This unused introduction was written a while back for a book that was to be titled ‘Imagined’ (but ended up as the ‘A Framework for Everything’ texts). It works nicely in the ‘introduction’ section of ‘No Religion: Consciousness Creates Reality’. Enjoy.
This book is imagined. The source of my knowledge is my imagination. To say that the source of my knowledge is my imagination rather than scientific study does not mean that it is fiction (although I do not discourage approaching it as such).
This book is not about the meaning of life. It is about the design of life. They are two very different things. The intelligence in the design speaks through my heart, uncloaking itself within my imagination.
There is a level of collective intelligence that can be met through imagination and creativity. John Lennon described the meeting of this level of consciousness when he spoke of writing/receiving/perceiving the song ‘Imagine’.
The message of the song spoke to him, as it speaks to us all, through many faces, but writing songs was John’s clearest avenue for expression. For myself, I have traveled into understanding the connection between all things, a journey that has led me to a profound understanding of the nature of equality.
My love of equality turned a key in my perception and opened my eyes in a new way, allowing me to see beyond our surface-level separation. Seeing the patterns that connect has evolved into seeing the universal design. Like many who seek to see the design of life, I had hoped that it would reveal a wider sense of purpose to me. It is not that it offers no purpose/meaning to life, but any sense of direction it offers is subtle and diverse. This is because the design reveals the desire to express freedom through diversity. In being a way to express freedom, it cannot offer any clear direction.
The human experience offers the freedom to go in ANY direction.
Everyone going in different directions creates conflict. The resolution of conflict comes through the understanding that we are all equal. Currently, equality is an ideology that people believe in. It is the basis of humanism. As such, it is like the best of religion without all the archaic dogma.
While it is wonderful that many people are embracing the principles of equality, often expressed through the idea of being liberal, this is always countered by the conservative. Neither side can ever win this battle, as a swing to one side is always countered by a swing to the other. It is an endless cycle. This is because neither side really believes in equality. This is made plain by the presence of righteousness on both sides.
To feel righteousness is to feel superior — no exceptions.
I am not here to plead the case for equality as a nicer way to live. The basis of my belief in it does not come from a place of believing that treating all equally is morally right. Even though I do believe acknowledging all as equal is a much happier way for everyone to live, that is not still my reason for believing it. Even though ultimately equality is something I have belief in, there is no quality of faith or morality here.
I believe we are equal because I believe we are each individualized expressions of the same state of consciousness.
Everything in existence is an expression of a single state of unified, eternal consciousness. This state of infinite consciousness is not something separate from what you are. It is the place from which all things in existence emanate. It is not possible to lose your connection with it because you are it. If we use the religious term, this is to say that you are not a human created by God.
You are God in human form.
What most holds us from experiencing this unified level of consciousness is the judgment that has arisen through conflict. All things are one thing. All judgments are reflections of the one archetypal judgment. To look with judgment is to create a separation, not only between you and something in the world, but a separation within yourself. To feel this kind of separation has become entirely normalized and accepted.
Within the human experience, conflict has become normalized and accepted.
John Lennon encouraged the embracing of love as our dominant expression. He suggested that we use the knowingness of connection and the limitless potential that we feel deep within us when we are not in fear to fuel our imagining of the world as we wish it to be. In his imagining of peace, John imagined a world without religion. He imagined something that most of us would never even consider because it seems like an impossibility … because it feels like a fantasy.
For myself, what John was speaking of is the essence of spirituality because consciousness and imagination are the same thing. Spirituality is the direct relationship with our consciousness — our imagination. This is a relationship that religion has replaced with fear-based superstition, and science has sought to devalue through the idea that it is not a serious area of exploration for rational people.
When I imagine what John was saying with “Imagine,” I feel an infinitely diverse world that knows itself as one. I imagine a meeting of our consciousness in a state of openness, free of fear … an openness I feel through imagining religion having never existed. I imagine a world where cooperation, kindness, and sharing come not through the strength of our moral discipline or faith but through a direct feeling/knowing, deep within us, that we are connected … we are one … we are equal … we are all deserving … we are family.
“We” is our home.
Like many men, I started my spiritual journey from a mental place. As I experienced the world that arose from this vision of a world without war or religion, something unexpected happened. In a way that I must use words creatively to describe, I found the feelings of these beliefs to be my heart.
I now experience thoughts as having a particular feeling, and, most astonishingly, I experience enlightening thoughts emanating from feelings.
These are suggestions for belief that are so clear I have been able to write them down in this book. These beliefs, seemingly mental when expressed in language, led me to my heart because they were in my heart. Put another way. I found that the ‘thinking logical mind’ and the ‘feeling intuitive heart’ that I had always experienced as separate were, in fact, one. The ideas I write about are the mental expression of the heart (love, equality, connection, unity). They are a recording of the bridge of consciousness that I walked.
Resonating with the language of the heart allows you to clearly feel your heart.
The conflict I see in the world is the same conflict I feel within my heart. It is the same conflict that divides my mind and polarizes my choices and my very perception of value. Our inner conflict and our outer conflict are connected. Every expression of conflict reflects the same one, eternal conflict. The same one eternal fear that we project outwards through prejudice.
I have sought to imagine existence, free of this divisive inclination that has turned the potential of heartfelt preference for one thing into a judgment and rejection of all else.
John asked us to imagine a reality where our differences were embraced, rather than experienced as opposing forces to be defeated, thereby allowing us to share the planet from a point of equality and inclusion. Although there is a long way to go, we have come far regarding equality for biologically based differences. However, the same feelings of judgment, righteousness, and the desire to exclude, have simply moved to fresh targets.
Once we have resolved our relatively straightforward biological differences, we must still resolve the infinite complexity of our differences of belief.
As a person that embraces and celebrates difference, I come from a space of joy when I say that we are never all going to agree to be the same. It is never going to happen. It is not who or what we are. There is no way this world is going to all become similarly minded:
- never all scientifically minded and never all religious.
- never all liberal and never all conservative.
- never all leaders and never all followers.
- never all one desire.
- never all one music.
- never all one taste.
- never all one humor.
- never all one expression of love.
To have peace, we must evolve beyond conflict. This means evolving beyond our currently conflicted natures – our inner conflict.
Our conflict is across our diversity. Diversity is not the problem. We will never all be the same. We must connect across diversity. We must resolve our fear to resolve our inner conflict. This will resolve our outer conflict. To not fear each other, we must open ourselves to see each other. To see each other clearly is to know we are one. The end result being ... love.
Imagine this.