Leo Foresta

The previous post ended with key questions: what can we do now? Can the emerging alternative vision help us?

We have two forms of intelligence at our disposal to navigate through the global crisis: deductive logic and intuition.

Deductive logic works with small bits of perceived reality, as if the universe consisted of separate pieces and processes.

Therein lies the essence of mainstream thinking: knowledge is fragmented into different disciplines with few bridges between them. Theories and models are developed within the confines of each discipline; when they meet certain (arbitrary) criteria, they are deemed “scientific”. Science is assumed superior to other forms of knowledge.

As a result, a barrier of stultifying conformism is erected against a large body of experience and observations considered off limits, such as alternative medicine, geo-biology, the study of water memory or near death experiences, etc., etc.

The fact is that most non conventional disciplines rest on a holistic vision of the universe seen as energy and consciousness which is diametrically opposed to the dominant mechanistic view.

Therefore, we face a riddle: which of the two opposing broad views of the universe is the more useful?

Both amount to belief systems – sets of hypotheses if you prefer – and the question is which of them leads to more harmony for individuals and society.

Concerning the dominant mechanistic view, there is now clear evidence of where it leads: destruction of natural beauty on the planet, mad society and sick individuals.

The global crisis exposes mainstream thinking’s inability to produce coherent solutions to humanity’s major problems. In fact it shows that mainstream thinking is at the root of attitudes and actions that cause problems and make them worse.

But let us reintroduce intuition into the reasoning.

Intuition is the channel of non sensory perceptions that opens up when you let your mind quieten down and free itself from the continual inner conversation. In that modified state of consciousness, you are able to feel a silent presence deep down.

That experience is the door to spirituality, which, one way or other, all religions and traditions of wisdom everywhere in the world have discovered. It is also a guidance mechanism of great practical use in every aspect of life.

But Western civilisation has stifled intuition and trapped individuals in a mental cage, cutting them off from the subtle side of existence.

In the West, even religion has come to operate without resorting to intuition, effectively endorsing a watertight separation between “this world”, ruled by materialist thinking, and a hazy spiritual world where abstract dogmatic concepts apply.

This unnatural separation doesn’t make sense.

By contrast, the holistic vision based on intuition as well as deductive logic considers spirituality and practical life as interwoven threads of one existence.

Advanced physics, ancient traditions and recent observations in alternative disciplines appear to converge in support of that vision.

Let us therefore adopt the holistic vision as the more promising approach, and see how far it can help us navigate through the global crisis.

With the holistic vision, we become aware that the apparent physical world around us is but one manifestation of reality.

This makes us more detached and serene, less prone to hasty judgments. As a result we can observe events and people lucidly, without hatred, resentment or panic.

A word of caution though: in the last two or three decades, ideas superficially along those lines have been exploited by commercially oriented personal development experts and guru types.

Their dubious promises of well being and enhanced performance appeal first and foremost to the ego of self obsessed individuals.

In fact, the genuine holistic vision tunes down the ego, with its pathetic vanity and fear, and brings in a sense of oneness and kinship with all that exists on the planet and the universe.

At this stage we must highlight a key hypothesis of the holistic vision: that consciousness is not only universal and eternal, but also benevolent, full of harmony and love.

The question of why evil and suffering exist despite the supreme benevolence is a mystery that no science, religion or other discipline has so far been able to elucidate. We just have to accept it, without departing from the fundamental hypothesis of benevolence.

We now face the challenge of finding practical ways to live in full alignment with our adopted holistic vision.

Experience shows that whenever we entertain thoughts of wholeness and harmony we feel better, and positive situations seem to occur.

Conversely, when we cultivate barriers and nurture egotism, dislike, judgment, fear, guilt or other negative sentiments, we feel uncomfortable and encounter difficulties.

Whether positive or negative, our emotional vibrations seem to be reflected back to us by an invisible mirror. This can be verified every day. Alternative thinkers call it the law of attraction.

This essential law has sometimes been caricatured and misrepresented: in a fancy narrative, you just had to visualise money, power, social success, or seduction, and it was supposed to miraculously come to you.

The key here is genuine sense of general harmony as opposed to phoney dreams of success for one’s own little egoistic self. Alignment is with oneness, not ego. Then the law of attraction applies and synchronicities occur.

All right, we’re aligned. We lead a balanced healthy life, eat organic, stay clear of vaccines and other stuff from big pharma, entertain positive non egotistic thoughts, love our neighbours and animals; the law of attraction works …but the world crisis around us deepens and society turns even uglier.

What’s wrong then?

Nothing. Mankind, which in the holistic vision is just waves of universal consciousness, goes through a formative experience. The experience has to run its full course. Things therefore will most probably become worse, much worse, before changing for the better.

We have to accept this and go forward with light and joy in our hearts despite mountains of negativity and manipulation around.

Many people won’t be able to do this, and will suffer badly. We can’t help them, but we shouldn’t feel superior; we’re not the chosen few.

Without intuition, sensitivity and love in one’s heart it is impossible to understand all this stuff. It’s so far from ordinary materialist thinking.

The great challenge these days is to survive in society while choosing systematically ways of doing things that are completely at odds with what the dominant system tries to impose on everybody.

Put another way, the challenge is to be free walking in a crowd of slaves.

The challenge will become even more acute as the tyranny exercised by the dominant plutocracy becomes nastier, needled by the rising feeling of its inevitable demise.

So, prepare to be brave. You have all the tools to choose the path of freedom and light: logic, the narratives of physics, ancient traditions, alternative disciplines, and above all your own intuition, that mysterious gift which puts you in touch with universal consciousness. Trust it. Or else, accept to be slave.

Fear not, cultivate harmony.

Love,

Leo

Copyright © Leo Foresta 2012