THE FOUR DOMAINS. pg 1
Introduction
_
With this section, I have changed my pattern of putting the introduction as a footnote. In this particular case, it seems better to start out with an explanation; otherwise you may find yourself wandering about in a bit of a swamp- deep, and somewhat murky.
My investigations in this area started with a meditation on the inadequacy of our present language and limitation of ‘sensing’ to the conventional ‘5 senses’, with a nod to the concept of a nebulous ‘6th sense’ frequently referred to as ‘intuition’. I am convinced that ‘intuition’ has been a ‘grab-bag’ term for the remarkable functioning of senses in the other domains.
‘The Ten Senses' was my first attempt to express the inadequacy of conventional understanding.
‘Division of the senses into Domains’ reflects the humbling realization that I still hadn’t gotten it right; that conventional wisdom may describe the physical and the mental, but when discussing the more nebulous events referred to as ‘feelings’, emotional experiences and spiritual experiences usually got lumped together. And I am convinced that they are not the same.
Once I had worked through to this level of understanding, it became my practice, with my ongoing life activities, to engage and experience on all of these levels. Much of the material in this section enlarges on this theme to explore aspects beyond the senses; identity, actions etc.
‘Spiritual Awakening’ describes a possible evolution of the spirit.
With this section, I have changed my pattern of putting the introduction as a footnote. In this particular case, it seems better to start out with an explanation; otherwise you may find yourself wandering about in a bit of a swamp- deep, and somewhat murky.
My investigations in this area started with a meditation on the inadequacy of our present language and limitation of ‘sensing’ to the conventional ‘5 senses’, with a nod to the concept of a nebulous ‘6th sense’ frequently referred to as ‘intuition’. I am convinced that ‘intuition’ has been a ‘grab-bag’ term for the remarkable functioning of senses in the other domains.
‘The Ten Senses' was my first attempt to express the inadequacy of conventional understanding.
‘Division of the senses into Domains’ reflects the humbling realization that I still hadn’t gotten it right; that conventional wisdom may describe the physical and the mental, but when discussing the more nebulous events referred to as ‘feelings’, emotional experiences and spiritual experiences usually got lumped together. And I am convinced that they are not the same.
Once I had worked through to this level of understanding, it became my practice, with my ongoing life activities, to engage and experience on all of these levels. Much of the material in this section enlarges on this theme to explore aspects beyond the senses; identity, actions etc.
‘Spiritual Awakening’ describes a possible evolution of the spirit.
_1 THE TEN SENSES (or more!)
_
This is a review of conventional and unconventional senses.
We typically speak of the ‘five senses’- sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch. We sometimes speak of the ‘sixth sense’ or intuition, or something like that.
I suspect, rather, that there are at least 10 senses. Whether they are divided into lines along the ‘right brain, left brain’, or worldly and physical versus spiritual, I am not sure. But once I started thinking about it I found a *whole lot* of support in many spiritual systems for bits of the concept.The following paragraphs outline some of that support.
To start with sight; it is clear through many contexts that another type of sight is suggested, recognized, and used. ‘Second sight’. ‘Inner vision’. ‘Clairvoyance’. The visions and dreams of the prophets in many religions. Shamanistic dreaming. Lucid dreaming. The burning bush. And there are my own experiences with Gaia in her various forms (which see). I suspect a vision is a type of waking dream. ‘Daydreaming’ they sometimes call it..
Hearing; The ‘still, small voice’ of God. Now that one was actually a 2-for-1 in that the voice came out of the bush. All the many people who have heard voices whether delusional or not so much. It begs the question as to whether they are inner voices or not.
Taste. This is not so huge in literature, but it is mentioned. ‘Taste and see that the Lord is good’. Spiritual food. Water of life which, once tasted, forever satisfies a deep non-physical, spiritual thirst. And of course those of us who can do gustatory synthesis in terms of visualizing a recipe (If one wanted to ‘test’ this as independent reality one would have to find someone who tasted in imagination something they had never had in reality and then find out in reality that it does indeed taste that way. That is beyond the scope of the present rant.
Smell- the ‘odor of sanctity’. Some people think this was ascetics who had starved themselves into ketoacidosis and what was being perceived was acetone on their breath. Smell is one of the auras for seizures, less often for migraine.
Touch-; I have less direct experience with this one. I do know that the chakras may be looked at as another type of skin- a system of organs of perception and interactive communication.They themselves seem subdivided as reference the 6th charka-, the ‘third eye’ or ajna. When I got the ‘sense’ of the ‘Green Man’ skin, it was partially visual but partially tactile. The sensation of the skin crawling or the hair standing up in the presence of danger.
Now for a symmetrical breakdown;
The physical senses are the gateway to the mind. The spiritual senses are the gateway to the spirit.To cultivate spiritual perception, it helps to seek a setting where the physical senses do not have a whole lot of ‘loud’ input, as it can tend to drown out the information from the spiritual senses.
‘Thought’ is the word-based operating system and conceptual output of the ‘left brain’. It processes the input of the physical senses. It plans and powers physical action.
‘Intuition’ is the multimodal operating system and conceptual output of the ‘right brain’. It may or may not use words, and may as often operate on ‘gut feelings. It *can* power physical action, and when it does, depending on the need, it may seem very quick, possibly quicker than thought- and sometimes not seeming to be rational. It also impacts internal decision making of the emotional sort.
(beginning of rant that doesn't really help the thesis, but was nonetheless satisfying to write...)
I will go so far as to say that any human who is so bone-headed as to attempt to restrict themselves to only the physical senses, only left-brain processing and planning, and only left brain decision-making has programmed themselves for disaster in their personal relationships. If a fully functional *good* person hooks up with a bone-head (sometimes referred to as a ‘concrete thinker’- use your visualization skills on *that* term to get a sense of superlative non-physical description capturing reality..), the fully functioning person will be spiritually deprived and devastated by the experience. If they go with the bone-head’s operating system, they will amputate half of their being. They will be robbed, strangulated, and shut off from their full potential. If the fully functioning person refuses to be robbed and shut off in this way, they will experience progressive estrangement and increasingly demanding growing pains.
Whether or not the fully functioning person might succeed in awakening the potential of the bone-head depends on the willingness of the bone-head to be awakened. I doubt anyone is born a bone-head. I think it is a decision- not necessarily a conscious one- to avoid pain. And it is wholly aided and abetted by intoxicants and stupid thought processes. Most bone-heads are emotionally lazy, and some are intellectually lazy as well.
(end of rant, back to the topic at hand...)
So at this point I am wondering if it is more correct to speak of at least 20 senses; The conventional 5 multiplied into the domains of the physical, the mental, the emotional, and the spiritual.
The input of the 5 physical senses are the initial inputs from the ‘physical’ world. As these impact our physical sensory organs we receive the data- the warmth, the vibrations, the frequencies, the tactile inputs. We process, we analyze, we integrate; we can express, sometimes lyrically, the sensations we experience.
But mental inputs- what is the organ of perception for a thought? How is it sent and received? We use words which we learn from others to formulate and set forth concepts. We use words for this analysis.It has been said that there is no thought without words. But thought travels in our CPU or in our consciousness sometimes as image as well. Ask any autistic about thinking in pictures.
When we hear music we do not simply receive the frequencies. The input triggers thoughts, mental images, emotions, and sometimes spiritual insights. We get to these not simply through the sounds and not simply through the thoughts about the sound. Music can bypass this.
One might say that all input is via the primary 5 senses and that anything beyond that is in the processing area. But that rather begs the question that perhaps our sensory organs for the inputs of the other 15 senses are somewhere in the CPU
I pick up a rock in my hand and hold it. I have the tactile and visual input. I have my thoughts. I also have the web of other triggered occurrences.
Some of the meditative techniques of chanting or drumming are to still the physical and mental inputs to allow more clearly the perception of the emotional and, pivotally, the spiritual inputs.
It is all relatively empty and meaningless without the spiritual; sensory candy; brain candy; an emotional trip with its highs and lows. But spiritual- ah, there is the depth and the significance. The true input from the burning bush, from the still, small voice. What otherwise would be missed in the conflagration or the storm.
Listen for it. Look for it. Use your eyes and your other eyes. Use your ears and your other ears.
This is a review of conventional and unconventional senses.
We typically speak of the ‘five senses’- sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch. We sometimes speak of the ‘sixth sense’ or intuition, or something like that.
I suspect, rather, that there are at least 10 senses. Whether they are divided into lines along the ‘right brain, left brain’, or worldly and physical versus spiritual, I am not sure. But once I started thinking about it I found a *whole lot* of support in many spiritual systems for bits of the concept.The following paragraphs outline some of that support.
To start with sight; it is clear through many contexts that another type of sight is suggested, recognized, and used. ‘Second sight’. ‘Inner vision’. ‘Clairvoyance’. The visions and dreams of the prophets in many religions. Shamanistic dreaming. Lucid dreaming. The burning bush. And there are my own experiences with Gaia in her various forms (which see). I suspect a vision is a type of waking dream. ‘Daydreaming’ they sometimes call it..
Hearing; The ‘still, small voice’ of God. Now that one was actually a 2-for-1 in that the voice came out of the bush. All the many people who have heard voices whether delusional or not so much. It begs the question as to whether they are inner voices or not.
Taste. This is not so huge in literature, but it is mentioned. ‘Taste and see that the Lord is good’. Spiritual food. Water of life which, once tasted, forever satisfies a deep non-physical, spiritual thirst. And of course those of us who can do gustatory synthesis in terms of visualizing a recipe (If one wanted to ‘test’ this as independent reality one would have to find someone who tasted in imagination something they had never had in reality and then find out in reality that it does indeed taste that way. That is beyond the scope of the present rant.
Smell- the ‘odor of sanctity’. Some people think this was ascetics who had starved themselves into ketoacidosis and what was being perceived was acetone on their breath. Smell is one of the auras for seizures, less often for migraine.
Touch-; I have less direct experience with this one. I do know that the chakras may be looked at as another type of skin- a system of organs of perception and interactive communication.They themselves seem subdivided as reference the 6th charka-, the ‘third eye’ or ajna. When I got the ‘sense’ of the ‘Green Man’ skin, it was partially visual but partially tactile. The sensation of the skin crawling or the hair standing up in the presence of danger.
Now for a symmetrical breakdown;
The physical senses are the gateway to the mind. The spiritual senses are the gateway to the spirit.To cultivate spiritual perception, it helps to seek a setting where the physical senses do not have a whole lot of ‘loud’ input, as it can tend to drown out the information from the spiritual senses.
‘Thought’ is the word-based operating system and conceptual output of the ‘left brain’. It processes the input of the physical senses. It plans and powers physical action.
‘Intuition’ is the multimodal operating system and conceptual output of the ‘right brain’. It may or may not use words, and may as often operate on ‘gut feelings. It *can* power physical action, and when it does, depending on the need, it may seem very quick, possibly quicker than thought- and sometimes not seeming to be rational. It also impacts internal decision making of the emotional sort.
(beginning of rant that doesn't really help the thesis, but was nonetheless satisfying to write...)
I will go so far as to say that any human who is so bone-headed as to attempt to restrict themselves to only the physical senses, only left-brain processing and planning, and only left brain decision-making has programmed themselves for disaster in their personal relationships. If a fully functional *good* person hooks up with a bone-head (sometimes referred to as a ‘concrete thinker’- use your visualization skills on *that* term to get a sense of superlative non-physical description capturing reality..), the fully functioning person will be spiritually deprived and devastated by the experience. If they go with the bone-head’s operating system, they will amputate half of their being. They will be robbed, strangulated, and shut off from their full potential. If the fully functioning person refuses to be robbed and shut off in this way, they will experience progressive estrangement and increasingly demanding growing pains.
Whether or not the fully functioning person might succeed in awakening the potential of the bone-head depends on the willingness of the bone-head to be awakened. I doubt anyone is born a bone-head. I think it is a decision- not necessarily a conscious one- to avoid pain. And it is wholly aided and abetted by intoxicants and stupid thought processes. Most bone-heads are emotionally lazy, and some are intellectually lazy as well.
(end of rant, back to the topic at hand...)
So at this point I am wondering if it is more correct to speak of at least 20 senses; The conventional 5 multiplied into the domains of the physical, the mental, the emotional, and the spiritual.
The input of the 5 physical senses are the initial inputs from the ‘physical’ world. As these impact our physical sensory organs we receive the data- the warmth, the vibrations, the frequencies, the tactile inputs. We process, we analyze, we integrate; we can express, sometimes lyrically, the sensations we experience.
But mental inputs- what is the organ of perception for a thought? How is it sent and received? We use words which we learn from others to formulate and set forth concepts. We use words for this analysis.It has been said that there is no thought without words. But thought travels in our CPU or in our consciousness sometimes as image as well. Ask any autistic about thinking in pictures.
When we hear music we do not simply receive the frequencies. The input triggers thoughts, mental images, emotions, and sometimes spiritual insights. We get to these not simply through the sounds and not simply through the thoughts about the sound. Music can bypass this.
One might say that all input is via the primary 5 senses and that anything beyond that is in the processing area. But that rather begs the question that perhaps our sensory organs for the inputs of the other 15 senses are somewhere in the CPU
I pick up a rock in my hand and hold it. I have the tactile and visual input. I have my thoughts. I also have the web of other triggered occurrences.
Some of the meditative techniques of chanting or drumming are to still the physical and mental inputs to allow more clearly the perception of the emotional and, pivotally, the spiritual inputs.
It is all relatively empty and meaningless without the spiritual; sensory candy; brain candy; an emotional trip with its highs and lows. But spiritual- ah, there is the depth and the significance. The true input from the burning bush, from the still, small voice. What otherwise would be missed in the conflagration or the storm.
Listen for it. Look for it. Use your eyes and your other eyes. Use your ears and your other ears.
_2 Division of the senses into domains
_
Physical;
Inputs from the physical to physical sensors; data then being processed to produce ‘perception’.
Mental;
Internal cogitation and machinery of ‘thought’. Data processing which might result in a physical output of behavior- speech, singing, writing, acting out– in such a way that physical communication is accomplished. We have no *known* mind-to-mind methods of communication although these are hypothesized.
The ‘thought process’ requires brain activity which is perceptible as minute changes in electrical activity of the brain. EEG electrodes can pick this up. Some people can feel when another is about to have a seizure.
Emotional;
For me, ‘feelings’ or emotions are rather like a watercolor ‘wash’ of varying intensity, depth, and complexity which colors my perception of life. Depression may turn everything grey. Joy may produce rainbows or pure gold. Love-what can I say?- changes everything. There also seem to be emotional ‘heights’ and ‘depths’, mountains, valleys, wastelands, rivers, oceans, deserts, pits- an entire other landscape.
Emotions seem to attach themselves to events and objects as well as people. It is almost as if the emotions have ‘hooks’ or Velcro. They cling. Sometimes the attachments are long-lasting, sometimes evanescent. We’ve all heard the saying ‘I’ve lost the feeling’. It happens.
‘Empathy’ is the term we use for the ability to feel what another feels. We have evolved the theoretical term ‘empath’ to define a person who has the ability to sense, without overt physical communication, what another feels. For most people, feelings are communicated by actions or words.
Spiritual;
This is the realm of the Holy fire of Pentecost (the seventh chakra), of the burning bush, of the still, small voice. There do not *appear* to be tangible, physical organs of spiritual perception. The seven chakras are at work here, allowing a web of interconnectedness for perception and communication.
The spiritual senses parallel and enrich the other levels of sensation, and the associations are complex. Biblical writers recognized this when they wrote ‘Taste and see, that the Lord is good’ (Psalm 34), when they spoke of spiritual milk and spiritual meat,(1 Corinthians 3 and 10), when they spoke of living water (John 4). There is a spiritual hunger and a spiritual thirst that are very tangible and cry out to be satisfied. It is a matter of spiritual survival.
‘Comparative spirituality’ is the critical analysis and comparison between or among spiritual belief systems This is analogous to but proceeds far beyond ‘comparative religion’.
There is a symphony of perception incoming in the four domains. It is like an ultradimensional aurora. It is the blending of the four domains that fleshes out reality beyond the physical, into a region sometimes referred to as the ‘metaphysical’.
3 Perception, identity and action in the four domains
The four domains of perception are also domains of identity and action.
I suspect that there is a progression from birth. First perceptions occur. Second, as they are tested and found more valid, they become a part of identity. Who am I physically? Who am I mentally? Who am I emotionally? Who am I spiritually? Finally, we can take action in each of these domains. I suspect we have the nascent ability to act in all these domains from birth, but as a baby is not born being able to walk or talk, so we aren’t born with the knowledge and skill to control our activity. We have to learn, beginning with awareness.
The physical and the mental
From birth, we progressively become more active physically. No one can hold us back. Think of a baby learning to walk and talk. The mental develops along with the physical, and purposively powers the physical actions.
Action in the emotional domain
It is harder for me to ’see’ the characteristics of emotional activity. Emotion seems to me to be more of perception, but I do detect that there is an element of ‘travel’ to the various emotional places I have been. This is clear from common speech, where people say, ‘I was very moved by the experience’ For most of my life, the movement from emotional ‘highs’ to emotional ‘lows’ has been will-I, nill-i. My emotions move me, I don’t move them.
The contribution of Shamanism to this discussion
According to some interpretations of shamanistic theory, emotional ‘hooks’ go from the chakras to the object of the feeling, and this is where the pull is exerted. This is where (to name the extremes) the attachments may be ‘bands of light’ or ‘dark twisted cords’. Christian writings describe what may be beneficial attachments. ‘Blest be the ties that bind’; ‘tying the knot’ of marriage.
Shamanistic practitioners whose works I have read speak of techniques to cut or detach harmful attachments. If I understand them correctly, they are working in the spirit albeit that they may perform physical actions at the time.
Their descriptions subdivide harmful attachments into two types. There are those which are harmful by means of the obsession of the patient or client. A feeling originating within that person has turned harmful.
But there are also attachments described which are harming the client but are originating outside of them- an attachment another has for the client which may have originally been beneficial but with has turned harmful. Even if not overtly acted upon, the negative pull is there. At worst, this can escalate into the physical, as with stalking or physical attacks.
So, if this is a valid description, the ‘negative pull’ is in fact an action, and so also must the formation and strengthening of the ‘bands of light’ to some extent be an emotional action, even if those acting in the formation may not be conscious of ‘doing’ anything. (Some descriptions of Vodou and Santeria imply that practitioners can consciously exert this pull on others. This brings up the subject of ethics which must be as significant in all of the domains as it is considered to be in the physical.
It may be that, just as mental action is required in order to organize and power physical action, so mental and/or spiritual action are required to power, not emotional *perception*, but purposive emotional action.
Buddhism
The Buddhists say that ‘The origin of all suffering is attachment’ (‘The Four Noble Truths’), and speak of ‘detachment’ as a prerequisite for enlightenment. I think they are talking about the same thing.
So, if you are ‘detached’, are you unfeeling or indifferent? I suspect not so. But you are not bound. You have performed the activity- emotional or spiritual- of freeing yourself- liberating yourself- for more effective and enlightened action to the extent that such is necessary.
One may note, as well, that Buddhist philosophy lays out principles for ethical behavior in multiple domains(‘The Noble Eightfold Path’).
Action in the spiritual domain
The spiritual domain has no limits. It extends ‘down’, as far as there is a down. It extends ‘up’ as far as there is an up. It extends ‘out’ as far as there is an out. It extends ‘in’ as far as there is an in. It allows the self- as the ‘divine self’- to interface with the Creator and all the divine. It is one with all life and death, birth and rebirth. It transcends time.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning ('Sonnets of the Portuguese') described the vastness of the spiritual domain.
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal grace.
I love thee to the level of every day's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for right.
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints.
I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.
She speaks of love, commonly termed an emotion, but the reaching of her soul is in the spirit.
Prayer
Religions speak of prayer, and the power of prayer. Different spiritual belief systems describe this in different ways, depending on whether the practitioners feel that the divine is within or without. Regardless, the aim is to lay out the need and the goal, and to bring about beneficial change, through spiritual means, or by spiritual empowerment to engage physical means.
Traveling
Spiritual perception has been introduced earlier in this section. This allows ‘seeing’ in the spirit. ‘Traveling’ is different, as it implies an action. As I understand it, in most cases the physical body does not travel, hence the term ‘out of body experience’.
In spiritual journeying, where action differs from perception is, again, whether a need and a goal are laid out, and whether beneficial change is accomplished. Granted, the traveling itself is an action, but a greater question is, what is done as a result of what is learned on the journey? The journey will change the world within, but what of the physical world? This need to have a physical output in order to accomplish anything in the physical world is expressed in Christian writings by the statement ‘Faith without works is dead’ (James ch3). The sequence could be; change of perception, change of belief, change of action, change of identity. ‘I saw something new, it impacted and changed my belief system. As I result, when I came back, I did things differently, and now I am a different person.’ And hopefully, all goes well.
The question of evil (See also pg3, section 9, written 12 25 17)
Some people, in their writings, assume that the universe is all good and no harm will come to you. Others caution you to be on the alert for energy vampires, evil spirits, and predators in multiple domains. They advise the necessity of a spirit guide.
We all recognize that there are humans who have been twisted or broken, and who do evil to that which is around them- to other people, to animals, to the environment. There is weak evil and there is strong evil, just as there is weak good and strong good. One great writer stated that ‘The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing’. Excepting for the gender bias of the statement, I feel that this is the truth.
One of the first and greatest evils is that of telling (or doing, or acting) a lie, or deception. A lie is a theft of reality. As this can occur in the physical, I am sure it can occur in the other domains. Animals do a version of this for protection or predation. It is not from any malicious intent, but of necessity for their survival. Humans, on the other hand, have a choice, formally speaking.
What are the present needs?
The world is in crisis. We humans, as the ones with opposable thumbs, the ones who made machinery, the ones who garden and have the greatest potential at the present time to accomplish physical change, need to ask questions of ourselves and each other.
What are the needs? What are the goals? What actions, in what domains, must be performed to effect beneficial change? We have huge physical resources, and our mental development is not insignificant. But our emotional and spiritual development has lagged behind. Some know the sublime- but not all. Some pray- but not all.
Our huge entertainment industry largely caters to the delivery of images that, I am convinced, take us in the wrong direction. The media persist in portraying women as consumers whose most important concerns are the shoes they wear, the makeup that transforms them to socially approved perfection, the toilet paper they buy, the mops they use and the surfaces that they clean. Spiritually enlightened beings, indeed.
Despite the oil crisis, the automobile industry sells bigger and bigger trucks and portrays the pinnacle of manhood and enjoyment as a four wheel adventure in the mud, tearing up the landscape in a celebration of testosterone and an orgy of destruction and waste. Our government is well aware of the environmental crisis, but allows big business, transnational corporations, and the need for re-election to dictate policy. We’re a mess.
And yet, the spiritual domain is within the reach of everyone. There is no physical barrier to it. No one is so physically impoverished that they cannot reach it. No one is so intrinsically mentally impaired that they cannot reach it.
Physical;
Inputs from the physical to physical sensors; data then being processed to produce ‘perception’.
Mental;
Internal cogitation and machinery of ‘thought’. Data processing which might result in a physical output of behavior- speech, singing, writing, acting out– in such a way that physical communication is accomplished. We have no *known* mind-to-mind methods of communication although these are hypothesized.
The ‘thought process’ requires brain activity which is perceptible as minute changes in electrical activity of the brain. EEG electrodes can pick this up. Some people can feel when another is about to have a seizure.
Emotional;
For me, ‘feelings’ or emotions are rather like a watercolor ‘wash’ of varying intensity, depth, and complexity which colors my perception of life. Depression may turn everything grey. Joy may produce rainbows or pure gold. Love-what can I say?- changes everything. There also seem to be emotional ‘heights’ and ‘depths’, mountains, valleys, wastelands, rivers, oceans, deserts, pits- an entire other landscape.
Emotions seem to attach themselves to events and objects as well as people. It is almost as if the emotions have ‘hooks’ or Velcro. They cling. Sometimes the attachments are long-lasting, sometimes evanescent. We’ve all heard the saying ‘I’ve lost the feeling’. It happens.
‘Empathy’ is the term we use for the ability to feel what another feels. We have evolved the theoretical term ‘empath’ to define a person who has the ability to sense, without overt physical communication, what another feels. For most people, feelings are communicated by actions or words.
Spiritual;
This is the realm of the Holy fire of Pentecost (the seventh chakra), of the burning bush, of the still, small voice. There do not *appear* to be tangible, physical organs of spiritual perception. The seven chakras are at work here, allowing a web of interconnectedness for perception and communication.
The spiritual senses parallel and enrich the other levels of sensation, and the associations are complex. Biblical writers recognized this when they wrote ‘Taste and see, that the Lord is good’ (Psalm 34), when they spoke of spiritual milk and spiritual meat,(1 Corinthians 3 and 10), when they spoke of living water (John 4). There is a spiritual hunger and a spiritual thirst that are very tangible and cry out to be satisfied. It is a matter of spiritual survival.
‘Comparative spirituality’ is the critical analysis and comparison between or among spiritual belief systems This is analogous to but proceeds far beyond ‘comparative religion’.
There is a symphony of perception incoming in the four domains. It is like an ultradimensional aurora. It is the blending of the four domains that fleshes out reality beyond the physical, into a region sometimes referred to as the ‘metaphysical’.
3 Perception, identity and action in the four domains
The four domains of perception are also domains of identity and action.
I suspect that there is a progression from birth. First perceptions occur. Second, as they are tested and found more valid, they become a part of identity. Who am I physically? Who am I mentally? Who am I emotionally? Who am I spiritually? Finally, we can take action in each of these domains. I suspect we have the nascent ability to act in all these domains from birth, but as a baby is not born being able to walk or talk, so we aren’t born with the knowledge and skill to control our activity. We have to learn, beginning with awareness.
The physical and the mental
From birth, we progressively become more active physically. No one can hold us back. Think of a baby learning to walk and talk. The mental develops along with the physical, and purposively powers the physical actions.
Action in the emotional domain
It is harder for me to ’see’ the characteristics of emotional activity. Emotion seems to me to be more of perception, but I do detect that there is an element of ‘travel’ to the various emotional places I have been. This is clear from common speech, where people say, ‘I was very moved by the experience’ For most of my life, the movement from emotional ‘highs’ to emotional ‘lows’ has been will-I, nill-i. My emotions move me, I don’t move them.
The contribution of Shamanism to this discussion
According to some interpretations of shamanistic theory, emotional ‘hooks’ go from the chakras to the object of the feeling, and this is where the pull is exerted. This is where (to name the extremes) the attachments may be ‘bands of light’ or ‘dark twisted cords’. Christian writings describe what may be beneficial attachments. ‘Blest be the ties that bind’; ‘tying the knot’ of marriage.
Shamanistic practitioners whose works I have read speak of techniques to cut or detach harmful attachments. If I understand them correctly, they are working in the spirit albeit that they may perform physical actions at the time.
Their descriptions subdivide harmful attachments into two types. There are those which are harmful by means of the obsession of the patient or client. A feeling originating within that person has turned harmful.
But there are also attachments described which are harming the client but are originating outside of them- an attachment another has for the client which may have originally been beneficial but with has turned harmful. Even if not overtly acted upon, the negative pull is there. At worst, this can escalate into the physical, as with stalking or physical attacks.
So, if this is a valid description, the ‘negative pull’ is in fact an action, and so also must the formation and strengthening of the ‘bands of light’ to some extent be an emotional action, even if those acting in the formation may not be conscious of ‘doing’ anything. (Some descriptions of Vodou and Santeria imply that practitioners can consciously exert this pull on others. This brings up the subject of ethics which must be as significant in all of the domains as it is considered to be in the physical.
It may be that, just as mental action is required in order to organize and power physical action, so mental and/or spiritual action are required to power, not emotional *perception*, but purposive emotional action.
Buddhism
The Buddhists say that ‘The origin of all suffering is attachment’ (‘The Four Noble Truths’), and speak of ‘detachment’ as a prerequisite for enlightenment. I think they are talking about the same thing.
So, if you are ‘detached’, are you unfeeling or indifferent? I suspect not so. But you are not bound. You have performed the activity- emotional or spiritual- of freeing yourself- liberating yourself- for more effective and enlightened action to the extent that such is necessary.
One may note, as well, that Buddhist philosophy lays out principles for ethical behavior in multiple domains(‘The Noble Eightfold Path’).
Action in the spiritual domain
The spiritual domain has no limits. It extends ‘down’, as far as there is a down. It extends ‘up’ as far as there is an up. It extends ‘out’ as far as there is an out. It extends ‘in’ as far as there is an in. It allows the self- as the ‘divine self’- to interface with the Creator and all the divine. It is one with all life and death, birth and rebirth. It transcends time.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning ('Sonnets of the Portuguese') described the vastness of the spiritual domain.
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal grace.
I love thee to the level of every day's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for right.
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints.
I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.
She speaks of love, commonly termed an emotion, but the reaching of her soul is in the spirit.
Prayer
Religions speak of prayer, and the power of prayer. Different spiritual belief systems describe this in different ways, depending on whether the practitioners feel that the divine is within or without. Regardless, the aim is to lay out the need and the goal, and to bring about beneficial change, through spiritual means, or by spiritual empowerment to engage physical means.
Traveling
Spiritual perception has been introduced earlier in this section. This allows ‘seeing’ in the spirit. ‘Traveling’ is different, as it implies an action. As I understand it, in most cases the physical body does not travel, hence the term ‘out of body experience’.
In spiritual journeying, where action differs from perception is, again, whether a need and a goal are laid out, and whether beneficial change is accomplished. Granted, the traveling itself is an action, but a greater question is, what is done as a result of what is learned on the journey? The journey will change the world within, but what of the physical world? This need to have a physical output in order to accomplish anything in the physical world is expressed in Christian writings by the statement ‘Faith without works is dead’ (James ch3). The sequence could be; change of perception, change of belief, change of action, change of identity. ‘I saw something new, it impacted and changed my belief system. As I result, when I came back, I did things differently, and now I am a different person.’ And hopefully, all goes well.
The question of evil (See also pg3, section 9, written 12 25 17)
Some people, in their writings, assume that the universe is all good and no harm will come to you. Others caution you to be on the alert for energy vampires, evil spirits, and predators in multiple domains. They advise the necessity of a spirit guide.
We all recognize that there are humans who have been twisted or broken, and who do evil to that which is around them- to other people, to animals, to the environment. There is weak evil and there is strong evil, just as there is weak good and strong good. One great writer stated that ‘The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing’. Excepting for the gender bias of the statement, I feel that this is the truth.
One of the first and greatest evils is that of telling (or doing, or acting) a lie, or deception. A lie is a theft of reality. As this can occur in the physical, I am sure it can occur in the other domains. Animals do a version of this for protection or predation. It is not from any malicious intent, but of necessity for their survival. Humans, on the other hand, have a choice, formally speaking.
What are the present needs?
The world is in crisis. We humans, as the ones with opposable thumbs, the ones who made machinery, the ones who garden and have the greatest potential at the present time to accomplish physical change, need to ask questions of ourselves and each other.
What are the needs? What are the goals? What actions, in what domains, must be performed to effect beneficial change? We have huge physical resources, and our mental development is not insignificant. But our emotional and spiritual development has lagged behind. Some know the sublime- but not all. Some pray- but not all.
Our huge entertainment industry largely caters to the delivery of images that, I am convinced, take us in the wrong direction. The media persist in portraying women as consumers whose most important concerns are the shoes they wear, the makeup that transforms them to socially approved perfection, the toilet paper they buy, the mops they use and the surfaces that they clean. Spiritually enlightened beings, indeed.
Despite the oil crisis, the automobile industry sells bigger and bigger trucks and portrays the pinnacle of manhood and enjoyment as a four wheel adventure in the mud, tearing up the landscape in a celebration of testosterone and an orgy of destruction and waste. Our government is well aware of the environmental crisis, but allows big business, transnational corporations, and the need for re-election to dictate policy. We’re a mess.
And yet, the spiritual domain is within the reach of everyone. There is no physical barrier to it. No one is so physically impoverished that they cannot reach it. No one is so intrinsically mentally impaired that they cannot reach it.
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4 Development in the four domains
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SPIRITUAL AWAKENING
Before birth we are one with the divine, and as incarnated, so we are sparks of the divine. We are born in physical form and feel emotion from first breath. We learn to think and our emotions further develop as we grow.
We experience spiritual awakening on an indefinite timetable; not all at the same rate, not all in the same way, not all to the same degree.
Why are we sent, or why do we choose to come, on this earthly journey? What higher purpose does this serve? Did we lack something? Did we need to give back something? Do we journey so as to learn love and compassion?
Perhaps we are spiritual sparks- sparks of the divine- that are unable to gestate and grow to maturity without going through the progression of the physical. The systems hypothesizing reincarnation see this as a means to ‘do over’ until the lesson is learned and the wrong is righted. (This is much more empowering than the gender-biased guilt trip of original sin.) I often seem to myself to be so ignorant and slow that I can well believe it will take me more than one lifetime to get it right, to learn all I must. The Christians believe you only get one chance, and that there is no hope except through God’s grace.
What will happen to the evolution of the spirit, if this earthly crèche is destroyed by humankind’s mistakes? Is the present crisis, in itself, a spiritual evolution for our species? Or will we die with it? 2012 seems to be a predicted deadline.
Multiple questions arise. If we did not have language or thought, would we be able to become spiritually aware? Do animals have a life in the spirit? What was the real reason for our expulsion from the garden? This is alleged to have occurred after our eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge. Is this a reference to the possibility that the pre-conscious are one with God, but that consciousness forced separation and in turn required that we work our way back to spiritual awareness and oneness with God?
It was no accident, I am confident of that. We were meant to have this challenge. We were built for it, and elegantly so.
And the angels watch, and the angels weep, at how we hurt each other. Or perhaps they laugh, which is almost the same thing.
SPIRITUAL AWAKENING
Before birth we are one with the divine, and as incarnated, so we are sparks of the divine. We are born in physical form and feel emotion from first breath. We learn to think and our emotions further develop as we grow.
We experience spiritual awakening on an indefinite timetable; not all at the same rate, not all in the same way, not all to the same degree.
Why are we sent, or why do we choose to come, on this earthly journey? What higher purpose does this serve? Did we lack something? Did we need to give back something? Do we journey so as to learn love and compassion?
Perhaps we are spiritual sparks- sparks of the divine- that are unable to gestate and grow to maturity without going through the progression of the physical. The systems hypothesizing reincarnation see this as a means to ‘do over’ until the lesson is learned and the wrong is righted. (This is much more empowering than the gender-biased guilt trip of original sin.) I often seem to myself to be so ignorant and slow that I can well believe it will take me more than one lifetime to get it right, to learn all I must. The Christians believe you only get one chance, and that there is no hope except through God’s grace.
What will happen to the evolution of the spirit, if this earthly crèche is destroyed by humankind’s mistakes? Is the present crisis, in itself, a spiritual evolution for our species? Or will we die with it? 2012 seems to be a predicted deadline.
Multiple questions arise. If we did not have language or thought, would we be able to become spiritually aware? Do animals have a life in the spirit? What was the real reason for our expulsion from the garden? This is alleged to have occurred after our eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge. Is this a reference to the possibility that the pre-conscious are one with God, but that consciousness forced separation and in turn required that we work our way back to spiritual awareness and oneness with God?
It was no accident, I am confident of that. We were meant to have this challenge. We were built for it, and elegantly so.
And the angels watch, and the angels weep, at how we hurt each other. Or perhaps they laugh, which is almost the same thing.