THE PATH OF LEAST RESISTANCE
To the scientist as observer, the path of least resistance is demonstrated in the images above. The shape of lightening, the outline of a dry riverbed on Mars, and the contour of bare branches of a tree all seem to be formed by an underlying field. It seems invisible, like the wind. Whether the growth is explosive (fast) or formed over a long or intermediate time, the structure of each example is molded by a varying group of factors that combine to shape the structures as they develop. An observation arises...time is not one of these factors. Science can ascertain many of the influences involved and create a theoretical framework, or equation, to define the group of factors involved in the shape consistent in each example above. Now a question arises, is the equation collectively defining a field in Nature that provides the common structure? Can we name this field and make it a constant? Is this field ubiquitous with respect to the Nature of our universe? It seems so. This field has a structure that reveals a characteristic of this field. This characteristic is the path of least resistance.
In theology, the path of least resistance is very important in most practices or disciplines. Spirituality is perhaps a more precise term for this discussion. Spirituality is a function of a theological process, not a scientific process. In our current conceptual framework or worldview a differentiation exists between the sciences and theological ideologies. The theory of Comprehensive Holistics strives to remove this differentiation.
THEOLOGICAL EXAMPLE - EASTERN DISCIPLINES (EMBRACED BY THE WEST)
As one advances in their practice of yoga, the student becomes more refined and accomplished in the postures and movements. As the yogic student advances, their body starts to embrace the benefit of proper physical motion and activity, economy of movement, by eliminating unnecessary and superfluous muscular tension. The student is experiencing the path of least resistance. At the end of a yoga session one lays flat and releases all tension from the bottom of their feet to the top of their head. Many novice students discover areas of unnecessary muscular tension that are released or eased as this practice of bodily relaxation is refined. The yoga student learns to let these areas of unnecessary tension relax, freeing vibratory energy that can be added to the 'bank' of energetic potential, balancing the body and advancing the state of equanimity which the student is developing and refining.
In generic meditation the student practices not-thinking. Sitting or reclining in a particular way, one practices the release of the internal chatter of the mind. As the student advances their attention is released from observing this mental chatter, and as one becomes advanced one learns that it is not just the mind that is vibrating, creating thought patterns, it is the entire body as a holistic nervous system that vibrates in various ways. Muscle memory is an example of the body's habitual processes involved in voluntary and involuntary movement and function. Thought is one form of vibration. Bodily functions are another form of vibrations. (Since there is always a next stage of advancement no matter the progress of the individual, those who have begun a mastery of meditation and yoga have done so through discipline and practice, by learning to use the path of least resistance, both physically and mentally.) Advanced practitioners of schools of yogic and meditational studies begin to experience refined vibratory fields, consciously or semiconsciously, and can realize the power to control these vibratory fields. Examples of this have been demonstrated by yogis who can control their heart rate, blood pressure, and other bodily functions. They have learned economy of movement, a derivation of the path of least resistance. Their proficiency in the yogic art combined with meditation yields great benefits for the health and equanimity of the yoga student. To observers, some very accomplished yoginis or yogis seem to float in motion (if one finds it necessary to differentiate based on the principle of yin and yang, a yogini is the feminine term and yogi is the masculine term). Achieving a state of holistic body/mind enlightenment after much practice and discipline, the yogi may enter a comprehensive vibratory state which allows for levitation and other more seemingly miraculous capabilities, such as bilocation. The root of all spiritual practice embraces the path of least resistance as a force, along with another force, equanimity.
EQUANIMITY
Equanimity is balance. In current scientific terms, the force of Nature provides balance and longevity. In scientific rationalization, lightening is a by-product of the electromagnetic force. The increase of two opposing fields of ionic charge are forced apart in the atmosphere when they collide. The by-product of this collision is the outline of this collision. Lightening, and the intensity of the collision, vibrates the atmosphere in which the collision occurs causing the sound of thunder. Although the collision does not seem to be a demonstration of equanimity, one can see the outline of the result of the collision in the bright shape of a lightning bolt. The shape of the collision, the bright outline that is the collision, is structured by the force of the path of least resistance. The path of least resistance is a function, or characteristic, of the force described as equanimity.
The shape of a dry riverbed is the outline of the flow of water (water evaporated or vaporized by other forces of Nature which caused the water to be redirected or vaporized). The water took the path of least resistance as it flowed in its liquid form. This shape is very similar to the shape of the lightning bolt.
As a tree grows from seedling to maturity, a 'skeleton' is formed, branching out, culminating at each limb in a structure called a leaf, which develops to feed the further growth of the tree by processing carbon dioxide, creating a by-product of oxygen excretion. The 'skeleton' of the tree, which is visible, grows via the path of least resistance. This shape is curiously very similar to a lightning bolt or a dry riverbed. (The 'skeleton' of a tree also grows into the earth and also is shaped by the path of least resistance. The part of this "skeleton' that is rooted under the ground supplies the leaves of the tree with water. This is the circulatory system of the tree.) When the tree reaches a certain point in its growth, based on the rhythm of the seasons of Nature, the tree produces seedlings so that more trees will grow in new seasons. Trees are part of the scientific concept of the 'kingdom' of plants. All plants exhibit a similar growth pattern with branches, varying degrees of leaves, roots, and seeds. Many plants produce seeds that are part of the scientific concept of the 'kingdom' of fruits and vegetables. Fruits and vegetables contain seeds that are seasonally deposited to grow new plants in this seasonal fashion. Some seeds of trees and plants produce fruits which are edible for human and other living species to nourish themselves. The trees 'breathe' carbon dioxide and excrete oxygen. Humans and other non-plant species breath the excreted oxygen and excrete carbon dioxide. In this Way, a symbiotic relationship occurs between the plant 'kingdom' and the animal 'kingdom'. (The opposing force of symbiosis is called a parasitic relationship.) An example of equanimity as a function of the force of Nature is the symbiotic relationship between the plant and the animal 'kingdoms'.
The Eastern philosopher Lao-Tzu developed the concept of the Tao. The Tao can be translated as The Way (of things), or the equivalent of the scientific concept of the result of the forces of Nature in Creation. Where science strives to define and rationalize the force of Nature in discreet and specialized units of understanding, Eastern theological ideologies define the processes of Nature in a different and possibly more comprehensive rationalization system. Lao-Tzu described The Way (Tao), or the field of Nature that surrounds, defines, and is Creation, as developing a system of opposites. He postulated that Creation consists of an indescribable Way (Tao), which gives rise to the entirety of our human, consensus-driven reality and experience. He referred to the describable or rationalizable Way (Tao) as 'the ten-thousand things'. Within this seemingly arbitrary number resides all of known Creation in the form of opposites. This is how the concept of Yin and Yang was derived. Lao-Tzu stated that a thing, force, or field, cannot be experienced fully without experiencing its opposing thing, force, or field. To fully understand an experience one must experience its opposite. There cannot be pleasure without pain, comfort without suffering, satiety without starvation, and on and on. In the description of his enlightenment, Nature consists of the unknowable, undefinable Way (Tao) which gives rise to Creation creating itself. Where the mainstream Western theological ideologies (religions) stress monotheism, Lao-Tzu interpreted the monotheistic imperative as the indefinable Tao. From this monotheistic imperative (the All-Knowing, omniscient Almighty, akin to the indescribable Tao), Western theological ideologies give rise to worship of saints and sinners, archetypal higher beings like angels and devils, and good and evil (all opposites). Lao-Tzu was describing how his enlightened philosophical ideology uses the force of equanimity.
Equanimity is balance. Equanimity is both a scientific and a theological force. To attain Equanimity on an individual level requires discipline, healthy practice, and Faith, which is trust in the ability to achieve equanimity in its various levels or stages. Nature is designed to achieve equanimity. How we interpret the way to achieve this force of equanimity is a function of the exercise of free-will as individuals. Since individuals either choose to live as communal beings (or are forced to adhere to communal dictates), or to live as free of community values as possible, as individuals we must strive to attain equanimity within ourselves, our communities, and Nature, while understanding the need for symbiotic relationships over parasitic influences.
One of the aspects of Comprehensive Holistics in attaining equanimity is the merging of seemingly incompatible ideologies like science and theology, or within science, divergent theoretical worldviews (theories), and in theology, divergent religious sects. By analyzing the structure of the philosophical ideology of Eastern religion, using Taoism in the previous example, but not excluding the other mainstream theological ideologies of Buddhism and Hinduism (including Zen), and also analyzing the common philosophical ideology of Western mainstream Judeo-Christian-Islamic theological ideologies, one can create a holistic theological structure that draws parallels between seemingly incompatible ideologies. The unifying principles of each major theological ideology include the teaching and preaching of non-judgmental behavior, forgiveness, tolerance, compassion, agreeing to disagree, and faith. Within this theoretical construct holism must reconcile faith and reason, theology and science. It is necessary to accept differences in the practice of each ideology, be it within science or religion, or science and religion as a whole, while focusing on the similarities in each worldview.
FORCES AND FIELDS, WAVES AND PARTICLES
A deep study of equanimity within Nature, Nature being the behavior and rules of our shared universe that surrounds us, allows us to build a framework for a new comprehensive worldview. One thing that we cannot deny, individually and socially, is that no one worldview or theo-philosophical ideology is pre-eminent. Among the extreme diversity of collective worldviews on our planet there are many similar undercurrents of shared belief and rationalization. Just as there is a wave-particle duality that is defined by a wave-function collapsing into a defined quantum state, there is a duality of forces and fields in both science and religion that combine to define certain axiomatic truths.
CONSCIOUSNESS, PERCEPTION AND TIME
We are born into our world with a neural network, a mind/body brain, that is like an empty computer storage device. As we grow the brain is directed and instructed to define what our collective senses perceive. No 'stone is left unturned' as we are taught to identify and name every observation we encounter. At first this process is fragmented and disconnected. This fragmentation of diverse stimuli slowly becomes unified specific to the individual, and collectively, as a shared structure of a social worldview. This process can be defined as our consciousness. The way our individual and collective consciousness develops gives us the ability to draw more complex definitions of perception by a process of reasoning. Where we are dependent of external influences when first learning to define and categorize all that our senses perceive, reasoning is developing to teach ourselves a higher order of perceptual structure. Our reason is mandated to identify the entirety of what our senses perceive. If something is perceived that does not fit into this higher ordering of perception our reason diverts it away from our reasoned catalog of definitions that make up our conscious awareness, our worldview. This diversion creates our individual and social (collective) subconscious. Our reason demands a selective harmony, a path of least resistance. Individually and collectively, we are externally directed by sensory input to define the elements of our reason, and as we develop, our reason becomes autonomous and we are able to non-consciously direct the higher order of our reason as we develop our individual and collective perception, which expands our worldview. At later stages of the development of our worldview, using our reason, social programming in the form of schooling and peer pressure, guides the direction of our individual and social worldview.
Perception gives rise to consciousness. In the latest stages of our individual and social programming our worldview begins to be bounded. We perceive a finite worldview which varies in its limits based on how we have developed our perceptual framework. Our reason dictates what we perceive by embracing what it can define, and relegating perceptions and experiences which cannot fit into our reasoned worldview to a realm of subconscious perception. In our collective pool of perception, our consciousness, as defined or limited by our reason, constructs rules to define how it perceives sensory input and abstract thought. Our ability to develop abstract thought is moderated by our reason and is measured as our intelligence.
Now that our reason has been formed and bounded we are taught to perceive in a linear geometric progression. To have a cohesive, bounded conscious reason we develop how we perceive events and experiences by defining experience in terms of an abstract notion of time. Without being able to perceive time as a function of experience our reason becomes fractured and we cannot explain the experiences and events which our reason is defining. Time is an abstraction, thus an illusion created by our reason to make our experiences conform to a definable totality of a particular event or experience. The perception of time is necessary for our reason to catalog experience. The concept of time is relative to the level of 'enlightenment' of each individual, and ultimately the location of our collective consciousness on a measurable scale of vibrations. How we perceive time is a function of cause and effect (or effect preceding cause with respect to quantum computing algorhythms) and places us at a distinct point in our individual and social attainment of 'enlightenment'. As we embrace Comprehensive Holistics time is relativistic both scientifically and theologically. Those who have attained a more advanced level of consciousness may perceive time as only the present moment. The present moment is perceived in a totality of perception and experience in a non-linear way. The horizon of our perceptual field is expanded to embrace a somewhat radically different awareness of what our consciousness, both individually and socially, can grasp as 'factual'. The rules which our reason conforms to are expanded. Reason changes from an authoritarian force to a symbiotic partner that is a mechanism to root our consciousness when the components of our spiritual and scientific selves perceive newly incomprehensible experiences. The next 'quantum' leap in our individual and collective consciousness will propel us into a new set of vibratory states that will redefine our relationship to consciousness, setting new, more expansive boundaries in our expanding 'reality'. Science has been able to define and quantify time. In a macrocosm time is measured in large quantum segments. In a microcosm time can be measured in infinitesimally small fragments or quanta. This linear process of reasoning is necessary to manage our understanding of what we perceive. Our use of the abstract construct of time reveals why we perceive time as passing from the future to the present to the past. A by-product of our reason is the internal dialog, or process of thinking. We cannot directly experience our perceptions without our reason defining and explaining what we are perceiving. The process of our reason defining an event or experience causes an internal thought mechanism to occur in which the perceived experience is 'explained' in the form of an internal discussion in our mind in which our reason has an internal thought process to define the experience. This internal dialog occurs continuously whether we are aware of it or not. The experience or event is molded into a definable perception by our reason. Each event or experience must endure this process. Since our reason is bombarded with events and experiences on an ongoing basis there is an endless cascade of internal reasoning which results in the internal dialog being an ongoing process. Each original event or experience cannot be perceived directly due to the process of reasoning. Thus, direct experience is impossible under the normal functioning of our reason.
One way to 'tame' the onslaught of reason is through the process of meditation, which is generally considered to be a practice utilized by practitioners of Eastern 'science'. When one learns through practice to eliminate the internal dialog of the inner verbalization of reason, through meditative training, a more comprehensive and less burdensome process of perception is achieved. As the practice of various methods of meditation is refined, the mind can be retrained to operate without the internal dialog. Advanced students of meditation can function without the internal dialog even while not in a meditative state. Western linear logic is enhanced and the acceptance of what is referred to currently as mindfulness in our daily lives is ongoing. The advantages of meditation have become apparent to a wider population of people who formerly viewed meditation as a theological practice of Eastern theological ideologies. Both Westernized Eastern populations, as well as Western populations, are realizing the benefits of practicing meditative techniques. From such basic needs as stress reduction, enhancing individual daily life, equanimity and management of emotional imbalances, the practice of meditation is being integrated into the daily habits of a growing number of people. This is a tangible demonstration of how the practice of Comprehensive Holistics can be integrated into society, replacing the polarization which exists between Western and Eastern theological and societal populations.
Interestingly, more advanced students of meditative practices often report a sense of timelessness while meditating. Students of various diverse ideologies who more deeply study and practice a variety of yoga and meditation techniques experience an awakening of their spiritual identity while still functioning in cultures that promote more material values and scientific reasoning.
With respect to the linear thought processes which perceive time, future-present-past, time is a convenience of reason. The concept of living in the present moment and perceiving events and experiences without the interruption of the internal dialog of reason open up the individual to alternative realities. As our scientific reason advances time will be redefined and a new 'leap of logic' will advance our understanding of how science redefines our current notions of time and space. The limitations of our current laws of science cause our reason to relegate experiences and events that our reason cannot define to the realm of the subconscious. In this way the 'non-ordinary' or undefinable experiences will no longer 'threaten' our current consciousness and perceptive capabilities. Once we learn to expand the boundaries of our ability to use reason the human family will experience a heightened awareness of our capabilities and potential and a new age of humanity will emerge. This will occur during the age when humankind fully embraces its new place in our universe, among new cultures from non-terrestrial realms which are discovered and interacted with.
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