This simplified version is prepared by Mike Allard with the help of AI.

Here AI explains Postulates 1 – 15 at a 5th-grade reading level, with everyday examples.

What is a Postulate?

SIMPLE MEANING: A postulate is a basic idea that we accept as true so we can build other ideas upon it.

EXAMPLE: Think of building a house. Before putting up the walls, you need a foundation. A postulate is like that foundation.

LESSON: These 15 postulates explore how the universe, awareness, thoughts, and our sense of being somebody, are connected.

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The following explanations present the ideas of Postulate Mechanics, rather than established scientific facts.

PS 1: There Is Something We Cannot Know

SIMPLE MEANING: Some things are beyond our ability to understand or explain. No matter how much we learn, there may always be something we cannot fully grasp.

EXAMPLE: Example: Imagine standing outside at night, looking at millions of stars. You wonder, “Where did everything come from?” Then you ask, “What existed before everything began?” Every answer seems to lead to another question. That mystery is what this postulate calls the Unknowable.

LESSON: We cannot assume that everything can be explained.

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PS 2: If Something Is Unknowable, Something Else Must Be Knowable

SIMPLE MEANING: Although some things are beyond our understanding, many things can be experienced and learned about. The universe contains everything we can discover through experience.

EXAMPLE: You cannot see the entire ocean at once, but you can feel the water, taste its salt, watch its waves, and study its creatures. You may not know everything about the ocean, but you can certainly know something about it.

LESSON: Knowledge begins with what we can experience.

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PS 3: What We Can Know Must Be Something We Can Sense

SIMPLE MEANING: For something to become known, it must affect our senses or awareness in some way.

EXAMPLE: Imagine walking into a kitchen. You smell freshly baked cookies before seeing them. Even though the cookies are hidden inside the oven, their smell tells you something is there.

LESSON: We learn about things because they can be sensed, directly or indirectly.

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PS 4: What Can Be Sensed Is Called Substance

SIMPLE MEANING: In Postulate Mechanics, anything that can be experienced is called substance. Substance is not limited to solid objects.

EXAMPLE: Think about three things:

• A rock that you can touch.
• Music that you can hear.
• A happy feeling that you can experience.

They are very different, but each can be experienced. Postulate Mechanics uses the word substance broadly enough to include all three.

LESSON: Substance is whatever is substantial enough to be experienced.

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PS 5: The Ability to Sense Substance Is Awareness

SIMPLE MEANING: Awareness is what allows something to be noticed or experienced.

EXAMPLE: You are walking through a park while thinking about tomorrow’s homework. Birds are singing, flowers are blooming, and a cool breeze touches your face. Suddenly, you stop thinking and notice the birds. The birds were singing all along. What changed was your attention to them.

LESSON: Awareness makes it possible to notice what is happening.

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PS 6: Awareness of Substance Is Consciousness

SIMPLE MEANING: Consciousness is awareness experiencing something. In Postulate Mechanics, consciousness is considered a fundamental feature of the universe itself.

EXAMPLE: Imagine sitting beside a river. You see the moving water, hear its sound, and feel the cool air. You are conscious of the river because you are aware of these experiences. Postulate Mechanics takes this idea further by proposing that consciousness belongs to the universe as a whole, not just individual living beings.

LESSON: Consciousness is awareness of what exists.

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PS 7: Consciousness Begins With a Postulate

SIMPLE MEANING: According to this model, consciousness begins by accepting a basic assumption. That assumption becomes the starting point for further understanding.

EXAMPLE: A child looks at a seed and says: “I think this seed can become a tree.” That is the starting assumption. The child plants the seed, waters it, and watches it grow. Everything the child does next is based on that first idea.

LESSON: A basic assumption can become the foundation for many other thoughts.

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PS 8: Postulates Lead to Considerations

SIMPLE MEANING: Once we accept a basic idea, we begin developing more ideas from it. These additional ideas are called considerations.

EXAMPLE: A child begins with the postulate: “Plants need water to grow.” From this, the child develops several considerations:

• I should water my plant.
• Too little water might hurt it.
• Rain can help plants grow.
• I should check whether the soil is dry.

All these ideas grow from the original assumption.

LESSON: One basic idea can produce many related ideas.

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PS 9: Postulates and Considerations Work Together as One

SIMPLE MEANING: When our basic assumptions and the ideas built upon them fit together, there is harmony, consistency, and continuity. Postulate Mechanics calls this Oneness.

EXAMPLE: Imagine a person who believes: “All living things deserve kindness.” They then decide: “I should treat animals gently.” Their consideration agrees with their original postulate. But suppose they deliberately hurt an animal for amusement. Now their behavior conflicts with their basic belief. That creates inconsistency.

LESSON: Clear understanding develops when our ideas fit together without contradiction.

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PS 10: Thoughts Are a Kind of Substance

SIMPLE MEANING: In Postulate Mechanics, thoughts are considered substance because they can be experienced. They are not necessarily physical objects like rocks or tables.

EXAMPLE: Close your eyes and imagine a bright red apple. You can picture its color and shape. There is no actual apple in front of you, but the image is present in your experience. Now imagine biting into it. You might even begin to salivate! The thought is not a physical apple, yet it can influence your experience.

LESSON: Thoughts can be experienced and can affect us, even though they are not solid objects.

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PS 11: Consciousness Is Awareness of Thought Forms

SIMPLE MEANING: Thoughts appear in different forms, including pictures, words, ideas, memories, and beliefs. Consciousness allows us to notice these forms.

EXAMPLE: Imagine remembering your birthday. You might experience:

• A picture of your birthday cake.
• The sound of people singing.
• A memory of opening presents.
• A feeling of happiness.

These are different thought forms appearing in awareness.

LESSON: Consciousness allows us to experience and notice our thoughts.

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PS 12: Awareness Needs Distance to Recognize Thoughts

SIMPLE MEANING: To understand a thought clearly, we need enough mental distance to observe it rather than become completely caught up in it. This is not physical distance. It means being able to notice a thought without immediately believing or following it.

EXAMPLE: Someone says something unkind to you. Immediately, you think: “Nobody likes me!” You feel sad and angry. But then you notice: “Wait a minute. That’s just a thought. One person being unkind doesn’t mean nobody likes me.” You have created distance between awareness and the thought. Now you can examine it more clearly.

LESSON: When we observe thoughts instead of becoming lost in them, we understand them better.

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PS 13: Identity Forms When We Lose Distance From Thoughts

SIMPLE MEANING: Identity develops when we become so attached to certain thoughts that we believe those thoughts are who we are. Instead of recognizing a thought as a thought, we turn it into “me.”

EXAMPLE: A student fails a math test. At first, the student thinks: “I failed this test.” But then the thought changes: “I’m stupid.” Eventually, the student begins believing: “I’m a stupid person.” A single experience has become part of the student’s identity. The student no longer sees the thought clearly. They have become identified with it. Postulate Mechanics also applies this idea to concepts of God, suggesting that even an all-knowing identity is a thought form.

LESSON: Identity forms when we confuse thoughts about ourselves with what we actually are.

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PS 14: Identity Filters Our Awareness

SIMPLE MEANING: Once we strongly believe we are a certain kind of person, that identity changes how we see the world. We begin noticing things that support our identity while overlooking things that challenge it.

EXAMPLE: Imagine two children entering the same classroom. One believes: “Everybody likes me.” The other believes: “Nobody likes me.” The teacher smiles at both. The first child thinks: “My teacher is happy to see me!” The second thinks: “She’s probably just being polite.” The same event produces two different interpretations. Why? Because each child’s identity filters the experience.

LESSON: Our beliefs about who we are can distort how we experience reality.

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PS 15: Awareness Returns When We Learn to Observe the Oneness of Our Thoughts

SIMPLE MEANING: As we recognize thoughts, feelings, memories, and beliefs without becoming trapped in them, our awareness becomes clearer. We no longer need to believe every thought that passes through our minds.

EXAMPLE: Imagine becoming angry because someone cuts in front of you in line. Your first thought is: “That person is disrespecting me!” Your body becomes tense. But then you notice the anger. You observe the thought. You realize: “I don’t actually know why that person stepped in front of me. Maybe they didn’t see me.” Suddenly, the anger begins to fade. Nothing outside you has changed. What changed was your relationship to the thought. You are no longer completely controlled by it.

LESSON: The more clearly we see our thoughts, the less they control our experience.

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How All 15 Postulates Fit Together

A simplified journey through Postulates 1–15

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The Most Important Idea

Imagine that your mind is like the sky. Thoughts are like clouds passing through it. Some clouds are bright and beautiful. Others are dark and frightening. Sometimes we become so interested in the clouds that we forget the open sky behind them.

We begin saying:
“I am angry.”
“I am afraid.”
“I am important.”
“I am not good enough.”

But what happens when we simply notice these thoughts? We discover that thoughts come and go. Awareness is what allows us to notice them. In the language of Postulate Mechanics, Subject Clearing is the process of examining these thought forms, recognizing inconsistencies, and removing confusion so that understanding becomes clearer.

In the language of Dzogchen, there is a related practice of recognizing thoughts without grasping at them, while allowing awareness to remain naturally present. The two approaches are not identical, but they share an interest in seeing through mistaken identification. And perhaps the most useful question we can ask ourselves is: “Am I the thought I am experiencing, or am I aware of the thought?”

That question can become the beginning of a very interesting discovery.

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Reference: The Postulates: Postulate Mechanics

These postulates explore the nature of Man and anomalies.

A postulate is a foundational assumption taken as true, from which everything else is derived.

Abbreviation: PS = Postulate

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Postulates

PS 46: The spirit of Man is made of postulates.

1. The postulates outlined so far are the core of Man.
2. All subsequent considerations must align with these postulates.

PS 47: The mind of Man is made of logical considerations.

1. The mind evaluates actual situations based on postulates.
2. The mind comes up with considerations that resolve the situation.
3. A consideration is as true as it aligns with postulates.

PS 48: The body is based on a blueprint developed over billions of years.

1. The body operates well when in alignment with postulates and considerations.
2. The body suffers when this alignment is disturbed on the physical level.

PS 49: The sense of well-being arises from oneness of spirit, mind and body.

1. There is oneness, obviously, with the laws of nature.
2. This alignment, or oneness, means harmony, consistency and continuity.

PS 50: Any violation of oneness is termed ANOMALY.

1. An anomaly is, therefore, a manifestation of disharmony, inconsistency or discontinuity.
2. An anomaly is caused by arbitrary, contradictory or missing data.
3. On surface, an anomaly is something that does not make sense.

PS 51: All suffering is caused by anomalies.

1. Anomalies arise from being unaware of the postulates that one is operating on.

PS 52: The source of anomalies is unassimilated experience.

1. Experience consists of sensations, perceptions, concepts and knowledge.
2. Experience gets its meaning from postulates.
3. Lack of assimilation points to misalignment with postulates.

PS 53: The primary function of the mind is to assimilate experience.

1. Sensations assimilate into perceptions.
2. Perceptions assimilate into concepts.
3. Concepts assimilate into knowledge and wisdom.

PS 54: The experience begins when the mind receives sensations from the body.

1. A lack of assimilation of sensations is the deepest part of anomaly.
2. Sensations from shocks and trauma are difficult to assimilate.
3. Sensations of pain accumulate as engrams below the level of consciousness.

PS 55: Unassimilated sensations distort perceptions causing anomalies.

1. Unassimilated sensations do not convert to perceptions.
2. Missing perceptions then distort nearby perceptions, resulting in delusions.

PS 56: Unassimilated perceptions distort concepts and understanding.

1. Such misunderstanding adds further complexity to the anomaly.

PS 57: Unassimilated concepts then distort the knowledge one is operating on.

1. Thus, a person’s behavior becomes aberrated.
2. This causes all the harm there is in the society.

PS 58: Anomalies are difficult to spot so they get justified in the mind

1. A conditioned mind cannot spot the anomalous datum that is conditioning it.
2. A hypnotized mind cannot spot the anomalous command that is given to it.

PS 59: Aberrations then get normalized in a society and their resolution becomes difficult.

1. Racism, wars and slavery are anomalies, but they become acceptable in the society.

PS 60: Anomalies are resolved by looking and not thinking.

1. An anomaly resolves when one looks at it closely and recognizes what is there.
2. The act of looking needs to follow The Laws of Looking.

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Reference: The Postulates: Postulate Mechanics

These postulates outline the substance of the universe, and its characteristics.

A postulate is a foundational assumption taken as true, from which everything else is derived.

Abbreviation: PS = Postulate

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Postulates

PS 16: As thought condenses it acquires the characteristics of energy.

1. With condensation thought forms become increasingly fixed.
2. Energy is much more restricted by laws than thought.

PS 17: As energy condenses it acquires the characteristics of matter.

1. With condensation energy forms become increasingly structured.
2. Matter is much more structured by laws than energy.

PS 18: Thought, energy, and matter form a continuous spectrum of substance.

1. Substance is that, which is substantial enough to be sensed.

PS 19: The UNIVERSE consists of the spectrum of thought, energy, and matter.

1. But the primary substance of the universe is thought.
2. Because thought also interprets the forms of energy and matter.

PS 20: The substantiality of substance comes from its INERTIA.

1. Inertia is the tendency of a substance to maintain its intrinsic motion.
2. Inertia increases as substance condenses from thought to energy to matter.

PS 21: The inertia of thought is produced by identification.

1. Ideally this identification changes extremely rapidly and continuously.
2. When identification is fixed thought acquires lot of inertia.

PS 22: The inertia of energy is seen as momentum.

1. Momentum give energy its physical properties.
2. Momentum increase as energy gains complex particle properties.

PS 23: The inertia of matter is seen as mass.

1. Mass comes from the solidification of energy particles.
2. Mass can, therefore, be used to form solid structures.

PS 24: The intrinsic MOTION of substance decreases as its inertia increases.

1. Motion is an inherent rate of change of form of substance.
2. Motion decreases as substance condenses from thought to energy to matter.

PS 25: Absolute rest (zero motion) is approached with infinite inertia.

1. The black hole at the center of a large galaxy approaches infinite inertia.

PS 26: Void is infinitely dynamic awareness of thought with no identification.

1. This is a theoretical state of pure awareness.
2. In this state, thought is completely dynamic.

PS 27: The intrinsic extents of substance describe SPACE.

1. Empty space shall be empty of matter; but not empty of thought.
2. There is no space in the absence of substance.

PS 28: The intrinsic duration of substance describes TIME.

1. “Infinite Time” shall mean an enduring form with no change.
2. There is no time in the absence of substance.

PS 29: Space and time are intrinsic properties of substance.

1. Space and time cannot exist by themselves. There is at least thought.
2. Thought is substance like energy and matter.

PS 30: The universe is derived from the postulate SUBSTANCE-AWARENESS-ONENESS.

1. Vedas mention this postulate as “sat-chit-ananda.”
2. SUBSTANCE is the spectrum of thought, energy, and matter.
3. AWARENESS is what looks at the substance to produce consciousness.
4. ONENESS is the ideal state of a dynamic consciousness.

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