Philip, I appreciate the dialogue. It is always nice to talk to fellow travelers.
Have you read or heard Pema Chodron? Her work always inspires me, as do most Buddist teachers. What humans do to other humans to escape/avoid pain is always surprising. What humans can do help each other heal and transcend is even more profound.
Dear mum,
I have heard of Pema Chodron. I have never read any of her work.(I recall that she is female) My personal interests fall within the reams of human motivation, healing and psychology. I am a certified hypnotherapist and have studied astrology for over twenty years.
I am very interested in the holographic nature of reality and the human brain. My latest readings include Dr. Stephen Wolinsky's "Trances People Live" and his theories on what he has termed "Quantum Psychology".
He refers to "false core" issues within each of us with resulting "false core compensators". He states that psychological issues that cause one to live in reaction rather than deliberately are based on false assumptions that we have adopted, usually as children, in order to maintain some sort of internal stability. We unconsciously take these "trances" into our adult life, and when our internal integrity is threatened, we automatically flip into the childish loop of defensive response. Unfortunately, very few adult problems can be solved with childhood resources.
In some of his more recent work, and as a result of his synthesis of Hindu, Buddhist and western psychology, he states that one can never reach a full understanding of self, since we are a part of the "essence" of all that exists. We can only approach who and what we are by stripping away the layers of what we are NOT. He says for some there is peace and wholeness in this direction, but not necessarily.
He says that modern psychology often fails because an assumption is made that the individual is somehow broken. Once you strip away the layer of the "False Core" that is disfunctional, the distress goes with it.
Wolinsky stresses that there is only one essence, that permeates everything. All else is merely a condensation of that essence, and by definition, to condense is to delete information. We humans are just not in a position to see the big picture. He says, whatever one's assessment of self is, it is wrong. To define self is to limit self, based on faulty and incomplete information.
So I guess the issue is: Let go of the false assumptions concerning self, by whatever tools that work, when those assumptions limit your freedom to live as you would choose. Anyway thanks for letting me share these ideas and get them somewhat straight in my own mind. Peace.
