Sure, the symbols of the self are everywhere, but nobody needs convincing of anything, even if it were possible to do so.

Lots to point out about the ineffectiveness of old-paradigm thinking, and the effectiveness of the new. Let’s see if I can keep some examples flowing.

The Buddha is always shown as something tranquil, self-possessed, as a bestower of blessings.  Peaceful.  Smiling.  Relaxed.

And the Buddha is often shown sitting upon a blossoming lotus.  In the center of it.

What could this imply about us?

The lotus is the symbol of our awareness.  The Buddha in the center of the lotus tells us that the nature of our own minds, at their center, is tranquil, self-possessed, a source of grace and blessings.

All religions know this about the nature and structure of consciousness.

It is the basis for the concept of god.

It’s roots are in the mud.  The leaves are on the surface of the pond.  The flower reaches into the air towards the light.

It is also the symbol in the chakra system for the energy centers in the subtle body.  At the top of the head, the chakra is referred to as the thousand-petaled lotus.  Like the awakened mind, the thousand petals symbolize awareness in every direction.

Next, the symbol of the self called the Buddha, which is often shown sitting on a lotus.  What might that mean? And if it is a symbol of the self, what might that imply?

A tree, perhaps. It goes through all of the stages that people do.

A small helpless shoot, a sapling that needs protection, and it grows and grows until itself it gives protection …

The tree of life, the wish-fulfilling tree, the bo tree under which the Buddha sat, trees have served as symbols for many aspects of life, several of them spiritual.

For the next few posts I want to develop the ideas around symbols of the self.  They are very useful for understanding ourselves in ways that simple analogies or metaphors cannot accomplish, because they bypass the mind.

The key to understanding the self is found in understanding awareness.

What would be a symbol for awareness?  For the growing, blossoming, flowering expansion that is the growth of awareness in life?

The lotus.  More.  After i write it.  Enjoy

Most analysis is about the fact that advertising dollars are both becoming less, and going elsewhere.  This is true, but this cause is an effect of something more subtle.

We are able to read the news closer to the source now.

It is an effect of the growing eradication of space and time that is reflected in the tools that we now use, such as the internet.  The middleman is no longer necessary when you can by from the factory, and with the news, we don’t need the material stuff anymore.

In other words, this is a shift in spatial reality that then effects business reality.  We can get close to the same source that the newspaper gets to, and so are no longer in need of its products.

What does it mean to say that we are becoming more conscious, or that the collective consciousness is growing?  It is the same thing that happens to us as individuals in the natural process of becoming more aware.  We  see more widely, and more subtly.  The constructs of space and time are becoming less constraining.  Collectively, this results in a more aware population, one tuned in more directly to what is happening.  (Though god knows it is slow going still )

What other businesses are behind the curve?  What aren’t?  The collective consciousness knows that consumption habits need to change, and so they are … if you are in a consumer products industry, what is going to happen?  Obvious?  Any business built on old models of reality, especially ones that were dependent on old concepts of space and time, need to re-focus.

Now i am going to send you away from here by insisting you read this article …   http://discussionleader.hbsp.com/haque …  A User’s Guide to 21st Century Economics …. Umair Haque’s voice is respected in established economic circles, he has been writing about this stuff for years, and if you don’t know him, make up for that lapse now ..

Almost everything going on in the name of business has to change.  I say “has to” because the change in collective consciousness has already happened.

And, more is coming.  Because none of us want to stay the same, not when you look inside.  We all want to be fully aware, without limits.

Which is what we are doing now, world-wide.  Enjoy the flow.

Don’t be greedy.  Learn to share.  Two wrongs don’t make a right.

Don’t be greedy.  Learn to share.  Two wrongs don’t make a right.

Don’t be greedy.  Too bad Wall Street guys didn’t have grandmothers.

Learn to share.  Too bad the developed world didn’t have grandmothers.

Two wrongs don’t make a right.  Too bad Israel and Palestine (pick your quarrel) didn’t have grandmothers.

Imagine, there have been no grandmothers anywhere.  How amazing.

Or, maybe, we all don’t know how to listen to our own inner wisdom.  We would rather be right, than be wise.

But, being right is very costly.

Cutting off your nose to spite your face, say grandmothers.

Do we define ourselves by what we are not? Do we need an “other” to tell us who we are?

This can only result in partial knowledge.

Look at the atheist, who defines himself as the opposite of somebody who believes in a god …. can you see where the limit is in that? He might miss an entire realm of possibility, about his own inner nature, which, hey, could be divine, and where the concept of god originates.

And I will offer that the same limitation is being created by the scientist, for whom skepticism is worn as a badge of honor, and condemned to search within the realm of the “objective” at the loss of truly understanding the “subjective”.

Here is a 1400 year old bit of writing …

The Great Way is not difficult
for those who have no preferences.
When love and hate are both absent
everything becomes clear and undisguised.
Make the smallest distinction, however,
and heaven and earth are set infinitely apart.
If you wish to see the truth
then hold no opinions for or against anything.
To set up what you like against what you dislike
is the disease of the mind.
When the deep meaning of things is not understood
the mind’s essential peace is disturbed to no avail.

This is from a Chinese text, Hsin Hsin Ming - The Mind of Absolute Trust and is thought to be from the pen of Seng-Ts’an. The link to it is to a wonderful site, with many more writings …  http://www.selfdiscoveryportal.com/cmSengTsan.htm

Dropping distinctions may seem counter-intuitive, perhaps. I say it is necessary. We only have to look at any conflict where pro-one side is fighting pro-the other side, to see that no solution is possible unless someone has the wisdom to be pro-everybody.

When we say “we” and are referring to everybody on the planet, then we can make good decisions about how to live in a sustainable way.

How big is your “we”, is a good measure of a person, and a good way to understand value.

Current as flow is mapped as a curve.  Curves are made of connected points.  We can call those points discrete events.  Does a list of discrete events tell us anything about the shape of the curve.  Not until plotted.

Wisdom comes from seeing the curve.  Information, the data about the points on the curve, does not give wisdom.

If you are interested in wisdom you can ignore the information we call the news.  Pay attention to the arc of the flow.

“Western science defends a mechanistic world view-if something cannot be measured or observed then it is not real. Modern science, and subtle energy concepts do not happily coexist, as the very definition of subtle energies, is that they are unknown/too refined to be measured by present levels of technology.”

I have taken this quote, which seems a common point of view, from http://www.visionutopian.com.au/subtlenergyparadigm.html, and the article goes on to talk about what subtle energy might be, and, since the site has a purple color to it, you can tell that it will fall under the new-age category.  “New Age” is not a positive term in scientific circles.  No mystic would disagree with the author’s understanding.  But no scientist accepts the existence of anything having to do with “magical thinking”.

Science rejects the unprovable. A very rigorous blog in this regard is http://www.theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php which can be a very tough place for a mystic to show up and make comments.

Here is a quote from a recent article there …

“Have you ever had the sense that you were not alone, that another person, perhaps menacing, was in the room with you? And yet, when you look around, no one was there? This is a common experience, which researchers call a “sensed presence.” Neuroscientists hypothesize that this common experience likely has a neurological correlate - meaning that activity in some specific part of the brain is responsible for generating the sensation of a presence.”

… and it goes on to conclude

“The understanding that our brains are electrochemical machines, albeit highly complex ones, liberates us from grasping at mystical explanations for brain-derived experiences.”

Being skeptical is a sign of professionalism, and a commitment to the code of science.  Which, like many religions, insists that its way is the one true way.  Fundamentalists, in short.  As they need to be, to keep their standing in their community.  That there is a correlation between experience and brain-state is enough to prove that the brain creates the experience.

Ok.  And it is pointless to argue this assumption.  When you look inside the radio for the source of the sound you are not allowed to think that it might be transmitted from elsewhere.

Does subtle energy exist?  That is a silly question to much of the world.  Of course it does, they would answer, and it is an experiential reality for millions.  Not only are there words for it, there is a large body of literature about it, in several cultures. Daoist and yogic texts are numerous.  In fact, whole cultures are built on the understanding of subtle energy, such as India, but that is beyond what i want to say.

One problem for science is language.  English is a very clumsy language for talking about the mind, for example.  Sanskrit has words for five aspects of what we call just “mind” in English.  Imagine research that was informed by a more subtle language than English.

Why is this important?  Because an understanding of subtle energy will lead to a very useful concept, needed to understand life on a hyperconnected planet … collective consciousness.  We need more sophisticated ways to understand group dynamics, and the behavior of markets, economies, countries.

We need whole-system thinking.  One big help would be if science would open its mind a bit more.  Ok, a lot more.

… the future of marketing and advertising

A Sanskrit word, seva, opens an avenue for discussion.   It can be translated as “selfless service”.   Traditionally it is a powerful technique used for creating unity.

In marketing we are seeking unity with people, friends, customers.   giving, serving, opens the door to connection, and it won’t close because of one beautifully human fact …people are selfish.   And they love to be loved, they love to be respected, honored, recognized.   If you want someone to like you, make them like themselves.

It is so easy.   All the marketer has to do is be selfless.   Want nothing.   Try to get nothing.   Simply give.

I don’t expect anyone to believe this, or even to achieve it.   But consider this …

In a hyper-connected world, advertising and marketing cease to function, because everyone already knows everything you have to say.   The conversation has already begun and spread everywhere, as soon as you open your mouth to speak.   You cannot guide this conversation.   Your intrinsic merit and value are clear for all to see.

In a hyper-connected world there is no “other” to be marketed too.   So, start with giving, end up part of everything.

Life is so simple.