Framework for Everything

There may be a God as something above or beyond The Entirety, but viewing God as the Entirety is sufficient for joining Eternity right here and now.  In Christianity that might be called the Kingdom of God.

I do not think viewing God as simply, The Entirety, is inconsistent with the world's main religions, or at least not any more inconsistent than different aspects of those religions are with other parts of themselves.  However, viewing God as simply (or maybe even only) The Entirety could also probably be considered consistent with atheism or humanism.   I have no idea if God is anything intelligent or independent from the entirety, but I do know that viewing God as simply the Entirety turns out to be every bit as magnificent as any religion’s conception of God. Most importantly, when viewed as the Entirety the best parts of each religion and even humanism or various forms of atheism point to the same things.  Now I am not expecting to convince many people of this, but my hope is that if people truly consider these views they might be able to use them as a framework to see new similarities with others who at first glance seem to believe very different things. 

Generally the reason we are uncomfortable with God being just The Entirety is because we want some preferential treatment or personal perks (now or in an afterlife) from God.  However, wanting preferential treatment is actually the opposite of what God is about.  Eternity, the ultimate reward, is available right here and now in this moment if we surrender to our deepest selves, which have always been part of Eternity (and The Entirety) and always will be.

Let’s start with evolution.  I realize that can be a controversial topic, but the evidence is completely overwhelming or leaves no doubt at all that we evolved from very simple organisms to animals to humans.  If you prefer to believe that an outside force (God) was directing that process and it could not have happened the way it did without God, that still does not change the completely overwhelming evidence that we came from that process, whether guided or not.

The reason I am hammering this home is because to understand the way we are and how we operate it is essential to understand where we came from and how we evolved.  Most importantly, to understand how our cognitive (thinking) mind developed to give us consciousness.  To boil it down to its essence our cognitive mind gives us consciousness, which is basically the ability to see ourselves as separate from others and then to evaluate ourselves in relations to others and our surroundings.  Many animals have a very rudimentary cognitive mind and therefore consciousness, but humans have a great capacity for this.  It is what is primarily responsible for our complete takeover of the earth and incredible and accelerating “progress” that might just irreparably destroy the earth and therefore ourselves.  

With our cognitive mind being so impressive and it being the main thing that separates us from animals and lower life forms we generally identify with it way too much.  The reason it is a problem to mainly identify with our cognitive mind is that our cognitive mind sees us, individually and the groups we are a part of, as separate from and inevitably in competition with and therefore at odds with others and things beyond ourselves and our groups.  After all that is its purpose and the main thing responsible for our remarkable success as a species.  (I think our cognitive mind is what the Bible is talking about with eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.)

Of course there is some truth to the notion that we as individuals are separate from other individuals and at times at odds with them and our surroundings, but at the same time it is also very true that we are all connected and small parts of greater wholes (like marriages, families, clubs, teams, workplaces, religions, countries, etc) and The Greatest Whole or Entirety.  There had to be a counterbalance to our cognitive mind seeing us as separate and slicing and dicing everything, and generally that is where religion founds its role.  The essence of religion or spirituality is acknowledging the deeper reality, that we are all connected and small parts of Something much greater than ourselves.  We are connected in very real and concrete ways to everything else that exists and there is a part of ourselves that knows that.  

I generally refer to that part of ourselves as our soul or our deepest self.  Most people who spend the time in prayer and meditation and other activities that allow us to connect to that part of ourselves that connects to everything else and knows it is connected to everything else feel those connections at our very center.  Hence the phrase, getting centered.  To Christians, this could also be the Holy Spirit within them.  

This deepest self is where wisdom comes from because it knows the Ultimate Truth, that we are all part of The Entirety that is God, and we each individually are tiny but unique and valuable parts of this Entirety.  Knowing this and allowing our deepest selves to manifest their destiny and be present today and now IS the Kingdom of God or Enlightenment, and It is indescribably wonderful, as those terms imply.  

However, living from that very deepest part of ourselves often feels very scary and can be very scary and traumatic, which is why very few people do to any big extent, including myself.  Although I am getting better and writing and sharing these things is a big part of trying to live from my deepest self.  Those who say faith and fear are opposites and having fear indicates a lack of faith are obviously using only their cognitive minds to try to understand.  Anyone who has actually lived faith realizes that it is scary and faith is what makes facing the fear possible and then ever so rewarding

Next let’s look at how and why living from our deepest self threatens others, which often leads to conflict and persecution, not because knowing will make it safer, but because knowing it at a deep level can strengthen our faith, which again is the necessary ingredient to overcome the lack of safety and fear, and therefore unite with God, The Entirety.  As the Bible says it probably did all start with eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, or as I focus on, the development of our cognitive mind, which again has led to our tremendous success as a species and might just make us so successful in evolutionary terms that it wipes us out.  

Relying on and identifying with our cognitive mind has led us to create power structures that further reinforce it and protect it.   Our cognitive mind sees things as separate and slices and dices things up to compare them, test them, and try to gain advantages and better ways of doing things.  Then it uses what it learns to gain advantages and improve how things are done, and generally, if possible, to exert more control over things beyond itself.  The cognitive mind trying to exert more and more control happens within an individual person, as well as in their relationship to other people and their surroundings.  

Whereas, our deepest self says everyone is important and valuable, that everyone deserves dignity and opportunity, that we are all a part of the same thing, and as Jesus said, anything done to or for the least of these is done to me.  As such, the deepest self threatens people with power who like their privileged status and often think they deserve it.

At the same time our cognitive minds never acts completely alone (or if they do that is what is classified as a sociopath).  Our conscience, bubbling up from our deepest self, is a counterbalance, and at times exerts overwhelming force.  Generally the times our deepest self exerts overwhelming force comes at times of great love or great suffering.(1)  In the great love for a child or when falling head over heels for a mate, we sometimes realize profoundly enough that we are part of something larger and much more important than ourselves to greatly change us permanently.  Other times, it changes us only temporarily as we bask in the glow of the love and feel our ultimate reality of being a connected and valuable part of something greater than ourselves.  

Great suffering can also change us temporarily or permanently when the suffering becomes sufficient to overwhelm our cognitive minds and we surrender to something beyond our cognitive mind, without even knowing what that is.  At a certain point the suffering can get so bad that our cognitive mind completely gives up and we are left with our deepest self, which instantly feels the bliss of knowing what we all most strive for, whether we realize it or not, being a connected and valuable part of The Infinite.  And It is infinite in Its Being and Love.  

Ekhart Tolle’s description of his spiritual experience in the beginning of The Power of Now, seems to fit this suffering type.  In a slightly less pure way Bill Wilson’s (a Co-Founder of Alcoholics Anonymous) spiritual experience was similar, as well as any number of examples from William’s James book, The Varieties of Spiritual Experience.  I say slightly less pure because in many of the examples there seemed to be both love and suffering operating together to induce the life changing spiritual experience, and normally it does take a combination to induce a sufficient lasting change in us.  

When the love and suffering are extreme sometimes a very dramatic mountain top type spiritual experience occurs, as many of the the above examples describe.  For most people though it is a long process of being molded by spiritual disciplines, and the love and suffering those methods precipitate, that slowly leads to relying more and more on our deepest self until at some point that becomes our dominant guide.  It is never completely one way or the other though.  These typical routes to the deepest self where the Ultimate Reality is known and celebrated is likely why Jesus said it is so hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.  Most rich people do not have anything to push them to suffer sufficiently or love deeply enough to move them sufficiently past their cognitive mind to the vulnerable and scary deepest self.

At this point I want to look at why living from our deepest self is scary, difficult and dangerous and not our natural state from a little bit different perspective.  Everyone and everything of course likes things that feel good and does not like things that feel bad.  For most of human history the main driver of who got to feel better than others was success because success means getting to impose your will and rules on others.  We are not paying attention if we do not see to what great and often cruel lengths we will go to try to have this power to impose our will and rules on others, and we often even do it subtly to the ones we supposedly love the most.  

My point here is that up to this point in history (before we have completely overcrowded and in various ways destroyed the earth(2)) the main thing that determined our relative ability to feel more good and less bad was our amount of power, which was determined by our amount of success as an individual, as well as our group (family, religion or country).  

After all even today individuals and groups become conquered and killed or exploited if they do not have the power to stop it.  This might be more easily seen in foreign lands, but in a slightly more subtle or glossed over way occurs all around us with various types of child abuse and molestation, prostitution, pornography, human trafficking, domestic violence, disproportionate incarceration of minorities, huge income and opportunity inequalities, etc.  And often what precipitates the quickest and harshest rebuke from those in power is someone speaking truth from their deepest self because those in power intuitively know from their own deepest self (which they are generally scared to death of) that their power is not legitimate and is really just a shell game.  As such, those people in power are in their own sort of hell.  Their power keeps them isolated from their own deepest self and thus The Entirety and Source of everything good.  Therefore it would be good to remember Martin Luther King’s concept of hate the wrong, not the wrongdoer.  There is no need to hate the wrongdoer when they wrong due to being in some degree of hell, and of course this is somewhat true of all of us.

If success and the power it provides is that important and strongly opposed to our deepest self, what is the antidote and way forward individually and collectively.  Collectively, the answer is much simpler and we have great examples in Jesus, Martin Luther King, and Gandhi.  One part of the answer is recognizing our Ultimate Reality (that we are all part of something much greater than ourselves) and truly wanting to give for the good of the Entirety.  And there is good reason it generally must be done non-violently.  Normally if done violently it becomes just one group trying to beat another group and gain the power advantage.(2.1)  Whereas, if we really deeply know that we are all part of the same Entirety, violence is always violence to a part of ourselves.  And as Jesus, Martin Luther King, and Gandhi demonstrated, there is a power greater than kings or presidents, or billionaires here on earth, and that Power is our Collective Unity, which is the Ultimate Reality.  

Unfortunately, once a religion (even one as great as Christianity and founded upon this Ultimate Reality) becomes organized it generally is slowly taken over by people shunning their own and others deepest selves in favor of the cognitive mind’s approach and the power structures it creates.  To move beyond this the organizations needs to emphasize and the people within them must be capable of allowing the unresolved uncertainty from their deepest selves and their cognitive minds sorting through issues together to dwell in them.  They must see this process as the source of wisdom and transformational connection to The Entirety that it truly is.

Most religious communities subtly discourage it by having the main membership criteria be common beliefs.  And if I allow my cognitive mind and deepest self to endure the discomfort and uncertainty and arrive at some wisdom and maybe transformation, I must live that new wisdom and transformation.  So if it turns out that the wisdom is not consistent with the religious/spiritual communities common beliefs I am in an impossible position.  I must either move away from the religious community (and most people, including myself, need a community embracing spiritual principles to manifest our Ultimate Reality) or I must turn my back on my new found wisdom and therefore my deepest self.  

For this reason religious or spiritual communities should primarily be based upon practices and not beliefs, and it really seems like we have gone in the opposite direction from what Jesus taught on this.  Jesus did not say to worship him or to believe certain things, he said to follow him and look out for others and be good to others.  When Jesus says the only way to the Father is through him, he means following his path of enthusiastic giving for the benefit of others and The Entirety, of genuinely wanting to give of yourself and that being the reward itself.  If there was any doubt, he made it abundantly clear when he taught,

All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind, and the second is like it, Love your neighbor as yourself.  

The thing Jesus seemed to detest the most was the idea of right beliefs or right practices being of any use if they did not serve others.  This is of course because if they do not serve others, they must be done for purely selfish reasons, like trying to get a personal reward in this life or an afterlife or supporting or enforcing a power structure created by our cognitive minds.  Using God as a pretense to serve myself is the exact opposite of what Jesus taught and what God is really about, and the same could be said of prayers requesting things for my own benefit, other than connecting and uniting with God.  

Maybe this is why Jesus often taught with parables.  Parables help us to understand deeper truths, but do not contain rigid beliefs for our cognitive mind to manipulate and fit into the power structures our cognitive minds create.  

As such, a spiritual or religious group’s main task is to provide the framework and community for their members to experience their deepest selves and thus our Ultimate Reality.  Having that framework consist of common beliefs beyond Jesus’ 2 commandments or our Ultimate Reality (that we are each small, but unique and valuable parts of greater wholes and the Greatest Whole or Entirety) reduces rather than expands our access to our deepest selves and this Ultimate Reality.  So the framework should be primarily based upon practices that help us connect to our deepest selves, which knows our Ultimate Reality and WANTS to serve and give to others.  After all the only way to be truly free is to WANT to do what is good for others, which as part of The Entirety is also good for us.  

Now let’s move from looking at what religious or spiritual groups can do to encourage and support individuals in their quest to unite with the divine to what individuals themselves can do.  Of course we should start with our foundation for everything, which is that we are all very tiny, but unique and valuable parts of The Entirety, and that somewhere within us we have a soul or deepest self that knows this.  We have been separated from this deepest self, by the development, reliance upon, identification with and incredible success of our cognitive minds, or in Christian terms, eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  And this over reliance upon our cognitive mind over time and the power structures it creates is original sin - what keeps us from our deepest selves and thus The Entirety or God.(3)

Before moving forward let me affirm that all the normal spiritual methods can help, such as prayer, meditation, service work, confession, repentance, forgiveness, embracing the moment, fasting from food or other things, etc.  I am not planning to say more about any of them right now.  However, since I probably seem to be too critical of religions in many ways, I wanted to make it clear that there is great power and huge potential in many of their practices, especially if unleashed from the constriction of dictated common beliefs to Jesus’ two commandments or serving The Entirety.

Let’s start with the observation that our cognitive mind cannot operate in the moment.  It can dissect the past to try to learn lessons to apply in the future and it can project what the future might look like, helping us to decide how to act today to increase our chances of having a more preferred future.  As such our cognitive mind is an incredibly powerful tool, but not of any real benefit for the present moment,(4) unless we use it to help us refine deeper parts of ourselves that are capable of engaging in the moment.  Most people though prefer to not be engaged in the present moment because our deeper parts that are capable of doing so are also vulnerable parts of ourselves and capable of being hurt.    

I am not saying that our feelings are our deepest self, but our deepest feelings do originate from our deepest self and are the most direct and consistent path to our deepest self.  Unfortunately, psychology/psychiatry and religion are not yet very good at leading people to their deepest selves in this manner.  Ultimately, this is because not enough people in these vocations are connected enough to their own deepest self to lead someone else to theirs.  Simply by listening and providing supportive suggestions though these vocations are often successful in helping people get through the lowest lows and unhinged highs.  However, in most situations they stop well short of providing an adequate framework to get connected and stay connected to our deepest selves, which in turn allows us to be connected to others and be present in the moment, which is bliss.  

As far as I can tell psychology has various approaches which viewed broadly fit into two main categories.  One is based upon understanding why we feel and think the way we do and then behave the way we do in response to these feelings and thoughts.  The second approach says "why" does not matter much and if we start trying to think and act differently we will start feeling differently.  So let’s figure out how to act in ways that will help us feel better.  Of course these approaches are also combined in various ways, and I am oversimplifying.  

The problem with the first approach is that understanding why we feel the way we feel, as a result of what has happened to us in our life, is that unless there is a further solution we are still left with those feelings.  And often understanding the problematic feelings or thinking actually makes them stronger.  In response we might be able to wisely choose to avoid situations that aggravate them, but then we end up having to run further from most moments and both our internal and external worlds gets too constricted

The problem with the second approach is that having our solution be acting against our own feelings, thinking, and desires might make our life improve in some ways, but it is often a long tortuous path until we have done it enough for our thinking and feelings to change to something more appealing.  And a lot of people, maybe most, do not actually make it through that long tortuous path and to anything much better.  Or even if they do, it feels somewhat hollow because the root of this path is distrusting a part of themselves (their feelings) that almost everyone associates with their identity. Although as I said initially it does often help take off the lowest of the lows and the unhinged highs.  

Part of psychology’s misunderstanding with these approaches is that psychology is trying to get the patient back to “normal.”  However, as I have previously discussed “normal” is generally a paradigm structured around the cognitive mind, and the power structures the cognitive mind creates when slicing and dicing our past, projecting our future, seeing us as separate from everything else, and trying to gain advantages over things beyond us.  

Generally it is these very power structures (that our cognitive minds have collectively created) that the troubled patient is seeing through and no longer willing to ascribe to or go along with.  Generally the troubled patient has things bubbling up from their deepest self that say that these power structures and the often subtle and covert rules holding the power structures together are wrong and that the patient can no longer accept or go along with those rules.  

At the same time unless the suffering is so great and the patient is lucky enough to be overcome by the collapse of their cognitive minds to have a spiritual experience (like discussed earlier) and transformed by knowing beyond doubt our Ultimate Reality, the patient is stuck trying to fit into their current community (family, workplace, various organizations) by going against what is bubbling up from their deepest self or by going against the rules of the community.  Obviously either path is extremely difficult.  

Fortunately, our common humanity often steps in and a friend or mental health profession or religious professional provides the needed compassion and acceptance, which is likely not based upon any specific framework, but intuitively known to be what is needed.  This compassion and acceptance (divine love) is normally the healer, as it affirms the deepest selves of everyone involved.  And actually it can become somewhat of a very simple and extremely successful framework if the people involved realize it is this divine love (or meeting of deepest selves) that did the healing of everyone involved.  Our deepest self being able to manifest its destiny, and be what it knows it is, will always be the basis of lasting healing or transformation.  

However, as previously discussed we generally hide our deepest selves or core because getting hurt, or even the possibility of getting hurt, at that level seems devastating.  And the power structures(5) created by our collective cognitive minds are often based upon subtly exploiting weaknesses, of which our feelings are a good map..  As a result, we generally have good reason to learn to avoid our feelings.  This serves the cognitive mind and resulting power structures well and continues the cycle because we basically only have 2 guidance systems, our cognitive mind or our feelings.

As a result, we generally learn early in life at an intuitive level that our feelings make others uncomfortable and often even that our feelings make us unacceptable to others.  We generally respond to this by trying to make ourselves into what we think those closest or most important to us want us or expect us to be.  This generally leaves us trying to suppress our deepest feelings and therefore self while trying to create what we think those closest to us want or expect from us, in hopes that we might find how we can be a valuable and connected part of greater wholes.  Unfortunately, this path is fraught with pitfalls.  First, it takes a huge amount of energy to suppress our deepest feelings while also trying to create something acceptable.  Second, even if we seem to be successful at creating something acceptable it feels empty because we know it is not us (our deepest self that we identify with as being “us”) that was accepted.  

Often what results is that we do our best to continue this path since it is the only one we know and seems to be the path accepted by mainstream society, but we search for breaks, escapes, and distractions from the craziness.  This is a sad and depressing cycle since when our goal is breaks, escapes, and distractions, our goal is actually to be emotionally dead, to work really hard so that we can have time off to be emotionally dead.  

While it is true that our feelings expose our weaknesses that are then preyed upon by the power structures created by our cognitive minds, even if that were not the case our feelings tend to be volatile and exaggerated from what is an accurate guide or response in a given situation.  And as previously mentioned we only have 2 main guidance systems, thinking or feeling.  Therefore, unless we can learn to embrace and refine our feelings we are stuck with our thinking or cognitive mind to guide us, which cannot understand Ultimate Reality or be present in the moment.  

Fortunately, with our cognitive mind’s help we are capable of refining our feelings into a wise guide for our life, and since our deepest feelings originate from our deepest self, connect to our deepest self at the same time.  In fact this is probably one of the most direct routes to reclaim our deepest self and learn to live from it.  It is also the only way to be able to be present in the moment because any feelings we believe we must avoid block us from that part of ourselves where those feelings come from, and in turn from participating in any present moment that evokes those feelings.

Before introducing my own primary method for refining our feelings to become wise guides, let me once again affirm that most spiritual disciplines or religious practices have great potential to do this in a somewhat indirect manner, especially if we understand what we are trying to accomplish with them.  And that is to connect to our deepest self, trust it, and learn to live from it, which will invariably involve enriching The Entirety.

My own method starts with the same understanding for what we are trying to accomplish.  First, to connect to our deepest self, and at the same time, The Entirety, since our deepest self is the part of us that knows that we are inescapably connected to and a tiny, unique, and valuable part of The Entirety.  Then to learn to trust and live from this deepest self.  As such, it is important to realize that generally the feelings I will use as a starting point are the result of our deepest self wanting to claim its destiny or rightful spot as a tiny, unique, valuable, and connected part of The Entirety.  Negative feelings are generally propelled by what I refer to as visceral beliefs(6) about myself or my world (Entirety) that say I am unable to manifest this destiny, and the converse would be the case for positive feelings.  

Generally, when a process like this is first started it is wise and often imperative to have a trusted mentor, friend, or professional help us who understands a little of what we are trying to accomplish and how we are trying to accomplish it.(7)  Without this mentor, friend, or professional we often get overwhelmed and then stuck at certain points, which can leave us worse off than when we started. With that disclaimer I will proceed to describe my method.  Specifically, I go through the following process in writing.  I normally use bilateral sounds as I do it because it seems to act as a lubricant to help things fall into place, but this is not absolutely necessary.  Exercise while contemplating a part of the process works similarly.  

1 - I pick a target feeling.  Generally a feeling that is bothering me and seems to be preventing me from being what I want to be.  

2 - I try to characterize the feeling or articulate what it is.  In other words I try to name it.  This is often hard and often there are not words that fit it exactly.  However, the feeling will know when it has been adequately labelled and articulated.  Essentially the feeling will say at some point, yes that’s about right.

3 - I try to articulate what the visceral belief is that creates and propels the feeling.  In other words I ask myself what is the gut level belief behind the feeling.  Again language will be inadequate, but at some point the feeling will say yes that’s about right.  I should mention here that the feeling and my deepest self should be leading the way with my cognitive mind being used as a respected and powerful tool.  My cognitive mind will ask questions, throw out possibilities, and try to articulate what my deepest self and the feeling tells it, but my deepest self and the feeling are the boss and final arbiter of what is accurate.  

4 - I ask where the visceral belief and feeling originated or in other words when I first felt them.  

5 - I ask, was the visceral belief accurate or at least fairly reasonable when it originated.  Invariably with myself and others I find that it was, but there is no moving on until the visceral belief and feeling come to know this.  This is a very important step in the process because it means that my feeling guidance system is not completely defective.  The feeling and visceral belief just got stuck here, normally because reality at the time it was formed was too much for us to truly understand and contemplate with our cognitive mind.  In times when our present circumstances or reality are too much to realize and accept, we evolved to have strong feelings to keep us as safe as possible and away from the gravest danger.  This system works fairly well to protect us, but when the serious dangers are no longer there, we often still have the visceral beliefs and feelings, which keep us uncomfortable and then not trusting ourselves because the feelings are not accurate or are way too exaggerated for our current situation without the dangers the feelings were meant to help us avoid.  When we realize the visceral belief and feeling was appropriate or at least reasonable for the situation when and where it was initially formed we are ready to move on.

6 - I ask the visceral belief if it is still reasonable or necessary today?  Sometimes it is because often our visceral beliefs guide our behavior so much that they become self fulfilling prophecies or they propagate themselves to the extent that our most important relationships are based upon them.  If this is the case we may have to change our relationships after our deepest self has settled upon what the most accurate visceral belief should be today.  Other times the only thing making the visceral belief somewhat true in our life today is itself, and as soon as our deepest self realizes a new refined visceral belief is more accurate and adopts it, we become whole and free to engage in the moment, which is a part of Eternity, and The Entirety, which of course is one and the same.  

I will follow up this writing at some point with a few actual examples of the above process in action.  For now I will make a few more observations.  This method is intense and scary, and most are too “rich” to undergo such a process.  The only thing that led me here was knowing I was not going to make it any other way and then finding amazing mentors and guides along the way.  I claim no virtue, beyond perseverance, in finding limitless Grace, and I am not even too sure about perseverance.  Basically, when it was clear I was out of any options, others made the only even remotely viable option something beneficial to me, rather than vengeful.  Then, I went down the wrong path a few more times, and for reasons I cannot explain various people did not give up on me and I would eventually take the only option left, which remarkably was still full of grace.  And eventually, maybe, I have gotten to some fairly solid ground.  

However, I am still considerably overweight and use food and caffeine to avoid my deepest self quite a bit.  If what I am saying here is fairly accurate, my life is still quite the embarrassment because I do not do a very good job living these things.  At the same time I must be doing some things right because I do not do most of the very destructive things I used to do and I have much more freedom and wholeness than I ever even considered shooting for.  I experience a great deal of profound and often intense spiritual experiences, and while I do not take credit for them and see them as Grace, it is probably clear by now that I think there are methods that are helpful in achieving spiritual experiences sufficient to change ourselves and the world we live in.  If I wait until I am purified to share myself and engage in and experience the Moment, I will have denied myself access to the Power that purifies and transforms me.  

None of what I have shared here are theories derived from my cognitive mind.  They are the result of being spiritually realigned by spiritual practices and Grace.  They are my best attempt at sharing and articulating what I have experienced at a level deeper than my cognitive mind.  While it is true that our cognitive minds cannot themselves figure out or understand Ultimate Reality, with practice they can do a decent job of articulating It from our deepest selves.  

Our cognitive minds are ill equipped to be our primary guide and get completely overwhelmed when asked to do so, but they are also incredibly powerful tools.  If we can trust most of our deepest feelings (after refinement) and be committed to learning from the rest, by spending time refining them in various ways (often with our cognitive minds assistance) we become free of the need to try to suppress our deepest self.  We become whole, living from our deepest self in the moment, and our cognitive mind becomes free to observe things (from ourselves to our surroundings) which it rightfully does with awe.  Simple things are actually quite amazing and more complex things can be literally mind blowing, taking us back to our deepest selves and Ultimate Reality or The Entirety.  Our cognitive mind becomes a treasured tool that helps to refine our visceral guidance system and eventually spends most of its time in pure wonder at the majestic Entirety, and it parts.

We may still be somewhat sad at times because we see all the needless suffering in the world, but we do not have time for dwelling on that because we see how the needless suffering occurs.  Our felt need to suppress our own deepest self and then that of others causes all of the suffering humans inflict on one another.  And the suffering not inflicted upon one another is an opportunity and call to unite, which if we heed much more than cancels out the suffering.  Actually it is probably the quickest and most direct path to Eternity or The Entirety, which is always happening and available to everyone at all times.  

Let me conclude with a reminder to myself and anyone reading this.  Even if all of this is exactly correct, it is only useful if knowing it convinces us or allows us to connect to that part of ourselves that connects with everything else.  There are countless ways and any of them are valid places to start.  If we pick one that resonates deeply we might just take a ride in The Moment and realize that is where we belong.  

1 - Richard Rohr discussed this in his extraordinary book, The Naked Now.

2 - I am alluding to a time fairly soon (at least in relative terms if you consider the earth a billion or more years old) when if we do not expand our consciousness to see that we are all part of the same Entirety, and work together, and be willing to share the sacrifices of doing so, we may burn out as a species.  And I guess in disgust the prophet, George Carlin, said he thought it was time we let some other species have a try since we were screwing everything up so badly.  I am not that pessimistic but think it will likely only be as we push against very definite danger and suffer the consequences of doing so, that we will be made willing to share the sacrifices necessary to create a world much more benevolent than the one we currently reside in.  I think we will go the route Churchill used to describe Americans.  “They will always do the right thing after they have tried everything else.”  And actually that is the route many of us take as individuals and has certainly been true for me.
2.1 - There are times when violence is necessary to stop worst violence, including oppression of people. It should only be considered when absolutely necessary and even then must be done in a generous and compassionate manner or else it is just one group forcing their rules on others with each group wrongly thinking their own preferred rules justify the violence.

3 - Part of this conception of original sin I took from Richard Rohr’s The Naked Now.  He reports that something similar to this concept of original sin is how it was historically understood for a long time by clergy.

4 - Again, I want to reiterate that I do not mean to imply that we are ever acting exclusively from our cognitive mind or our deepest self.  Unless we are sociopaths there is always some combination with one driving behavior and one acting at some level as a counterbalance.
5 - These power structures operate in all groups of people such as families, friends, workplaces, churches, govt, etc.  Workplaces have maybe done the best of any of these groups at reducing their negative aspects, but of course it varies within each type of group. 
6 - The best way I can explain visceral beliefs is that they are the somewhat undefinable and indescribable assumptions or beliefs behind our feelings.  They originated before our cognitive minds and language and thus are not really capable of being adequately defined by language.  However, our cognitive mind can do a fairly good job of articulating their contours, and often in doing so the visceral belief is refined to something more accurate.
7 - Generally this person must not be a spouse relative or someone whose life is considerably intertwined with the other.