OUR TWO WORLDS

This theory stren explains that we co-exist in two worlds – the external common physical external one we share and our internal private mental one.  It explains how we have come to predominantly dwell in our mental world where, exclusive of all other earth beings, we have attained Godlike power.   You will recognize the importance of knowing how the rules governing our new power have changed from those to which we have become accustomed.

Dear  You, 
It’s me.  What’s happening in your world today?  I want to make some changes.                                                 
Sincerely,   Me, Your emancipated mental self

While we share much with others creatures, we are distinct by the degree of our mental ability and its “gift” of self-mastery.  A series of recent developments have changed everything.   The most important is that our brain has grown to such size and complexity that we are capable of abstract reflective thinking.  This is a special type of thinking that goes beyond conscious awareness.  “Reflective thinking” is being conscious of our consciousness, “thinking about thinking.”  It provides a degree of independence from our thoughts and thinking that creates a personal identity, the selfof self-mastery.   It permits our self to independently examine our thinking, modify it, create alternatives, originate ideas, and will them into action.  Within our private mental world, we have imagination!  Godlike, we can make anything happen.  We will to action in the common world we each share much of what we, through imagination, create as producer and director of our private motion picture.  While other creatures respond with curiosity when seeing their reflection in a mirror, we reflect on our thinking, transform the information we receive into knowledge, turn knowledge into original ideas, and ideas into action.   Second, the words and symbols of the sophisticated language we create enable us to re-present the common world, to efficiently store and manipulate data, and to travel in time.  We contemplate present, past, and future.  We even venture into the realm of time before and after our physical lifespan, and we create ideas and “pictures” that don’t even exist in the external, commonly shared physical world.  We create fiction and emotionally respond to it.  Third, while our brain has immense data storage capacity, modern technology now makes available virtually instantly, in our very own dwelling, data on all of our recorded history as well as the current ideas of people from every part of the world.  Thus, I attribute our rapidly growing power of self-mastery to the combination of reflective abstract thinking, sophisticated language, and easy access to the world’s collection of data, knowledge, and wisdom.

We presume with a high degree of certainty that other creatures have consciousness and likely experience something like the continuous, private “motion picture” that fills our every waking moment (the so called “stream of consciousness”).  Our continuous private, non-physical motion picture is a one-of-a-kind “movie.”  It   differs from everyone else’s internal “movie.”    And we, unlike other earth beings, have immense power to edit our script, and to produce and direct the action in our private movie!  We alone initiate action that not only affects our internal private experience but may also dramatically change the common physical world we share.  Do you see, we not only have created an internal mental world that co-exists with our external physical world, we have also made self-consciousness our primary dwelling place.  We may become master in our own castle.  This is self-mastery!  The advent of this self master is critical to this new era in which a third master, our self, has arrived to share the kingdom ruled exclusively, up to now, by master nature and master nurture, fate and circumstance.  We, only humankind, now have the power to emancipate our self from our early masters.  We make a difference not only in our own life experience but also significantly alter the common physically world we all share. 

Although we co-exist in both our physical and mental world, we have become primarily mental interpretive beings.  Our feelings and actions are more influenced by our mental interpretations of our experience than our direct experience of the physical world.  Rather than elaborate here, this guide is sprinkled with many examples of the dominant role of personal interpretation and the meaning we ascribe to our experience.  One example here provided may be illustrative.  Consider how differently people deal with the same food.  For some individuals, cow, pig, cat, or ants are very appetizing; even the thought may lead to salivation.  The same “food” presented to others results in revulsion, even vomiting.  My wife enjoys raw oysters; the thought of eating anything with its heart still beating dulls my appetite.      

Through the early years of our life, our genes and nurturers provide our operating orders, who we are and how we function.  Our language, our knowledge of ourselves and the world about us, and our beliefs and values have been the work of  “other” directors and producers.   Our thinking, feelings, and actions have been molded to form a set of assumptions that I collectively call our “assumptive world.”  As we enter our adult self-mastery stage of independent thinking, we are already loaded with “baggage.”  Much of our assumptive world is helpful and desirous to keep.   Some of our “interpretations” hold us back.  They stifle our originality and independence.  They retard our progress and worse, become a source of hardship.  Here is the point.  Recognize that you are no longer like an arrow shot out of a bow!  You need not continue to follow the course that has been predetermined.  Indeed, you don’t have that choice.  Your exclusive power of self-mastery requires some degree of self-direction.  Your choice is not “if” but “how” you apply your new powers.  I recall a statement by Norman Vincent Peale, an inspirational writer and clergyman, that went something like this:  “Each morning when I awake, I remind myself I have the choice of being happy or miserable … I’m not a fool.”

The management of our conscious awareness is no longer the exclusive task of our nature and our nurturers.  We create a personal identity, an autonomous independent thinking self during our adult stage of development.  As our self grows in power, it seeks to rule.  We, i.e. our self, challenge what nature and nurture have provided by creating our own system of “wiring.”  We modify and/or add to our private “second signaling system.”   Through the mystery that we have as yet to solve, our physical and mental worlds are connected.  Most presume we have free will through our mind-body connection.  In addition to the direction provided by nature and nurture, our self  “makes a difference.”  Our actions are no longer limited to reflexes or voluntary creative responses to the demands of “other” masters.  The self initiates original action chosen from existing and newly created alternatives, independent of the urgings of nature and our nurture.      

            Can you recognize that we live in two worlds simultaneously?  The non-physical private world is very different than the common physical world we share.  Until now, evolution has provided only nature and nurture as controllers of life’s experience.  And we humans have likewise been subjects of the rules of nature and nurture the first years of our life.  Can our new mental world function with the same rules that govern the physical common world?  My answer is “Yes, it can and does … but poorly!”  The directions and patterns of function suitable to our physical world are largely maladaptive to the new powers thrust upon us by self-mastery.  We will stay stuck if we continue to apply the manner of thinking provided by our first operating systems, that of our genes, or our second operating system, that of our nurture, or some combination of the two O.S.s.  If we are to effectively manage our new self-mastery power, we require a newer updated self-mastery operating system compatible with our mental interpretive resources. 

God is commonly described as the power that has created the universe and life.  Scientists say genes determine who and what we are.  Both views may be valid.  I ask you to consider that we have recently begun to alter genes and have instituted “gene therapy.”  We  create life “our way,” by cloning.  We create not only the means to change ourselves; we are changing the world.  Most frightening, we are creating the means for increasing numbers of individuals to destroy all of humanity … by merely pushing a button!  And, the opportunity to create the nirvana of our imagination is within our grasp.  We are the first and only earth being to attain such Godlike power.  Our private mental world is truly awesome.   

Scientists estimate that life on earth began 3 ½ billion years ago and primates have been earth dwellers for 2-4 million years.  Now put this in perspective … we have attained the power to change virtually everything within a few generations, our current generations!   And we are continuing to make changes with the “explosive” lightning-like speed of popping corn.  Humankind has no prior experience with such acceleration of our recently acquired creative power of self-mastery.  We have entered a new era of rapid change brought about by this new master we call self-mastery.  The methods of nature and nurture are poorly suited to manage such rapid growth of power.  Their manners of function, or “operating systems” (O.S.s), are insufficient to wisely direct the growing powers of our mental interpretive resources.  The O.S. of nature and nurture are primarily designed for stable, automatic, predictable expression of physical events.  “Blind obedience” is the rule; spontaneity is the exception.  The wisdom of our genes is primarily the outcome of “trial and error,” i.e. past experience.  The wisdom of our nurture is primarily oriented to the demands of the present.  We passively acquire it through imitation and role modeling.  A mental interpretive being with godlike powers functions poorly with such restrictions.  Yet, we continue to grow our freedom to direct power, for good and ill!  In this new era, where “human selection” is joining “natural selection,” we require a newer efficient updated operating system, one that encourages flexibility, autonomy, individuality, originality, intentionality, rapid change, rationality in problem solving, “situational truth,” personal responsibility and ownership of our destiny.  Our growing destructive power demands prevention more so than cure.  The wise expression of self-mastery requires a new operating system that emphasizes future more so than past, prevention more so than cure.  Heed Einstein: “We shall require a new manner of thinking if mankind (‘man king’) is to survive.” 

This stren will have served its purpose if you understand that:

1. We co-exist in two worlds, an external, commonly shared physical one, and an internal, private mental one.
2. As mental interpretive beings, our internal private world has become our dominant dwelling place.  The meaning we ascribe to information about our physical world is often more important than the actual reality of the physical world we share in common.
3. We alone reach a third self-mastery phase of mental development capable of freeing ourselves from the control of nature and nurture; we are assuming management of our life’s experience and increasingly altering the external world we chare in common. 
4. The manner of thinking provided by our nature and nurture are not well adapted to our independent, free-thinking, creative mental function, i.e., our new Godlike powers. 
5. You will obtain significant rewards and avoid considerable distress if update your manner of thinking to use your best to do your best.   

              
I suggest you follow this theory stren with “Our Three Operating Systems.”  It explains the characteristics of the operating systems associated with the nature, nurture, and self-mastery phases of your development.   It describes what we can expect from each and will encourage us to individually and collectively develop a more effective self-mastery O.S.