Mind and Existence

                                               Jimmy Henderson (Hons) Phil, MA (psychology)

‘Sometimes we feel like unwanted infants abandoned on the doorsteps of the world by a mother we cannot truly know. In her place we create gods amongst our own kind, leaders in the fields of politics, sports and entertainment, to whom we look to fill our own emptiness’.

J. Henderson

   The human mind provides one with a conscious experience of the outside world and that which we regard as reality. It is also the place in which one is able to create inspirational thoughts and ideas, but it can also be a sand-trap containing self-defeating beliefs and unhelpful emotions such as anger or resentment which can clog up thinking and muddy one’s perception of the world. Unfortunately, everyday life does suggest that the present reality of many individuals is marked by fear-based thoughts and actions. All around people are struggling to come to terms with their own mortality, often experiencing their lives as fleeting, impermanent and meaningless, and feeling disconnected from the core of their beings, or their authentic selves, that which represents their humanity and their highest moral and ethical ideals.

   These experiences all suggest that a loss of ‘authenticity’, or an inner communication with oneself, may be one of the underlying reasons for the present anxiety and feelings of meaninglessness felt by many at this time. This anxiety is most eloquently framed by the eastern sage Jiddu Krishnamurti, who spoke of an ‘emptiness’ that accompanies the experience of being human, that which he called the loneliness of self. Krishnamurti believed that this sense of emptiness produced an existentially-based ‘sadness’ which appears to have its origin in the unconscious knowing that we are presently ‘less than what we should have become’. 

   Understanding the role of our human minds and consciousness is therefore also important in addressing deep existential concerns such as the meaning and purpose of life and indeed, the nature of man and reality itself.

‘This inner loneliness may always remain. But within that space that one can discover one’s true self.’

J. Henderson

Questions on the Journey towards Multi-Dimensional Thinking 

By Jimmy Henderson

Question

How would you describe multi-dimensional thinking?

At its simplest, Multi-Dimensional Thinking is being able to simultaneously integrate information from a variety of different sources such as the natural and human sciences, different philosophies and schools of thought, eastern and western spiritual teachings, semantics, symbolism and a post-modern quantum approach to produce a fully universal perspective which can be applied to the many questions that face us in everyday life today. This can be likened to superimposing different transparencies one on top of another so that a fuller and more holistic picture of life and the universe emerges.

   At a more advanced level, Multi-dimensional thinking also means being able to add information from other sense modalities such as feelings and impressions, intuition and higher perception to produce a new level of awareness and understanding which allows a very deep insight into reality, the world and everyday life situations. This new level of ‘wholeness’ and ‘mindfulness’ results from a step-by-step process in which you learn to raise your self-awareness, to interpret dreams and symbols, to increase your intuition and sense perception and even to develop ‘spiritual’ senses.

Question

How would you apply MD thinking to everyday problem situations?

  Well, a person who has mastered MD thinking would respond differently to problem situations than one who has not, having more clarity, a far broader perspective and a deeper insight and understanding of the many different factors involved. For instance, problems would be viewed from a number of different scientific, psychological, philosophical and even spiritual perspectives until a solution is found.

   In the case of traumatic events, you must understand that a high level of emotional wellness results from the development of MD thinking. And although his or her first response to a crisis may also be negative and include strong emotions and self-defeating thoughts, he or she will certainly be more resilient and process the event more quickly using rational–emotive techniques that have been learnt along the way. Later, as the situation eases, he or she will begin to search for meaning within a far more universal paradigm than usual, until a bigger picture emerges. 

This search could include a process of self-questioning using questions such as:

·        ‘Is this experience not neutral (a natural consequence of an accumulation of factors) and it is I who interpret it as negative?’

·        ‘Is my judgment of the event not based on my own past’ (anger or fear?)

·        ‘What is the challenge here that I have to overcome?’( a test of your  strength and resilience)

·         ‘Is this situation or event not perhaps a symbolic representation of my inner state’ (psychosomatic illness)

·        ‘What growth needs to take place in my paradigm of understanding in order to really make sense of this experience?’

·         For instance, ‘Is this not all part of a larger and more important universal process that is playing itself out?

·        Or ‘What is the universe trying to tell me through this event?

·        Or ‘Is this experience not perhaps serving some higher purpose within the   universal scheme of things?

·        Or ‘What universal principle is involved here?’

·        ‘Is this not connected to other events in my life or in the world?’ For instance, is this not merely the conclusion of one phase of my life?

·        Is this not part of my/ the person’s life purpose?’

·        Have I not grown or matured as a result of this experience?

·        What possible meaning could this experience have for my greater good?’ For instance, what happened to me was not rejection, but the universe saying to me that I did not have to go through this experience. (‘excluded’ from this experience)

·        By being ‘excluded’, am I not being ‘spared’ a worse experience?

·        In other words, if I had continued along this road, would it not have destroyed my peace of mind?

Jimmy Henderson is a metaphysician and the author of a number of books and articles on inner self-development. He has an Honours degree in philosophy (metaphysics) and a Masters degree in Psychology. His books ‘Multi-Dimensional Thinking’ (2007) and ‘Multi-dimensional Perception’ (2010) are available on Amazon.com and can also be ordered via his website www.jimmyhendersonbooks.com

                            Exploring ‘inner space’ 

                                     By Jimmy Henderson Hons BA (phil) MA (psych) FRC

‘My consciousness is like a wild deer, full of life, vitality, purity and perfection, but as it passes once again into the forest of shadows, it is swallowed up by the darkness and the world of forms.’

J. Henderson

   In his book, A New Earth (2005), Eckhart Tolle likens ‘inner space’ to the depths of our own consciousness, in which there are many ‘worlds’ or ‘dimensions’. However, moving between dimensions of inner space is actually only a metaphor for shifts taking place in our mind and consciousness, doorways opening into different experiences of reality. This could perhaps be better understood using the analogy of a computer program. As we enter the ‘program’, our mind is able to shift from one level to the next by our entering in key commands (intentions), each shift being accompanied by a corresponding change in perception and our subsequent inner experiences.

   To explore our ‘inner space’ we would use a process of meditation combined with advanced imagery and intention and create a dramatised scenario which includes portals through which we could pass from one level of the program into the next, entering ever deeper and deeper into unexplored areas of our consciousness. A useful framework for this dramatisation would be to recreate a journey into space, seeing ourselves moving out of the atmosphere of the Earth, glancing back and seeing the planet far below, then travelling past the planets of our solar system, beyond the Sun and out into the deeper regions of outer space (which in this case, is linked to our ‘inner space’). Such an imaginary journey, if applied with intent and the skills of interactive visualisation, can produce many profound emotional as well as symbolic visual experiences and therefore have a great potential for learning, growth and personal development.

   This visualised expedition into inner space can even change our perception of space and time. However, if one thinks of these processes purely in terms of consciousness, then we are not really travelling in time and space at all, but rather undergoing an inner experience brought about by a shift in our perception, and simply engaging other realms or spheres of our own consciousness. To further explain this idea of consciousness (or inner space) transcending space and time, let me use another analogy. Imagine a situation where two friends are parting after a meeting. As the one friend departs, so he moves further away until he can no longer be seen by the other. However, from a vantage point a few hundred meters above the ground, both friends can still be seen, although they are already a few kilometers apart. If taken to the extreme, this means that to a person with an infinite view (consciousness), nothing is ever out of sight and the concept of space (distance) is therefore relative to the depth of our perception. Similarly, our sense of time is determined by the movement of the Earth relative to the Sun and the stars. However, to a being who is not limited to the Earth or even to the physical universe, there can be no measurement of time in terms of day and night or movements of the planets. This suggests that once again, to the person who has access to   universal consciousness and perception, everything becomes one continuous unbroken experience.

   Incidentally, one of the most important experiences that can emerge from this particular process of exploring inner space is the feeling, that, when glancing back at the sphere of the Earth, it represents in essence, a certain sphere of reality rather than an actual planet.

Jimmy Henderson is a metaphysical teacher and the author of a number of books and articles on inner self-development. He has an Honours degree in philosophy (metaphysics) and a Masters degree in Psychology. He is also a Metavarsity facilitator and based in Durban, South Africa. His books ‘Multi-Dimensional Thinking’ (2007) and ‘Multi-dimensional Perception’ (2010) are available on Amazon.com and Kalahari.com and can also be ordered via the Metavarsity website as well as his own website www.jimmyhendersonbooks.com