality (truth is a way of thinking relative to every individual). Pragmatism does focus attention on human needs, but cannot support happiness because of its naive grasp of human psychology. It is impossible to live effectively with the view that everything one believes and upon which one makes major life decisions is just a plastic idea.

INTRODUCTION

In Jungian psychology the labyrinth is one of the most powerful symbols of the subconscious. In his book ‘Man and His Symbols’, Jung explains its meaning:

“The maze of strange passages, chambers, and unlocked exits in the cellar recalls the old Egyptian representation of the underworld, which is a well-known symbol of the unconscious with its abilities. It also shows how one is “open” to other influences in one’s unconscious shadow side and how uncanny and alien elements can break in.”

TOXIC NARCISSISM: When Pathological Ignorance meets Intellectual Malpractice and the Marketplace

The Lords of Disinformation are now worshiped in the shrine of alternative media with utter lack of discernment. The Shadow hijacks the authority of the wisdom Self and the trickster/pretender emerges with the Flapdoodle Effect – much ado about nothing, as if saying it louder and with more inflection makes the utterly incredulous believable.

Levels of Cognitive Awareness

Personality Work

Grounding & Centering

Eliminating Misconceptions

The Self

Self-Actualization or sterile self-absorption in idiosyncratic fantasy

CONCEPTUAL CHANGE

Critical Thinking vs. Delusions of Grandeur

Personality Disorders

Narcissism & Self Delusion

Confounded & Conflated Archetypes

Persona & Self
Shadow & Self
Anima/Animus & Self

SELF ACTUALIZATION & Self Intervention

Leading post- and trans-humanist, Ray Kurzweil revises the customary conception of God to accommodate the possibility that humans are taking part in a process by which post-human beings (creatures, according to traditional theism) will attain powers equivalent to those usually attributed to God. Some may construe post-humanism as an appalling instance of hubris, in which individuals propose taking enormous risks both with themselves and with the human species, in order to pursue an impossible goal. Others, however may construe post-humanism as calling for alignment of personal energy with a cosmic evolutionary imperative: to preserve self-conscious organic life—currently threatened by anthropogenic environmental disaster—long enough to transfer it to a more enduring substrate needed to support an evolutionary process that culminates when the entire universe is made conscious. If this astonishing goal ever begins to bear fruit, future theologians would presumably rethink traditional conceptions of cosmos and history, humankind and God.

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