My Synthesis4

Inconsequential Differences . . . R.L. Wing:

. . . Like all matter and energy in the universe, the emotional and intellectual structures that we build are constantly transformed by outside forces. Much of our power is wasted in propping up our beliefs, defending them, and convincing others to believe in them so that they might become 'permanent.'

Our consciousness, like all consciousness, is a cellular component of the total human consciousness in existence. But, more importantly perhaps, that consciousness is potentially a cellular component of the consciousness of God (after a little "refining" . . . Ok . . . a lot). In other words, each one of us potentially represents one cell of God's "Cosmic Consciousness."

Our consciousness is designed to serve in the same role that each cell of our own body serves to reproduce us. As Paul said in I Corinthians 3:9, we all are ". . . the co-workers of God," or the co-procreators in this case.

Our confusion and misdirection is the result of our experiencing our "in-process" cellular conscious lifetime as if it were all that we are. You can use your imagination to better understand this predicament with another analogy.

Try to visualize what your life would be like as a single cell of your own body. Every day billions of cells in your body 'die' and new ones replace them. The constantly changing cellular conditions create the experience of birth and death sequences for various cellular lifetimes. The passage of such cellular lifetimes would have special meaning to you as one of the cellular lifeforms.

At the cellular level of existence, you would experience the time flow for that level of becoming and not your current one. You would be unaware that the transience of your cellular existence was illusory. That illusion of transience is the problem our cellular consciousness faces at our current level of becoming.

In your own body, you need not be concerned that a cell in your eye develops differently from a cell in your ear. Similarly, a cell in one part of the Cosmic consciousness need not be concerned that other cells do not think as it does. In fact, the striving for homogeneity in beliefs and thought is clearly wrong. Corinthians 12:14

. . . For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot says, "Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body," is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear says, "Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body," is it therefore not of the body?. . . If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole body were hearing, where would be the smelling?

When you think about it, if we were not diverse of mind, a monotonous eternity would be unavoidable! Our goal is to produce a consciousness that has the appropriate characteristics of the consciousness of God (AGAPE LOVE . . . the basic "Key" of the Cosmic Symphony), all other characteristics can be expected to vary.
I Corinthians 12:4,

. . .There is a variety of gifts but always the same Spirit; there are all sorts of service to be done, but always the same Lord; working in all sorts of different ways in different people, it is the same God who is working in all of them.

Therefore, differences among us concerning the "Word of God" are nothing to be concerned about. We needn't all agree. People believing, thinking, and developing differently poses no problem for the achievement of humankind's purpose.

However, cancerous minds are another story.

Cancerous Minds.

Cancer is a problem in our physical bodies because cancer cells try to develop AT THE EXPENSE OF the development of other cells. Cancer cells literally destroy other cells in their process of growth. All cells that are NOT LIKE the cancerous cells are destroyed as the cancer spreads throughout the body, ultimately killing the organism. That is what makes cancer so dangerous to physical life.

Cancer is a problem in our consciousness because cancerous minds try to develop AT THE EXPENSE OF the development of other minds. Cancerous minds literally destroy other minds in their process of growth. All minds that are NOT LIKE the cancerous minds are destroyed as the cancerous minds spread throughout society, ultimately killing them. (Islamic terrorists, Jihads and the Christian Crusades come to mind in this context). That is what makes cancerous minds so dangerous to spiritual life and to the development of the total human consciousness.

For this reason, we all must try to understand the process of successful, non-cancerous, development of our embryo Spirits, and influence, if possible, our fellow human beings to do likewise. Remember it is a sum total. Taoist philosophy addresses this goal of human consciousness from an atheist perspective,

. . . If individuals do all of their thinking on the physical plane and make little effort on the nonphysical plane --- cultivating intuition, gaining instinctive knowledge of the workings of the universe, and developing the insight to evolve both themselves and their society --- then those lives have no real meaning or significance in terms of the physical reality. This is so because work done on the nonphysical plane is more aligned with the purpose of the universe, and therefore, it has a more powerful effect upon our physical reality. Our inner work influences and evolves the universe, which in turn, evolves our reality.

In plain language, we are cells of consciousness designed to produce the very consciousness of God, or at least our designated cellular portions thereof. All of our universe is merely the environment for God's continuous reproduction.

The very act of creating each conscious thought is truly a Divine event. (Unfortunately so much of the garbage that is created is far from Divine.) Nevertheless . . . every story told or written is a Divine event to the extent that it captures the attention of our soul and evokes conscious thought and experience. (This is why I carefully screen what I read or watch . . . garbage in garbage out.) But most importantly, all sincere speculation about our existence is a Divine event because it directly impacts the evolution of the total human consciousness toward understanding.

Such sincere speculation is what true "prophesy" is, as Paul in I Corinthians 14:1, said

. . . Aim at charity, yet strive after the spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. . . . He who prophesies speaks to men for edification, and encouragement, and consolation.

Consciousness is a terrible thing to waste!

There is a lot of ignorance concerning our brain and mental functioning despite the advances in neuroscience. This thread constitutes another in my synthesis at simplification of the basics for general consumption. Although Freud's theories (devoid of modern neuroscience knowledge) have been largely discredited . . . his insights and descriptive tripartite breakdown of the human psyche is still useful for communicating conceptually with general audiences.

The BASIC composition and functioning of our brain is necessary to fully appreciate the symbolism of the metaphors embedded in the mythical accounts. However, I endeavor to keep the discussion as uncomplicated as possible while conveying the essential information. (Nitpickers beware . . . this is NOT the place for complex jargon or specific detail . . . this discussion has a more generic conceptual, philosophical and spiritual purpose)

All animals, including man, have what is called the Old Brain or basal ganglion. This Old Brain is the seat of our emotions and inner drives. We are unique in that our Big Brain has the necessary capabilities to enable us to override or suppress these inner drives (e.g. to turn the other cheek). This distinction between the Old Brain and our Big Brain will be clearer after I describe the behavioral differences between them.

Our Big Brain is, essentially, our cerebrum. The frontal lobe of our cerebrum is generally credited with being the seat of thought or consciousness . . . although the inability to pinpoint it has most believing the entire brain is the locus. The other lobes enable us to see, hear, understand language, etc. and activate the various muscles of our body. Coordination of these diverse functions is achieved through the mechanism of association.

Association is the process of recording, like a tape recorder, all signals that come into a particular lobe. Better than three-fourths of the area of the cerebrum is devoted to association storage. For instance, everytime you see something the combination of signals that represents the object is stored in the occipital lobe, the lobe that controls vision. These signals are also sent to the frontal lobe through association neurons. This is a key factor in memory, learning and thinking.

The frontal lobe has access to all the information that comes into all the other lobes. It is the central receiving station for monitor and control of our body. The association neurons connecting it with the other lobes and the nerve fibers connecting it with the rest of the central nervous system are like the various controls situated on the amplifier in a complex stereo system. It has all the necessary controls for input and output, volume and tone, high range and low range filters, muting circuits, and so on. In fact, it even has two separate channels. The cerebrum is divided down the middle by a longitudinal fissure and each half corresponds to a separate side of our body.

Most scientists believe that our mind is merely a function of our extremely versatile brain, consequently, they conclude, our brain is the reason we have a mind. This circular logic is like saying that transportation is a function of our extremely versatile cars, therefore, cars are the reason we have transportation. Science credits our brain with being the instrument of our superiority over the lower animals. But as our sense of self and inner experience of control suggests . . . since it is an instrument . . . there must be someone or something using it.

Despite this overwhelming evidence of our own perceptions of ourselves, brain theorists and neurologists studiously avoid the concept of a homunculus, or a separate coordinator of our thought processes that is not a physical part of the brain itself. As Crick unambiguously states,

. . . Is there any idea we should avoid? I think there is at least one: the fallacy of the homunculus. . . . Most neuroscientists believe there is no homunculus in the brain. Unfortunately it is easier to state the fallacy than to avoid slipping into it. The reason is that we certainly have an illusion of the homunculus: the self. There is probably some good reason for the strength and persistence of this illusion. It may reflect some aspect of the overall control of the brain, but what the nature of this control is we have not yet discovered

Yes, there probably is a real good reason for the strength and persistence of this "illusion," IT ISN'T AN ILLUSION! Like a stereo multiplex, our brain must have someone to operate the controls to produce the desired results. That someone is our soul and it is not a "physical" part of the brain, any more than the music in a stereo system is a "physical" part of the stereo.

The Old Brain. Our soul has a partner in the production of our consciousness and behavior. That partner has some very definite ideas about the source and kind of "music" the soul should play through the stereo system of the brain. The pituitary gland is this partner. The pituitary is the most important organ we have. Its physical location, cradled in a complete bowl of bone, attests to its importance. It is the regulator for the entire body and becomes the key defense plant if our body is threatened in any way, real or imagined.

This second behavioral grouping contains every factor necessary to animal life, every instinct, drive, and capability except thought. (The process of thinking is restricted to the cerebrum.) This Old Brain is the motivation and emotion center. This center is virtually identical to the one in the lower animals and is the regulator of our emotions. Emotions are not simply mental conditions. They are chemical and physical changes in the body that result from hormone stimulation of various glands and control centers in the body. The pituitary, the master gland, produces the various hormones to stimulate all the others.

The pituitary is located in the other behavioral division of the brain called the limbic system, or "Old Brain." I shall consider with it the hindbrain and the entire autonomic nervous system. In essence, this covers the entire lower portion of the brain and spinal cord. The spinal cord and the brain are continuous both structurally and functionally. This Old Brain is sometimes referred to as the reptilian brain and it looks very much like a serpent.

Motivation and emotion in the human animal are intricate multifaceted phenomena. However, the complexity of human emotions cannot be attributed solely to this emotion center. It is the marriage of soul and animal that produces the complex human emotions and motivations. The complexity arises from the inclusion of our soul (consciousness) in what would otherwise be the typical animal responses.

Our consciousness provides many sources of response that are lacking in animals. For example, the limbic system (old brain) cannot distinguish between real and imaginary situations. Its tendency to respond to imagination as if it were reality, explains most of the complication in human emotions. Animals do not imagine and are spared these complex emotions. For them the pituitary must be stimulated by actual situations or prior conditioning.

When we or our circumstances signal the pituitary in a positive manner it will produce conditions in the body that are almost uniformly beneficial. We call these the pleasant emotions. When we or our circumstances signal the pituitary in a negative manner . . . it will produce conditions we call the unpleasant emotions. While these conditions endow us with potentially life-saving temporary enhancements of our capabilities, they can be very harmful to our body if prolonged.

If we or our circumstances fail to signal, we do not emote. If we transmit pleasant signals, regardless what is occurring, we will experience the pleasant emotions. For some psychic adepts, it is possible to visualize pleasant situations, even during extremely painful physical circumstances and, thus, be spared the pain. Unfortunately, that kind of discipline is not easy, nor is it possible in all situations. However, whether they are good or bad, emotions are chemical and physical changes in our body resulting from the transmission of signals to the Old Brain - our animal nature.

The Serpent. The Old Brain is the source of all traditionally forbidden behavior in the scriptures. The source of forbidden behavior in Eden was the serpent. Viewed anatomically, the Old Brain is shaped exactly like a serpent and is referred to as the reptilian brain as mentioned earlier. The serpent's tongue is the pituitary gland with its dual capability of stimulating good or bad emotions in our body, the true forked tongue of the serpent! This analogy of the Old Brain to a serpent is startlingly clear, even a little eerie, in the photographs I have seen of it. The simile is particularly compelling when you realize that its functions are as automatic, unthinking, and serpentlike as the actions of a true serpent.

Everytime the Old Brain receives pain stimuli it will react with retaliation or avoidance signals. Everytime it receives pleasure stimuli it will react with requests for more. When it detects a deficiency of blood sugar, it will react with hunger signals. If it detects a deficiency of water in the body, it will react with thirst signals. These reactions are completely automatic, unthinking, and unalterable.

Even though the feelings of hunger and thirst normally are physiologically triggered, we can actually create them without the physical conditions by thinking about being hungry or thirsty. But, whether we tell it we are hungry or our physiology tells it we are hungry, the serpent will always give us the same answer: "Eat!" This is true of every drive. This uncompromising internal serpent will always give the same answer to each problem, regardless how it is made aware of the problem.

For human beings . . . the bulk of the stimulation received by our animal nature originates in our thought processes. In short, we think our animal nature into excitation and the possible combinations and sequences are limitless. Human beings are the only animals possessing the ability to abstract and create an unlimited source of stimulation. However, there is usually little to be gained by stimulating our animal nature over a particular situation if we cannot allow the response we know it will tell us to make. Once it receives a stimulus and sends a drive signal, that drive must be satisfied by some response. We can determine what will be a satisfactory response only in a limited way. That's why it is more prudent to prevent the stimulus and avoid any need to prevent any unacceptable responses.

In addition to a motivation and activation center, successful animate life requires coordinated physical response. The component of the old brain responsible for that coordination is called the cerebellum. It looks somewhat like the cerebrum, but smaller and less complex. It has no thought function, just physical controls. With a damaged cerebellum, for instance, a bird with otherwise perfect muscles and wing structure is unable to fly. When cut open, the cerebellum contains white nerve fibers in the shape of a tree. It is often called the "Arbor Vitae" or tree of life because without it there could be no behavior at all.

The "tree of life" that is the cerebellum must be controlled to control behavior, good or bad. In humans the frontal lobe of the cerebrum is the dominant control center for the cerebellum . . . control of any behavior generated by our animal nature. Essentially, in humans there are two operators of the body, our soul and the Old Brain. In the lower life forms, the Old Brain is dominant and the cerebrum is often missing or extremely small. The difference this makes in the variety of response is significant.
Thus, our soul has the means to "eat" of the "tree of life" by exercising self-control.

The secret to effective self-control lies in not stimulating our animal nature by allowing our thoughts to dwell on self-pity, pleasure-seeking, or concern over problems. Such thinking only stimulates the serpent and you know how useful its answers are. The mental processes involved in achieving cerebral control over drives generated by the Old Brain are the way our souls achieve spiritual maturity and strength for eternal life.

As we have seen, every human being is functionally a partnership. There are two decision makers within each of us, our soul and our animal nature. Sigmund Freud attempted to explain the existence of these two psychic entities and the differences in their basic character. He called our animal nature the Id and our soul the Superego. He describes a very convoluted series of events for the creation of our Superego which he repeatedly refers to as a "censor," self-criticizing faculty, or conscience. But his explanation for it has all the earmarks of being, "It exists because it is." Actually, this famous man is no further from the truth than is consonant with being a scientist who has rejected theological insights regarding the "seeding of a soul" during birth.

Freud explains the creation of our Superego as the result of an interaction between our conscious mind, which he called the Ego, and our unconscious animal nature, which he called the Id. Conflicts arise between our Id and our Ego because of various social or environmental limitations placed on our ability to satisfy our needs. These conflicts cause the development of the Superego in our unconscious. Eventually, the roles are somehow reversed and our Ego becomes the result of conflict between the created Superego and the Id. In all, a very unconvincing attempt to explain the existence of our soul without having to consider any unscientific factors.

Nevertheless, I agree with his description of our soul (Superego) undergoing a gradual maturation and evolution in our psyche.
Actually, the injection of a soul not native to our animal body simplifies the explanation of the psychic processes. We can understand the changing roles of the ego and superego, once we realize that the superego arrives in us AT THE MOMENT OF BIRTH as the mere seed of our soul. Cartoon Egberts notwithstanding, prior to the moment of birth and for several weeks thereafter, an infant is not capable of anything requiring consciousness. However, the serpent (Id) or Old Brain, is fully operative. The first few weeks after birth can be viewed as the time during which the seed of the soul germinates into our consciousness.

In the initial merger, one partner, the Id, is all-powerful relative to the other. Therefore, the majority of the early partnership decisions will be made based on the "opinions" of the serpent. The soul acts merely as an increasingly advantageous addition. It eventually provides consciousness and reason which enhances the reading and assessing of situations, and helps create the most suitable behavior to optimize the serpent's return on invested energy.

Freud ascribed to every human being a predetermined amount of psychic energy at birth, which represents all that is available. From the bunching of energy theory of the composition of matter, it is understandable that life energy might be created in such a predetermined amount and would have a limited life span in that form. You can view this as your life account, similar to a bank account.

How each individual spends this energy will determine his "financial" position at rebirth. Since all energy is initially invested in the Id, the serpent has all the "money". This is as it should be because the body is growing and developing. It requires a lot of energy to be invested in efforts to facilitate that growth and development. The initial store of energy is our control energy that enables us to function and acquire external sources of energy to be converted in the chemical factory of our body. In fact, if we did not so invest that control energy, we would soon run out and die.

This external investment of energy, like a financial investment, should provide a return in excess of that expended when properly and wisely controlled. In the beginning, the investment might consist of nothing more than manipulating the vocal chords to get attention by crying and manipulating the mouth in a sucking motion to acquire an external source of energy (food) for our body. As we grow and mature, the expenditures become more complex and variable in their rate of return.

Ideally, we would convert all our life energy into high quality soul. Realistically, the process of mental development and physical demands of survival will not allow such an outcome. Each of us, inevitably, must spend varying amounts of our allotment in ignorance and rejection of the optimal modes of spending. Therefore, varying quantities and qualities of soul are produced. It is probably to this variable production that Jesus refers in his parable of the sower, Matt 13:23,

. . . And the one sown upon good ground, that is he who hears the word and understands it; he bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixtyfold, and in another thirtyfold.

Since we have no way of knowing how much thirtyfold is, or how quantity of soul is measured, it would seem prudent to get started producing correctly as soon as possible.

There are basically two ways in which our life energy is spent, initiating reaction or initiating thought. Reaction is a physical response. Eating is a reaction to the energy of the hunger drive. The return is a chemical resupply of energy to the partnership. Reaction provides very little exercise and, hence, little development of the soul, though invariably there is some thought associated with every reaction. Reaction is for animal needs and is primarily the serpent's return on investment.

Thought is the soul's return, and the quality of thought is critical. It is the ratio of thought to reaction and the quality of thought that we must be concerned with. The higher the quality and the larger the ratio of thought to reaction that is achieved without slighting physical well-being, the greater is the soul's share of energy and the faster is the progress to spiritual maturity. Our souls can control the ratio of thought to reaction by eliminating the ignorance that accounts for an animal-oriented character.

The creation of our human soul was given central coverage in Genesis. The significance of each re-enactment of creation at the moment of birth, therefore, should not be lightly disregarded. The instant of birth is identical to that stage of the evolution sequence during which God first planted the seed of consciousness in the species, and it is a continual repetition of that momentous occasion. Genetic factors determine the kind of "ground" in which God plants the seed. But it is God, not man, who creates the self-criticizing faculty of our psychic makeup. At the moment of birth, the seed of consciousness is planted as it was in the beginning of the species. It grows or not according to the "soil" in which it is planted and the care and treatment it receives from its external environment. From Mark 4:26,

. . . Thus is the kingdom of God, as though a man should cast seed into the earth, then sleep and rise, night and day, and the seed should sprout without his knowing it. For of itself the earth bears the crop, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.

From Matthew 13:18,

. . . Hear, therefore, the parable of the sower. . . the one sown on rocky ground, that is he who . . . has no root in himself, . . ., and when trouble and persecution come because of the word, he at once falls away. And the one sown among the thorns, that is he who listens to the word; but the care of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it is made fruitless. And the one sown upon good ground, that is he who hears the word and understands it, he bears fruit . . .

Unfortunately, the significance of the moment of birth has been corrupted by astrologers claiming to know our psychic personality and future fortunes. This psychic factor has been variously attributed to "planetary vibrations," "lunar emanations," "solar emanations," and complex combinations of animal and elemental variations, determined by the "houses" of various zodiacal signs, or the particular stage of the Metonic cycle that the time of birth occurs in, and on, and on, and on! Astrologers have marketed these ideas very successfully. Clearly, superstition will always be exploited in human societies . . . and nowhere more cleverly than in religions.

In fairness, it should be noted that throughout the pagan periods astronomy and astrology were the same. The art originated in Mesopotamia several thousand years before the birth of Christ, the same period as the earliest recorded myths. It acquired the name astrology and attained its full development much later, during the Hellenistic period of Greek civilization. Astrology permeated the philosophy, religion, and science of every major civilization. It was after the development of Christianity that the differences between astronomy and astrology began to appear. And it was subsequent to the discoveries of Sir Isaac Newton that astronomy became a true science and astrology became a superstitious art. It is quite possible that there truly is a psychological factor in human beings that is related to the individual birthdate. But this need not have anything to do with the absurd theories offered as explanations by astrologers (or psychoanalysts for that matter).