Reference: What is Awareness, Scientifically?
In Scientology, INTERIORIZATION refers to a condition that has to do with “going into and becoming part of the body too fixedly.” EXTERIORIZATION is defined as “a state where the individual experiences being outside his body.”
But the experience of being outside the body is just a feeling. It is the sense of “I” that appears to be outside the body. This sense is the “center of awareness” of the body-mind system. The mind extends from the body but way beyond it. Therefore, the body-mind system is way bigger than the body. The body is only a small part of it. The sense of “I,” or the “center of awareness,” can be anywhere in the body-mind system. When it locates itself outside the body, then, the person gets the idea that he is not merely a body.
Until then, maybe, the person thought that he is just that body because the body appeared to act as the center of awareness. It may be said that the person’s attention was actually fixed on the body but he was not aware of it. When that attention suddenly becomes unstuck, and the “center of awareness” moves outside the body, the person feels very liberated. This comes to him as a big surprise. He literally feels being outside the body. He thinks that something very special has happened. He feels a deep “spiritual awakening.”
INTERIORIZATION is the condition of attention being too fixed on the body. When that attention suddenly becomes unstuck the person feels very liberated. This feeling of liberation is called exteriorization.
Such “out-of-body” experiences are actually quite common, but they are random and uncontrolled. It just so happens that the person’s considerations shift in such a way that the “center of awareness” moves beyond the confines of the body. It, then, appears to the person that he is outside the body, while there is no physical separation. The feeling of exteriorization may go away just as suddenly as it had come. The person does not know what actually happened; but he remembers the brief experience and longs for it. After having such experience the person’s attention may get fixed on getting exterior to the body.
When a person’s attention is too fixed on separating “self” from the body, then it is just another form of INTERIORIZATION.
Scientology and other religions convince a person that he is an identity, or individuality, that is immortal, and which can operate outside the body permanently. This may sound crazy, but a person, who already believes in a God existing outside the universe, and a soul existing after death, can easily be convinced that he exists separate from the body.
In truth, the sense of “I” is not something physical that is separate from the body. The real anomaly is that the person’s viewpoint is narrow and his idea of “self” is limited to his body. This is an area that needs to be carefully subject cleared. See SUBJECT CLEARING STEP 7—Subject: SELF.
The simple truth lies in broadening the viewpoint of the person on the subject of self.
But the broader problem is fixation of attention. The attention could be fixed on the body, or on getting out of the body, or on salvation, or on attaining nirvana. The actual problem is the state of the attention, which happens to be introverted. Wherever, the attention is fixed, it is an anomaly. That area of fixation must be subject cleared to broaden the viewpoint. In Hinduism, this is called getting rid of all attachments.
When the fixed attention truly becomes free by broadening the viewpoint, there is a feeling of liberation that continues. One attains the certainty that one is much more than some boxed in ideas and thinking patterns. This feeling is real and not just the illusion of being “outside the body.”
When there is no fixed attention either on body or on self, one can then be as large as the reality one is witnessing at any time.
The simple method for freeing fixed attention is subject clearing. One can then view the whole universe for what it is.
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Inertia is the resistance to any change in motion. When we look at the equivalence of inertia in human behavior, the idea of ego comes up. Ego is like mass that has inertia.
Mass has inertia or resistance to change in its motion.
Ego also has inertia that resists any change in its status.
Sometimes, when you find a person in a helpless condition, and you feel like helping him; but all your efforts to help are rebuffed. Then you may be up against a heavy ego.
Ego, like mass, is more centered in its thinking. The thinking is not flowing like the wave with a frequency.
A heavy ego will have thoughts revolving around the same center. The faster they are revolving, the harder will be any resolution. One should then look at how to slow down that revolving motion of thoughts.
A very heavy ego is like a “black hole” in which thoughts from all around simply get pulled in and vanish.
All you can do to help a person with heavy ego is to get him to start perceiving physical objects in his environment. Heavier objects may be perceived more easily than lighter objects.
The technique would to be to get him perceive massive objects at first with full recognition. When he is comfortable with that, then get him to perceive less massive objects until he is comfortable with them. This should be continued until he can comfortably perceive very light objects with recognition of the the finer details.
Then you can start working on massive mental objects. These would be those ideas around which the person’s attention is fixed. The more fixed the attention is, the more massive is mental object he is trying to deal with.
You have to help him isolate that mental object and bring it into better and better focus.
So in human behavior there is a spectrum of inertia.
(1) From heavier egos to lighter egos. You resolve this by dealing with the recognition of heavier physical objects first and lighter and lighter physical objects. This is like resolving the mental mass.
(2) From heavier attention to ligher attention. You resolve this by dealing with the recognition of heavier mental objects first and lighter and lighter mental objects. This is like resolving the mental frequency.
So a person can be spotted somewhere on this spectrum of inertia and his ego or attention can be dealt with accordingly.
So broadly, there are two categories of cases.
(1) Where ego mass needs to be resolved first.
(2) Where the resolution of attention frequency may proceed.
The heaviest frequency based inertia (gamma photon) overlaps with the lightest mass based inertia (electron).
Similarly, it seems that the heaviest attention based inertia shall overlap with the lightest ego based inertia.
The transition point from the heaviest attention based inertia to the lightest ego based inertia is of great interest. It is like a phase transition from gas to liquid.
I have been fine tuning the OP as I meditate on this subject.
It seems that underlying it all is a fascination with the unknown. This fascination leads to assumptions. Such assumptions, when out of view, tend to fix one’s attention.
The best understanding I have of attention is by relating it to the frequency of a wave and associated inertia.
An abstract viewpoint does not exist in physical space. It does not view physical phenomenon the way eye does. An abstract viewpoint exists only in a mental space. So, in Hubbard’s interpretation of exteriorization there is a confusion between physical and mental space.
Things like “will” and “ability to choose” exist in mental space only. They are mental objects.
Let’s look at the subject of “who” or “what.”
Just like the ignorance of natural laws can be hidden behind the absolutist idea of a Supreme being, similarly, “who” or “what” can be used to hide the knowledge of what is really happening. So, I see insistence on “who” or “what” as an attempt to bypass what is really there.
Let’s take the question “Who or what is doing the viewing?” I don’t feel obsessed about that question. I simply view and try to understand what is there. That is the only way to increase my understanding. If I try to obsess about who or what is doing the viewing, then I am only going to get into an infinite regression and end up with some kind of speculation like that of the Supreme Being. The question “Who or what is being mindful” would simply put one in a similar situation.
So, the only way one can increase understanding is simply recognizing what is there as much as possible without filters. This process occurs on a gradient and one cannot shortcut the process. A shortcut always leads to speculations of absolutes like the Supreme Being or a thetan.
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At the moment, I do not believe that there is any drug or ethnogen that can bring about permanent freedom from fixed attention on the body. But the practice of mindfulness can, as explained on this blog.
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Re: Exteriorization in Scientology
In truth, “self” is not something physical that can be separated from the body. Self is the “center” of the awareness, which is spread throughout the cells of the body. This concept is analogous to the “center” of the mass, which is spread throughout the body as well. What needs to be freed in exteriorization is the attention fixed on the body, and not some entity called a THETAN..
In Scientology, awareness is attributed to the Genetic Entity (GE), which operates on the principle of REACTION, and an awareness of awareness is attributed to the THETAN, which has the capability to ANALYSE rationally.
Hubbard’s concept of GE may appear similar to the idea described above as the “center of awareness,” but he treats it as an entity. He treats THETAN as another entity, which is completely separate from GE.
However, the ability to react and analyse are gradients on the same scale of awareness. They are not two polarized activities or separate entities. Such “personification” may be treated as a device to understand abstract concepts, but to have a literal belief in such “personification” is the sign of a shallow mind.
Hubbard takes the same shallow and literal approach in his THETA-MEST theory He presents THETA and MEST as two polarized concepts, rather than gradients on the same scale of motion.
To reform Scientology, these basic concepts needs to be reformed.
This is an interesting excerpt from the story of a scientologist.
http://www.mikerindersblog.org/david-braverman-a-too-familiar-story/
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“I did TR-0 for 2 ½ hours a night, night after night, for WEEKS. I actually can’t explain what motivated me to keep going, considering the agonizing physical and emotional responses I experienced. I remember twitching, spasms, extreme butt-pain, itchiness, burning, convulsions, light sensitivity, grief, loneliness, foreboding. Then one evening after about an hour something happened and I was looking down at the top of my head and the other students doing TR’s from what seemed like 3 or 4 feet up, and I felt nothing but calmness, and the feeling that I could stay there forever. I raised my hand and Joe came over and I said “I think I just had a Major Stable Win” and I described It to him. He opened a small pink booklet with “Scientology Abridged Dictionary” printed on the cover and told me to read the definition of Exteriorization, and my jaw dropped and I said “that’s what happened” and at that moment I was hooked.”
One comes across this phenomenon of “exteriorization” that feels very very good, but does not understand it. At that moment Scientology pounces with its explanation.
The moment a person accepts Scientology’s explanation of exteriorization, he becomes a Scientologist.
How does this relate to the idea of consciousness expansion?…NDE’s..OBE”S and what I call the complete unraveling of ones DNA?..not necessarily comparing it to anything including Scientology….just personal experience?
Consciousness is self-awareness.
We think of awareness in human context as something subjective and complex. This is a human-centric perspective, which once held that Earth is at the center of the universe. If we look at awareness objectively, it is found to be intimately tied to changes in motion and inertia.
The subject of awareness goes beyond humans. Awareness existed even before humans and animate life was there. For details please see
What is Awareness, Scientifically?
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The idea of there being a spirit external to us is like a conjecture to which Step 3 and 4 of the Scientific Method should be applied. These steps are, “Predict consequences that may follow from that explanation, and check for the opposite of each consequence to disprove the conjecture.”
The first inconsistency that arises with the above conjecture is that “spirit” is being stated as being external to the body. Here “spirit” is being treated as a physical object, which it isn’t. Saying that spirit is external to the physical body is like mixing apples and oranges.
So, what is the true nature of spirit? I think that the correct usage of the word “spirit” occurs when we talk about the spirit of Christmas.
So…what is the consciousness of DNA?
The science of chemistry explains how electrons are shared among elements to form molecules and a variety of matter. Here we are looking at more complex motion expressing increasingly sophisticated properties and awareness.
As molecules become larger, the electrons play additional role of forming circuits in outer shells that enable the macromolecules to store and pass information. Macromolecules then combine to form still larger combinations, such as, DNAs in cells that are capable of performing functions we identify with life.
For details, please see Motion and Space-Time
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Dunno V…after all the reading and thinking about all this kinda stuff for a long time….and seeing the similarities in what Hubbard had to say and where he got his ideas (Parsons, OTO, Crowley, Leary etc.)…as someone that HAS benefited greatly from the Entheogen experience, and has received very valuable information from the many experiences…it really seems that what he “sold” in developing Scientology was a facsimile of the Psychedelic experience and all that one can glean introspectively with the unraveling of a persons DNA for a few hours…a lot of questions can quickly be answered..for example…on one of your pages you have a quote by Einstein regarding simplification….for someone like yourself that has this vast exhaustive education regarding the self, awareness of the self, mindfulness & of meditation as seen here on your blog and in your posts, and how I see others relate to you …your just not reaching them…your not simple enough….you need the experience to help you simplify all this info down to the essence of thought itself..otherwise all you have is more words on a paper & another plaque on your wall…..anyway..just me rambling…
http://deoxy.org/l_acid.htm
I really wish you were able to hang out with us on Deoxy when the chat was up….you would have had your hands full…just so you know…whenever anyone would bring up math & philosophy..I would always direct them to your Blog…
L
Well, this blog has been more or less a note keeping device for me.
The subject of reality is vast. If Buddha, Krishna, Jesus and others couldn’t fully reach people, I don’t want to presume that I can reach them easily.
Nobody should force their ideas on others. All one can do is lay out one’s ideas the best way one can and hope that some will benefit from them. This is the modus operandi since ancient time. I have no desire to deviate from it.
http://deoxy.org/wiki/CognitiveSynergy
Cognitive Synergy – “The state wherein two or more cognitions achieve a level of cooperation which results in an intellectual output greater than the sum of their individual contributions.”
Does this remind you of anything?
The Eightfold Model
of Human Intelligence
http://deoxy.org/8brains.htm