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TEA Appendix 3: A secular analogue to the ten sefirot

T 7.3 Appendix 3: A secular analogue to the ten sefirot

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7.3 Appendix 3: A secular analogue to the ten sefirot

7.3.1 A model of reality in terms of the ten conditions.

7.3.2 Meditation and the model of reality.

 

7.3.0 Introduction

 

This appendix presents a system of modelling reality and of interacting with that model through meditation, which is similar to the Kabbalistic system of the ten sefirot [Hoffman, Edward; The Way of Splendour: Jewish Mysticism and Modern Psychology; Boulder, Shambhala, 1981, pages 53-54]. The modelling technique is based on the meditation system contained in this teach-yourself book, and in Beyond the personality: the beginner’s guide to enlightenment. These two books together provide a unified, coherent and integrated system of meditation, which leads the meditator step by step from ordinary awareness, with all its stress and anxiety, to the peace and serenity of enlightenment.

 

T 7.3.1 The model of reality

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7.3.1 The model of reality

 

The model analyses reality in terms of ten fundamental conditions which influence the life of each person. These conditions are the inescapable forces which shape each moment we experience. Just as the ten sefirot express an intuitive understanding of the formative forces shaping everyday experience from a Jewish mystical viewpoint, so, too, does the meditative system taught in these books express an understanding of the same forces from a perspective rooted in ordinary experience.

 

The diagrammatic representation of the ten conditions, which shape daily experience, differs from the traditional Kabbalistic ways of representing the ten sefirot. In the secular model of reality, the ten conditions, as discussed in chapter 3 of Beyond the personality: the beginner’s guide to enlightenment, naturally fall into a pyramid shape in four levels:

 

Karma Level 1

Space Time Level 2

Physical Intellectual Emotional Level 3

Moral Social Economic Political Level 4

 

Karma, as discussed in detail in chapter 4 of Beyond the personality, is the shaping or formative aspect of reality. In religious terms karma represents the will of God, to which we are all subject. Karma is the process whereby reality structures the circumstances of each person’s life, to guide each person towards the next step along the path to re-union with God, or enlightenment.

 

On the mundane level, the conditions of space and time represent where and when events occur. As practice in meditation-enhanced analysis advances, space and time become understood as the constantly fluctuating context within which events unfold. The advanced meditative practices in Towards effortless activity teach two points: firstly, that the understanding of events is relative to their context, and secondly, that in the final analysis of the meditatively-enhanced mind, both space and time are illusory products of mind in its unenlightened state.

 

The conditions represented in levels 3 and 4 are already accessible to ordinary intelligent people. The personal limiting factors shaping the individual’s life, in level 3, are a familiar part of many people’s thinking about themselves. The wider cultural constraints and pressures, in level 4, are the constant subject of much of our television, radio, cinematic and printed output.

T 7.3.2 How is the model of reality integrated with meditation?

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7.3.2 How is the model of reality integrated with meditation?

Diligent practice of the basic meditation, for about one hundred days for a minimum of fifteen minutes a day, as taught in Beyond the personality, leads to a state of calm detachment. As this detachment from one’s emotional and intellectual limiting factors grows, it becomes possible to analyse the ten conditions with meditation-enhanced skills. That is to say, the mind skilled in meditation is able to focus on the analysis of the ten conditions with such single-mindedness and intensity of concentration, that the mind’s inherent powers of intuition rise to the forefront of consciousness.

 

The development of intuition is a key aim of any meditative system which forms part of a path to unity with God, or enlightenment. It is through the mind’s intuitive realisation of the true nature of perceptible reality, that the illusion of individuality, and the subsequent separateness from each other and God, is dispelled. Intuition, or the sixth sense as it is otherwise known, provides direct experience of the integrated, unified and harmonious nature of the world underlying the apparent separateness and disharmony of everyday life.

 

With the mind poised, calm and centred in the midst of conditions as a result of the practice of meditation, the process of analysing a situation in terms of the ten conditions comes to a spontaneous and unforced conclusion. Following a sustained period of meditative analysis of conditions, understanding of a situation configures in a lightning flash of intuition. The sudden burst of intuitive understanding creates the possibility of harmoniously transforming the situation under analysis through meditation-enhanced action.

 

How can meditation-enhanced action creatively and harmoniously transform a set of conditions?

 

Act according to your intuition

 

Action which stems from a person functioning in the normal ranges of consciousness is determined by that person’s range of needs and desires. Action stemming from a person functioning in the expanded ranges of consciousness, which are accessible through sustained practice of meditation, is determined by that person’s capacity to recognise and express the promptings of intuition. Intuition, enhanced by structured meditation, is the guide to transpersonal and unselfish action. In religious terms, intuition is the voice of God directing the individual ever onwards on the journey towards unity with God.

 

Don’t interfere

 

Intuition, made stronger and more accessible by meditation, results in action which does not interfere with the natural and harmonious flow of reality. Self-willed, selfish action interferes with the natural flow of events. In religious terms, acting intuitively without interfering is the way to make oneself receptive to the will of God.

 

Just let things happen

 

Reality flows according to its inherent laws; in religious terms, the world moves according to God’s will. A person who interferes with self or others incurs a compensating response from reality through the activity of karma; a sinner is chastised by a loving God. A mind cleansed of ignorance of the unified nature of reality by sustained practice of meditation knows and accepts, with intuitive certainty, that reality always and only unfolds in its own implacable way.

 

Summary

 

This secular model of reality provides a way of analysing the forces which shape everyday situations. It incorporates the purposive and unifying aspect of reality in the condition of karma, which is expressed from a religious perspective as God’s will. It also allows for the growth of awareness of the transcendent unity underlying the apparent separation of people places and things, through understanding the illusory nature of space and time when explored from transcendental perspectives.

 

The meditative system taught in this book and Beyond the personality, provides an assured and reliable practical framework for the development of intuition. It is through the mind’s natural powers of intuitive perception that the absolute transcendental nature of reality which manifests itself as the material world accessible through the five senses, can be directly experienced. As intuition springs to life through daily practice of the simple meditation, understanding of the particular conditions being analysed crystallises in a flash, like lightning.

 

Intuition, enhanced by daily practice of meditation, produces action which crystallises the creative and transforming potential of a situation. For an action to be in harmony with the flow of events it must not interfere with self or others. The attitude of enlightened acceptance is to just let things happen.

 

Act

 

Act according to your intuition

Don’t interfere

Just let things happen

 

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