My friend Junk Chuck made a very interesting observation with regards my previous post, in that when discussing concepts such as the kind that a metaphysical standpoint might offer, that it’s like the difference between driving a tractor and piloting a flying carpet. He makes a valid point.

Entertaining new concepts that perhaps differ from the norm do tend to stretch the mind a little, in ways that may cause discomfort or motion sickness as the usual mode of consciousness adjusts to accommodate the new sensations. In fact, as I sit here and think about it, writing this post ad hoc, what I’m experiencing is the sense that I really have no clue where I’m going with this, and that my feelings of discomfort are being generated by my apparent lack of foresight, based upon the premise that all future moments are for wont of a better word ‘ahead’ of me right now.

However, preferring an alternative frame of reference for the sake of momentarily breaking rigidly focussed thought patterns, let’s say that at some level of my personal awareness the knowledge of where I am heading with this is already established and exists within a multitude of possible and probable posts that carry the energy signature, or intent of what I am attempting to express here. That the reason I decided to sit and write this piece was indeed prompted by its existence within a frame of reference that I am yet to be aware of. You see there how devious the concept of time can be? You cannot help but be shoehorned into a particular direction, thus adding to the confusion caused when discussing more expansive, non-linear concepts to that which the mind I believe is already well accustomed. More often than not we are caught at the first hurdle so to speak, trying to spread out concepts before us, and attempting to put them into an order that makes sense within the parameters of time. Time though, is a trip-hazzard, a fairly rigid belief structure that we quite happily accept without question, out of pure habit mainly, but that inhibits our ability to experience something different and potentially innovative, and dare I say, life-altering.

I am aware as and when I write…that I choose my words very carefully, those that reflect the intent I already feel within the pit of my stomach. You see I already know what it is I am trying to convey, but part of my process of communication is to translate that already extant, but perhaps abstract intent into words, or visual stimuli that are easily recognisable by others, and that convey as faithfully as possible its particular flavour. As you can imagine some of the original polish of the original concept, or intent, becomes lost in translation, or it becomes altered by virtue of the fact that the focus is changed by the method of conveyance, i.e. verbal communication which is governed by a different set of rules than those that might shape a gut feeling. Once again though, in trying to extract or convey meaning from one mode of understanding to another, it is all too easy to fall into the linear time trap, as one makes the assumption that the interpretation into words follows, or replaces the abstract concept. What if then, the abstract intent and the interpretation into words both exist within their own right simultaneously, as two probable versions or permutations of an original energy signature already in existence?

Instantly my well trained linear mind goes upward, up where the more expansive omnipresent, and omniscient concepts are said to reside, because of course, based on conventional thinking, such concepts of multiple realities fall within that remit. This concept of above and below was already established at the outset with the concept of airborne, bronco rug versus grounded, gear-grinding, slow-moving tractor. To think of anything in a different way then, can be very challenging, given the fairly regimented thought processes that we seem to encounter at the level of usual waking conscious awareness.

Upon speculation, and harking back to a number of previous posts and intuitive insights I’ve had with the help of certain friends, what if, our ‘usual’ or current frame of reference/point of focus is merely that, a point of focus, that through its comfortable familiarity appears to be more static and solid than it really is?

We might think of this particular brand of focus then as a layer, although personally I don’t think that is the only salient way to look at it, as it implies hierarchy in that it still falls within the remit of linear expression, small to big, bottom to top etc. We might perhaps look at it through a different filter, and see our ‘normal’ point of conscious awareness and focus as intensity, or frequency, much like the kind of pin-point focus that can be achieved by looking down the barrel of a microscope. Our peculiar point of focus then might well be akin to looking at a microbe on a slide. For that moment that we pull our focus in tight upon that microbe, we do not perceive the glass slide upon which it rests, nor do we perceive the microscope, or the bench upon which the microscope sits, or even the room within which all of these components reside. Neither do we consider what may indeed be smaller than the microbe that our current point of focus does not detect, or acknowledge, or why it might be sitting there at all, as in what purpose, or purposes it might be serving, quite separate from our linear scientific inquiry. So I think it is with consciousness.

You might argue that the analogy I have just provided is also subject to hierarchical structure, and you’d be right, so what if then, we take this concept a little to the left and consider that the underlying, or latent energy signature/intent that we discussed above is the same at all levels of consciousness, that it cannot be measured in terms of the linear and hierarchical, merely because it falls within a different remit of the mind’s awareness. But what do I know, really your guess here is as good as mine in all fairness. What if, our usual mode of conscious focus, and thus awareness is not a singular thing at all, but that each set of beliefs we entertain, i.e. one thing follows another, are in fact filters that colour our perception, but that they are as mutable as they are seemingly fixed? What if then, we are always piloting the flying carpet while we play a simulation of the tractor down below?

That to me is an inspiring thought that gets those mini flying carpets within my stomach afluttering. It would seem to be a case of ‘Is’ versus, ‘there was, and will be’ in conclusion. Indeed time as a concept can only exist as a before and after. It cannot measure the conceptual present moment, which might suggest that there is more yet to be aware of and explore, that we perhaps hadn’t previously considered. That adjusting the colour of our usual filters might be all that is required in order to shift the pattern of focus. Although, judging by the way our thought patterns do change, and by the way the scenery of our environment changes as we move through time and space, we already are very adept at altering our perceptive filters, and that actually it’s something that comes very naturally to us. To take a leap in another apparent direction then, is no real leap at all. We already know how to do it. It could be said then, that any new learning is a process of remembering that which we already know at some level. There’s a thought…