Gurdjieff: Real Understanding

Among Gurdjieff's closest pupils there has been no unanimity as to how we are to understand his intentions. He made many confusing and contradictory statements that could not be attributed either to carelessness or to caprice. … He was well aware that the sense of satisfaction that overtakes our thinking apparatus when we recognize a formula that fits our mental patterns is a barrier to real understanding.

-- J.G. Bennett, from Gurdjieff: Making a New World

Neuromagickal Reprogramming 1

Some Basic Postulates of NMR

The neuromagician knows that the map is not the territory, but can affect how we approach the territory. He knows that making a better map means he will have a better experience.

The neuromagician knows that experience has a deep inner structure, and that to learn about this structure is to be able to affect experience.

The neuromagician knows that body and mind are parts of a single continuum, and affect each other reciprocally.

The neuromagician knows that we already have all the resources we need. He also knows that if we don’t have all the resources we need, we have the resources to find the resources we need.

The neuromagician knows that most communication is nonverbal. We can’t not communicate. He knows that the meaning of a communication is the response it gets.

The neuromagician knows that there is no failure, only feedback. He knows that the solution that doesn’t work may be the solution to a different problem.

The neuromagician knows that poor judgment leads to experience which leads to better judgment.

The neuromagician lives in the present but is able to use the past (to re-evaluate) and the future (to motivate) as needed.

The neuromagician knows that to get off the rollercoaster of emotions is just a matter of objective dissociation — not identifying.

Time & Space in Dzogchen

If time and space are absent when scrutinized, then in the same way they are surely absent when they are not under scrutiny, for then the parameters of investigation are absent and the objective field has neither specific nor general characteristics.

-- Natural Perfection: Longchenpa's Radical Dzogchen (trans. Keith Dowman)

Time and Reality (Godel)

The illusion of the passage of time arises from the confusing of the given with the real. Passage of time arises because we think of occupying different realities. In fact, we occupy only different givens. There is only one reality, without time.

-- Kurt Godel

Laws of Manu 12.102

One who knows the true meaning of the teachings of the Veda becomes fit for union with ultimate reality even while remaining here in this world, no matter what stage of life he is in.

-- Laws of Manu, 12.102

Abyss

We don't look into the Abyss, we look out of it from within it.

Logical necessity (Einstein)

What I'm really interested in is whether God could have made the world in a different way, that is, whether the necessity of logical simplicity leaves any freedom at all.

– Einstein

Inquirers into Wonder (Heidegger)

Only because of wonder, the revelation of Nothing, does the “Why?” spring to our lips. Only because this “Why?” is possible as such can we seek for reasons and proofs in a definite way. Only because we can ask and prove are we fated to become inquirers in this life. The inquiry into Nothing puts us, the inquirers, ourselves in question. It is a metaphysical one.

-- Heidegger, from "What is Metaphysics?"

Lifestream of Synchronicity (Bertiaux)

Somewhere at the heart of it all there is a certain energy, which cannot be seen, for it makes itself known and felt only in oracles. This energy, which is the lifestream of synchronicity, is in reality the presence of the Genius of IFA, acting out the enjoyment of the play of being-space-consciousness. By entering the waters of synchronicity which float endlessly in the spaces of what is, we can communicate with this magickal power, and thereby find ourselves within the continuum of being – yet moving beyond it, only to desire to merge with it once more.

-- Michael Bertiaux, from Voudon Gnostic Workbook (p. 363)

Scientific "Thinking Cap" Boosts Brain Power

Scientists have created a real-life thinking cap which works by zapping electricity through the brain. The strange-looking headgear has had extraordinary results and experts believe it could help people be more creative. The device was developed by the University of Sydney's Center for the Mind and suppresses the left side of the brain to catalyze the more creative right side into action.

The device, which uses two electricity conductors, significantly boosted results in a simple math test. Out of a sample of 60 participants, three times as many people who wore the cap were able to complete it, compared to those who tried it without. The cap was inspired by accident victims who experienced a sudden surge in creativity after damaging the left side of their brains.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3404056/Thinking-cap-zaps-brain-to-make-people-more-creative.html