Thursday, September 27, 2007 at 12:12am
If you saw the truth, would you go for it?
Column: Spiritual Psychology
• What if I told you that the underlying premise of your life is faulty?
• What if I showed you that the false premise of your existence will short-circuit all your quests for pleasure, happiness and fulfillment?
• What if I convinced you that the foundation of your existence will prove disastrous as you age — that the very self you worship and protect will not enable you to optimally thrive and survive "30-something" and beyond?
• What if I demonstrated that YOUR mind, your most precious unique personal possession, is not YOUR mind at all but is out of control most of the time, and that you are a passive observer of YOUR mind's "on automatic" self-destructive antics — while feeling and believing that you are in control and directing your life?
• What if I explained that your persistent efforts to escape from the false premise of your existence don't work because they are generated by the same self and consciousness that are protecting it?
• What if I provided the discouraging news that professional help — counseling and psychotherapy — will often fail to get you beyond your conflicts and suffering, because our most popular psychological theories are just as much mired down in the same false belief system as you are?
• What if I revealed shocking evidence that the roots of your false beliefs are imbedded in the very experiences from birth onward that are necessary for acquiring and developing the skills and tools for navigating effectively in the physical and social worlds ("normal psychological development is a double-edged sword")?
• What if I then surprised you with evidence of another operating system within you — one that has always been present but concealed — a consciousness that could free you from the limitations of your faulty operating system?
• What if I pointed the way to uncover your more expansive consciousness? Would you be interested? Would you go for it? Would you be willing to put in the effort necessary to free yourself from the confines of your self-imposed prison?
• All of the above are part of the story of my book "Escape Your Own Prison: Why We Need Spirituality and Psychology to be Truly Free."
While you may be shocked to learn that you embrace, nourish and worship a dead-end imprisoning belief system, "Escape Your Own Prison" doesn't abandon you with that revelation. Nor does it just urge, implore or exhort you to give up a lifelong operating system that you deceptively experience as comforting. "Escape Your Own Prison" provides the understanding, tools and guidance to fight back and unravel the prison of the self, enabling you to reunite with the freedom of the subjective conflict-free and creative source of consciousness that is within you — OMNI CONSCIOUSNESS.
Although "Escape Your Own Prison" is about spiritual consciousness (omni conscious is spiritual consciousness), unlike other spiritual books it surprisingly makes few references to God, divinity, the sacred, mysticism or the supernatural. In fact, it strives to avoid those terms, using them sparingly — and then only when unavoidable because of limitations of language and the need to express ideas in a way that most people understand.
If the book is not about God, divinity or mysticism, then why say it's about spirituality at all? The premise is that spirituality is first and foremost a state of consciousness — what I call "omni consciousness." It is the consciousness that all religions and spiritual traditions stand on. The deepest truths can only be fully grasped through omni consciousness. Looked at this way, spirituality can be approached as a psychology of consciousness. Therefore, recognizing omni consciousness, understanding it and learning how to access it does not require abandoning a grounded scientific perspective; omni consciousness can comfortably partner with rationality and scientific psychology. At the same time, in reclaiming omni consciousness and the benefits that go with it, you do not have to embrace strange or arcane deities, nor do you have to give up any religious affiliation or beliefs. But that doesn't mean that lodging yourself in omni consciousness is easy — or that you will not have to give up something. You will have to let go of the fierce grip of a limited ego consciousness that has given you a false sense of security while shackling you in the prison of the self.
Returning to omni consciousness will require a firm understanding of its nature, and may even demand courage — some would say a leap of faith. You will discover that omni consciousness, as a state of consciousness, is distinctly different from the ego consciousness that our most popular and influential psychological theories embrace — the very theories that you and I have been raised on and live by. "Escape Your Own Prison" convincingly illustrates that the very consciousness that guides every moment of your waking life has made you a captive of its narrow and limited view of self and reality. Yet, an examination of consciousness will show you that spiritual consciousness, omni consciousness, is a broader, more inclusive consciousness that can liberate you from the confines and limitations of ordinary ego consciousness — it is not something remote or otherworldly but an intrinsic and natural part of your makeup. Omni consciousness is the essence of being. Once you identify and experience omni consciousness, there will be no return. You will be on the path of freedom!
(The book is now available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other major book outlets.)
(Next week, more about omni consciousness and how it relates to the question: To ego or not to ego?)
— — —
Bernard Starr, Ph.D., formerly professor of developmental and educational psychology at the City University of New York, now teaches "Spirituality in Film" and leads "The Spiritual Forum" at Marymount Manhattan College. In addition to his work in radio, he is a longtime contributor of commentary and opinion articles to numerous major publications. He is also the main United Nations representative for the Institute of Global Education that founded the Mucherla Global School in Mucherla, India. His book "Escape Your Own Prison: Why We Need Spirituality and Psychology to be Truly Free" is published by Rowman & Littlefield. He can be reached at: {email OmniCns@aol.com}OmniCns@aol.com{/email}. © Copyright 2007 by Bernard Starr.
• What if I showed you that the false premise of your existence will short-circuit all your quests for pleasure, happiness and fulfillment?
• What if I convinced you that the foundation of your existence will prove disastrous as you age — that the very self you worship and protect will not enable you to optimally thrive and survive "30-something" and beyond?
• What if I demonstrated that YOUR mind, your most precious unique personal possession, is not YOUR mind at all but is out of control most of the time, and that you are a passive observer of YOUR mind's "on automatic" self-destructive antics — while feeling and believing that you are in control and directing your life?
• What if I explained that your persistent efforts to escape from the false premise of your existence don't work because they are generated by the same self and consciousness that are protecting it?
• What if I provided the discouraging news that professional help — counseling and psychotherapy — will often fail to get you beyond your conflicts and suffering, because our most popular psychological theories are just as much mired down in the same false belief system as you are?
• What if I revealed shocking evidence that the roots of your false beliefs are imbedded in the very experiences from birth onward that are necessary for acquiring and developing the skills and tools for navigating effectively in the physical and social worlds ("normal psychological development is a double-edged sword")?
• What if I then surprised you with evidence of another operating system within you — one that has always been present but concealed — a consciousness that could free you from the limitations of your faulty operating system?
• What if I pointed the way to uncover your more expansive consciousness? Would you be interested? Would you go for it? Would you be willing to put in the effort necessary to free yourself from the confines of your self-imposed prison?
• All of the above are part of the story of my book "Escape Your Own Prison: Why We Need Spirituality and Psychology to be Truly Free."
While you may be shocked to learn that you embrace, nourish and worship a dead-end imprisoning belief system, "Escape Your Own Prison" doesn't abandon you with that revelation. Nor does it just urge, implore or exhort you to give up a lifelong operating system that you deceptively experience as comforting. "Escape Your Own Prison" provides the understanding, tools and guidance to fight back and unravel the prison of the self, enabling you to reunite with the freedom of the subjective conflict-free and creative source of consciousness that is within you — OMNI CONSCIOUSNESS.
Although "Escape Your Own Prison" is about spiritual consciousness (omni conscious is spiritual consciousness), unlike other spiritual books it surprisingly makes few references to God, divinity, the sacred, mysticism or the supernatural. In fact, it strives to avoid those terms, using them sparingly — and then only when unavoidable because of limitations of language and the need to express ideas in a way that most people understand.
If the book is not about God, divinity or mysticism, then why say it's about spirituality at all? The premise is that spirituality is first and foremost a state of consciousness — what I call "omni consciousness." It is the consciousness that all religions and spiritual traditions stand on. The deepest truths can only be fully grasped through omni consciousness. Looked at this way, spirituality can be approached as a psychology of consciousness. Therefore, recognizing omni consciousness, understanding it and learning how to access it does not require abandoning a grounded scientific perspective; omni consciousness can comfortably partner with rationality and scientific psychology. At the same time, in reclaiming omni consciousness and the benefits that go with it, you do not have to embrace strange or arcane deities, nor do you have to give up any religious affiliation or beliefs. But that doesn't mean that lodging yourself in omni consciousness is easy — or that you will not have to give up something. You will have to let go of the fierce grip of a limited ego consciousness that has given you a false sense of security while shackling you in the prison of the self.
Returning to omni consciousness will require a firm understanding of its nature, and may even demand courage — some would say a leap of faith. You will discover that omni consciousness, as a state of consciousness, is distinctly different from the ego consciousness that our most popular and influential psychological theories embrace — the very theories that you and I have been raised on and live by. "Escape Your Own Prison" convincingly illustrates that the very consciousness that guides every moment of your waking life has made you a captive of its narrow and limited view of self and reality. Yet, an examination of consciousness will show you that spiritual consciousness, omni consciousness, is a broader, more inclusive consciousness that can liberate you from the confines and limitations of ordinary ego consciousness — it is not something remote or otherworldly but an intrinsic and natural part of your makeup. Omni consciousness is the essence of being. Once you identify and experience omni consciousness, there will be no return. You will be on the path of freedom!
(The book is now available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other major book outlets.)
(Next week, more about omni consciousness and how it relates to the question: To ego or not to ego?)
— — —
Bernard Starr, Ph.D., formerly professor of developmental and educational psychology at the City University of New York, now teaches "Spirituality in Film" and leads "The Spiritual Forum" at Marymount Manhattan College. In addition to his work in radio, he is a longtime contributor of commentary and opinion articles to numerous major publications. He is also the main United Nations representative for the Institute of Global Education that founded the Mucherla Global School in Mucherla, India. His book "Escape Your Own Prison: Why We Need Spirituality and Psychology to be Truly Free" is published by Rowman & Littlefield. He can be reached at: {email OmniCns@aol.com}OmniCns@aol.com{/email}. © Copyright 2007 by Bernard Starr.