The Genius of Being Contemplating the Profound Intelligence of Existence Peter Ralston North Atlantic Books Berkeley, California Copyright © 2017 by Peter Ralston All rights reserved No portion of this book, except for brief review, may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without the written permission of the publisher For information contact North Atlantic Books Published by North Atlantic Books Berkeley, California Cover photo © Christian Delbert/Shutterstock.com Cover design by Mike Kane Interior design by Happenstance Type-O-Rama Printed in the United States of America The Genius of Being: Contemplating the Profound Intelligence of Existence is sponsored and published by the Society for the Study of Native Arts and Sciences (dba North Atlantic Books), an educational nonprofit based in Berkeley, California, that collaborates with partners to develop cross-cultural perspectives, nurture holistic views of art, science, the humanities, and healing, and seed personal and global transformation by publishing work on the relationship of body, spirit, and nature North Atlantic Books’ publications are available through most bookstores For further information, visit our website at www.northatlanticbooks.com or call 800-733-3000 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Ralston, Peter, 1949– author Title: The genius of being: contemplating the profound intelligence of existence / Peter Ralston Description: Berkeley, California: North Atlantic Books, 2017 Identifiers: LCCN 2016038853 (print) | LCCN 2016049082 (ebook) | ISBN 9781623171124 (pbk.) | ISBN 9781623171131 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Ontology | Experience | Consciousness Classification: LCC BD311 R35 2017 (print) | LCC BD311 (ebook) | DDC 128—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016038853 SHERIDAN 21 20 19 18 17 Printed on recycled paper North Atlantic Books is committed to the protection of our environment We partner with FSC-certified printers using soy-based inks and print on recycled paper whenever possible Contents Cover Titlepage Copyright Chapter One: Grasping the Genius of Being Bound by Brilliance Fact and Truth, Belief and Assumption Chapter Two: Getting from Here to There Grasping the Communication—Developing Existential Listening The Truth Principle Not Knowing: An Essential Tool for Contemplation A Path to Experiential Learning Chapter Three: The Consummate Dominion of Mind and Perception Self-Orientation and “The Bull” Contemplation Social Management and Self-Image Cultural and Personal Beliefs The Creative Aspect of Mind What Is a Distinction? Chapter Four: The Creative World of Language What Is Language? Self and Other Language vs Concept Creating an Internal Person Forming a Social Self Internal Dialogue: Whom Are You Talking To? Chapter Five: A Complex Matrix of Mind A Framework for Reality Human and Cultural Assumptions An Assumed Reality The Consequences of Being an Object The Consequences of Being “Inside” The Assumption of Life and Sentience Chapter Six: The Impressive Dynamics of Instinct Instinct vs Learning Primal Emotions Gender Sex Life Your Role in Life Death Chapter Seven: Leaping Beyond Illusion Social Life Self-Concept and Identity Being Alive Reality: Dust to Dust Transcending the Life-Reality Illusion The Separation Conundrum Chapter Eight: The Inscrutable Origin of Our Experience The Nature of Context Grasping Context Chapter Nine: Changing the Context of Our Experience Changing Context A New Contextual Distinction Chapter Ten: Creating New Possibilities Grounding Change Mind vs Consciousness The Flower Child Principle The Consequences of Self-Contraction Reversing Self-Contraction The Importance of Purpose A Quick Practice: Breathe! Proof of God Keep in Mind For More Information About the Author Other Titles Introduction In 2010 when I finished The Book of Not Knowing after nearly a decade of writing and revision, most people assumed I’d amassed the definitive volume on my entire field of consciousness work Although that book sets the foundation, there is still more to understand After working with my consciousness apprentices, it became clear that they—and thus likely most other people—urgently needed clarification on the differences between self-transformation and enlightenment, so I set to work The result, Pursuing Consciousness, has proven to be a useful addition, but there were still profound elements of the consciousness work that had never found their way into any book Until now These books have evolved alongside my teaching practice, as each volume is informed by watching students use the last True consciousness work rarely offers itself up to be immediately understood Progress is most often made in fits and starts, with comprehension coming and going repeatedly before a communication becomes real and grounded in one’s experience When one element becomes clear, it often sheds new light on another that was previously misunderstood or even inconceivable The nature of existence cannot be grasped by breaking it down into a set of discrete pieces or mapping it out in a formula In fact, genuine consciousness regarding this nature eventually becomes far greater than the sum of its parts And, as they say about a river, you never step into the same water twice The Genius of Being introduces some of the unseen elements that create your world If you’ve been to one of my workshops, you may have heard me go on about subjects that seemed even more incomprehensible than usual If some time passes and the only feedback I get is a glazed look in your eyes, it’s clearly time to shift directions, which I often with a joke about how unimportant such matters are to your life These issues actually don’t matter except for one significant fact: they’re what’s true, which is the main impetus behind this whole series of books I should state that I write from my own conscious experience, which means I know that everything asserted here is graspable What made the discoveries presented in this book possible for me was, as I so often say, that I had some nothing from which to come If you’ve had an enlightenment experience, it’s likely that no explanation is needed and you can use such a springboard to investigate these matters But what about the people who have not? There will be some who pick up this book who haven’t yet had their first enlightenment, or haven’t read The Book of Not Knowing or Pursuing Consciousness If that’s the case for you, you’ll find yourself at sea much of the time, but you should know that this work isn’t easy for anyone, even those who’ve checked all the boxes above Not to worry, we start by addressing a kind of questioning and listening that will help you access some nothing for yourself Take these lessons seriously—you won’t progress without them What must be discovered here is not easy to express The “place” we’re looking into has little to with what’s normal for you; it is instead what creates that “normal.” In other words, we’re talking about elements that are necessary to create your self, life, reality—all of it In daily life, such dynamics remain unseen, and even with study they will seem unassailable But, if you’ve made even a little progress in this work, you know that doesn’t mean they are This is a book of existential contemplations on the origins of the world that you live within Such investigation may at first seem irrelevant to your life because, given that the subject matter exists prior to everything you experience, it will sound too abstract to be useful These elements comprise the foundation that allows you to experience all that you experience, but, like everyone, you live with a focus on managing life successfully rather than investigating the “genesis” of your ability to so Because this communication requires a radical shift in that focus, you should anticipate that none of the upcoming assertions will be immediately intelligible Through contemplation, you will discover for yourself that comprehending these original elements makes a real difference in your relationship to, literally, everything When you grasp—in a deep, existential, and “experiential” way—not only that you create your own world, but also the specific ways in which you so, you are suddenly freed from what might have felt like the steel grip of self, life, and circumstance You can see—you can experience—that it is all invented, which means that it can be un-invented or re-invented Also, and this is no small thing, you will likely view the world with such renewed wonder that you will have no questions about why this book is called The Genius of Being Chapter One Grasping the Genius of Being Bound by Brilliance 1:1 If you’ve never attended a contemplation intensive, try to imagine spending days on end among a few dozen people engaged in earnest contemplation as you all strive to become conscious of your true nature The low voices of participants doing dyad work creates a rolling hum in the meditation hall, and their energy seems to ebb and flow with the sound, often trailing off to a solemn silence In such a setting, imagine how startling it is when a participant bursts out laughing with joy I’ve seen a workshop’s focused naturesuddenly up-ended when peals of genuine heartfelt laughter erupt from someone who’s had a breakthrough You can tell just by looking at the person, whose face and demeanor clearly show an incredible lightness and open bliss At such times, there’s no doubt they just had an enlightenment experience 1:2 But why should something so profound as an awakening consciousness elicit laughter? We imagine that an effort as serious as trying to become conscious of the very nature of our existence would result in a serious outcome, but it’s often the opposite When we leap out of the world that we normally experience, we’re instantly provided with an unprecedented view of that world—it’s the same, but with one exception that changes everything: we’re free of it, and suddenly our fabricated and unnecessary self-myopic experience falls away As one student shared after his first enlightenment: “In an instant I got free Positive and negative experiences were things I was doing, and not something inflicted on me I became conscious of my absolute nature, and I thought: I’ve finally come home.” Such freedom often elicits a state of euphoria that’s difficult to understand within our self-experience, because here we’re completely ignorant 1:3 With or without any enlightenment experience, humans have long noticed that every aspect of the universe appears to be brilliantly designed—from the macrocosmic to the intricate details of our own bodies and minds From time to time we might pause to marvel at some of the profound beauty of our world, but rather than grasping the sheer ingenious effectiveness of our ability to live and perceive, we are instead far more inclined to take our perceptions entirely at face value We don’t stop to notice that our experience of all of it is entirely secondhand 1:4 The seamless nature of our perceived experience is so astonishingly effective that even when we attempt a direct encounter, we can find no apparent opening through which to approach the matter We might acknowledge a buried sense of inauthenticity and even suspect that there is much beyond the tightly constricted world as we perceive it, but, prior to an unprecedented breakthrough in consciousness, we can’t even begin to guess in which direction to move Whatever is ultimately true about the world we live in, it seems to be beyond our grasp 1:5 Bridging the gap between our experience and its origins is best done by directly grasping the real nature of existence—also known as enlightenment Prior to such an event, however, most people mistakenly believe that this understanding is somehow going to be commensurate with their intellectual powers, or even that it’s predicated on some kind of “spiritual” strength or virtue What actually prevents our understanding isn’t some missing ingredient in our “being” or even the vast complexity of the matter itself The reason we cannot discern the true nature of reality is that the purpose for our experience keeps us constantly focused elsewhere The dynamics that allow us to manage life so well also serve another function: they obscure any consciousness of what’s ultimately true 1:6 How is it possible to become conscious of something that’s present but of which we’re unaware, and if it is true and present, why aren’t we aware of it? We live our lives within two domains of existence that are occurring simultaneously The first domain is what actually exists or occurs as reality This world is the one we attempt to address through science, contemplation, philosophy, and so on The second domain is our experience, which is the “personal reality” that each of us occupies and which holds our attention daily and most of the time These two domains are very different because one is what’s existentially true, the other is only occurring “as if” it’s true 1:7 Genius of Being refers to the first domain, since in this case, “being” denotes “existing”—what is and what is actually occurring and how it is occurring The use of the word “genius” is a rather poetic emphasis pointing to the mind-boggling complexity, intricacy, and interrelated effectiveness of every aspect of existence When we embrace this domain in any way, awe is often the first response And then there’s grasping that the very nature and source of Being—of Existence and Consciousness—is absolute, and its manifestation into life and reality is without break or hole; it is complete, and everything works It’s perfect It’s brilliant There is no mistake It is exactly as it is When we grasp the nature of it all at once, joyous laughter is an appropriate response 1:8 Strangely, our first domain, although held as the “real” reality, is always a stretch to ascertain We don’t access it directly in our personal perceptive-experience, as shown by the fact that we must use science, contemplation, existential thinking, and deep considerations and study simply to approach it By contrast, our personal experience always sits right in our lap, requiring no stretch at all What’s overlooked is that this very personal experience was built not given It seems ironic that the real is so hard to come by while the fabricated is totally accessible and automatic As I often point out: Paradox and confusion are the guardians of the Truth 1:9 Within our highly subjective and insular experience, we are ignorant of any absolute truth; what we’re left with instead are layers of conceptually produced experiences This human “reality” is created by a myriad of conceptual inventions such as self, culture, language, assumptions, beliefs, and more Even the power and brilliance of these inventions are overlooked in favor of managing life within them Our daily experience is completely devoted to supporting our personal survival in both the physical and social worlds that we share In this realm, being aware of the conceptual nature of our experience serves no useful purpose Unfortunately, ignorance here disguises the fact that what we perceive and hold as obviously true is actually an unnecessarily restrictive creation 1:10 Of course, give us any line and humans will eventually find a way to cross it Numerous people over millennia have had enlightenment experiences that, against all logic, seem to support the Chapter Ten Creating New Possibilities At the root of every true inquiry from Zen Buddhism to the cutting edge of science is openness and not-knowing Within these endeavors there is always a possibility that something true or profound can be discovered, but what frequently stands in the way of even the most sincere and honest investigation is our tendency to grab too quickly for answers and beliefs Reaching the edge of our own understanding, we confuse not-knowing with ignorance and quickly grow uncomfortable We desire a hasty departure from the state of “non-understanding” which is our real experience The usual way out is to retreat to our familiar beliefs, or adopt some aspect of hearsay or common opinion, but of course this rules out discovering anything new The Book of Not Knowing 2:29 Grounding Change 10:1 You’ve now been exposed to some of the most overlooked aspects of the human condition— namely the existential assumptions that are at the source of your entire experience I’m sure you can see why they’re overlooked, as even now I suspect they boggle your imagination With study and contemplation the nature and consequences of these assumptions will become more and more real, but grounding them in your life experience can be difficult You’ll find little or no support in your culture, your community, or even in your own mind Each of those inventions has been “designed” over millennia to serve a different purpose—which is not to understand its own nature Whether it occurs in your intellect, your perceptions, or your consciousness, grounding a new perspective in an experiential way may be challenging, but it’s not impossible 10:2 We’ve all learned many things in our lives, and created skills we didn’t have previously, so clearly we have the ability to change ourselves in some ways Just recall the creation of language That was entirely learned, and it’s obvious how much it changed your life and the world in which you live But after the extreme learning and transformation that characterize the first years of life, in adulthood learning most often slows to a crawl or grinds to a halt 10:3 Obviously learning what’s necessary to reach maturity was motivated by necessity, but once those basic survival skills are formed, our energy and attention shift to managing and maintaining life While anything learned at this point is relatively minor in the scheme of things, learning does take place but frequently involves adopting some new beliefs or practices Unfortunately, such change usually takes the form of “adding” to the self rather than actually changing, but a shift in experience can occur and does offer some change in one’s self-concept 10:4 For example, everyone knows that they can improve their body You can stretch and become more flexible and be able to things with your body you couldn’t before You could take up running or gymnastics or swimming or whatnot and so develop a new skill or ability You can even embark on serious trainings that alter how the body functions and so use it and relate to it quite differently than you did before Whenever you master such practices to some degree, there is a change in the body and your level of physical skill, and so you view yourself and the world in which you live a bit differently Although you know it is possible to make such changes, you also know there is a cost 10:5 No change of this kind occurs without giving up some of what we now in favor of taking up new activities We may have to engage a practice of running daily, or stretching for hours, or learning and training movements regularly, instead of sitting at home drinking coffee, watching TV, or whatever else we’d be doing Change demands that new activities replace old ones, which is as true with the mind as it is with the body If we want to bring about such changes, we have to decide whether we’re willing to pay the cost and make it happen 10:6 Once these accessible changes are accomplished, they alter the way we think of ourselves to some degree, but this doesn’t really alter the person we are As I said, such a change in body or mind is thought of as an addition to the one we are, not actually changing the one we are Yet when we modify our characteristic mental or emotional activities, it may well seem closer to home and more personal than a physical change This kind of change provides the idea of possibly undertaking a much deeper or all-inclusive transformation, perhaps even to our very person 10:7 Just as with adding any physical or mental practice, however, you must come to grips with the fact that there is a cost You can’t change without changing Sometimes this is just adopting new ideas; sometimes it requires altering whatever motivates certain behavior Changing mind and perspective takes work Unnecessary and dysfunctional assumptions and attitudes must be let go, and one is obliged to repeatedly engage new ways of experiencing self and reality through practice, contemplation, and new perspectives and experiences 10:8 Imagine making leaps in learning equivalent to what you did in just the first two years of your life, transforming from being something of a slug—although a really cute one—to a person who can stand, walk, talk, interact, and manipulate the environment around you Try to really grasp the enormity of the transformational leaps that had to take place on so many levels—and in just two years! 10:9 Of course, as an infant there was little cost incurred, and there was no resistance to change, since there wasn’t anything you were doing instead You did have to give up the world of dependency and immobility, the non-existence of self and other as sentient, as well as an inability to communicate, and so on There may have been a great peace living without all those things, but you couldn’t possibly have known that at the time, especially since your attention was focused on learning and the whole world was new Imagine yourself making a leap of that magnitude now To be commensurate with your infancy, this would have to be done focusing not on what you’d give up but rather on what is possible, what has not yet been imagined 10:10 Just what it would take to engage such a level of learning as an adult is difficult to conceive, but take a moment and open up the space and possibility for an equivalent leap in your reality Remember, the motivation and purpose for doing so would not be creating a self and the skills to survive, and so both motive and purpose would have to be newly created Almost no one has ever done such learning as an adult Here, you’d be required to create something no human has ever created Just confronting this possibility should provide a great openness in your thinking Regardless of making any such leap, the overall idea of this work as a practice is to move in the direction of increasing your own consciousness As long as you progress steadily toward what’s true, your development will evolve toward consciousness and growth Start by doing what’s necessary; then what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible Attributed to Francis of Assisi Mind vs Consciousness 10:11 To move closer to the Truth, we need to pursue it directly and with honesty It can’t be discovered by guessing, believing, speculating, or concluding, although that’s what our minds will attempt unless we find a more direct way to discern true from false With the exception of the Absolute, it’s probably best to think of the pursuit of truth as a direction in which to go— always correcting and improving—rather than an ideal to reach and inhabit 10:12 There are two different domains of truth to pursue: the relative and the absolute If we’re talking about discovering a relative truth—a principle, a new distinction, an insight into some dynamic of mind or existence, something occurring in or as life, and so on—it needs to be personally experienced, or at least represented by a valid theory that’s proven through experiential feedback In the case of the Absolute, we’re dealing with the real heart of the matter of existence, and an absolute truth can only be gotten through direct consciousness Even with direct consciousness, however, challenges still exist within the limitations of mind 10:13 Mind is not the same thing as Consciousness Mind creates experience and knowing, and this is useful, but always limited and often founded on assumptions and past programming Although much of this can be changed, mind will never become capable of reflecting Consciousness perfectly because it is not “designed” to so Each person must as if “decide” how to reflect or represent the Absolute within a relative experience, as well as how much influence the Absolute will have on his or her self-experience and life In other words, we must choose which alterations in the self, if any, might move this relative manifestation closer to being aligned with the Truth, and then pursue them as best we can This is more of an art than a science because mind and experience can’t reveal the Absolute, they can only represent it with a relative expression Conversely though, one can take a stand for the Truth showing up in the relative, even if what manifests is simply the touch of a hand, a word spoken, or perhaps just a gaze 10:14 For a human committed to grasping what’s absolutely true, pursuing enlightenment is essential, but it isn’t enough if transformation or complete freedom is the goal Since so much of the brain is highly programmed and on automatic, a re-training needs to take place to change our experience There must also be a commitment to change the context in which perceptiveexperience is held This can be “easier done than said” if the enlightenments are deep enough Then again, the reverse is most often the case Either way, freedom should be the goal as we pursue a consciousness of what’s true When consciousness becomes the same as the body and life, and you exist nowhere else and yet nowhere at the same time, then enlightenment has become grounded and deep, if not complete They not understand how, while differing from, it is in agreement with itself There is a back-turning connection, like that of a bow or lyre Heraclitus The Flower Child Principle 10:15 I came of age in the San Francisco Bay Area during a time when people involved in a new movement were sometimes called “Flower Children.” It was taken quite seriously by many, mostly young people who worked hard to commit themselves to uncommon principles such as love, acceptance, and non-possessiveness It was a shared cultural invention in progress, arising as a conscious attempt to reinvent social relations and the values that govern them One of the most remarkable and clearly effective life-altering principles that emerged was an acceptance of everyone regardless of their beliefs or outlook As long as they weren’t violent, everyone was accepted into the community and “loved” as they were This unusually open stance made a lasting impression on me 10:16 This cultural movement was happening when I was around nineteen years old Up until then, I’d lived life always feeling on the outside of communities The obvious reason was that my family had frequently relocated as I grew up, but it’s also true that I never felt totally accepted even within that family 10:17 While I’d already intellectually worked out that “love and acceptance” was a more effective way to go than the competitive and often negative social order that prevailed at the time, going into the experience as offered by this movement, my disposition was rather tight and standoffish When I was allowed to be just that way and was still loved and accepted, however, it began to melt my heart and open my mind It was clear that such a principle was a far superior way to live for everyone, making a huge difference with a relatively minor adjustment For me, it was the first time I felt included and a part of a community 10:18 It’s such a simple thing The foundation for operating within such a principle is simply grasping that we’re all in this together From such a perspective, we’re moved to work together and support each other regardless of differences A rare disposition in most cultures, but it could be the foundation for all of humanity if we collectively understood the power and effectiveness of this principle—that it’s useful not only to create a world that works for everyone but one that’s worth living in 10:19 Such a shift would require that instead of being limited to self-concerns or stopping with our group’s identity, we include everyone, and perhaps even all of life This isn’t suggesting that our commitment is to have every living thing survive—that’s not possible Sacrifice is always necessary by individual life forms and individual people But accepting life and including all others so that they are actively incorporated and contributing to the whole makes the most sense for our survival Happiness is not found in the pursuit of happiness Strange as it may sound, WANTING happiness is itself unhappiness The Book of Not Knowing 26:31 The Consequences of Self-Contraction 10:20 Throughout this book, you’ve been invited to create what I call “existential thinking”—the ability to effectively “erase” what’s known and assumed about something in order to view it from scratch and consider how its very existence comes to pass Most of the time we view things from a more personal, psychological perspective—the meaning they have for us, the reasons behind each action and how it fits into an assessed “cause and effect” dynamic, and the usefulness or threat that everything represents All these subjective activities, and our reactions to them, exist in a domain of personally related psychological assessments As such, they are useless for addressing the existential nature of anything—which must be seen as independent from any applied meaning or self-needs 10:21 We’ve seen that when we look into any subject in an existential way, instead of getting bogged down in psychological assessments, we notice aspects of our own experience that were previously overlooked With this new ability, it has become easier to see that our selfexperience resides primarily within an inner world Although we’re prone to holding this world as separate and private and without consequence regarding the content, as I’ve repeatedly pointed out, this just isn’t so Using existential observation, we begin to see the relationship between our internal state and our life experience, but still may not grasp an overlooked dynamic that emerges from identifying ourselves as this insulated internal person 10:22 Operating from the assumptions of an inner self the way we tends to push us toward an introverted and isolated self-experience When our internal state doesn’t match our expressions, we further isolate ourselves within an increasingly self-referential reality The more we concentrate our attention on this inner self, the more our experience contracts, becoming less fulfilling and complete 10:23 Every time we create an internal activity that we would prefer to hide away, it pulls us into an even smaller world The very fact that we’re reluctant to share it not only isolates us from others, this very action further reduces our sense of self to an increasingly limited and insular domain Also, each time, according to our own standards, we assess that we’ve taken action inappropriately, or failed to take appropriate action for selfish reasons, we again are pressing ourselves into a smaller world To justify our actions we must either ignore what we’ve done, thus reducing our awareness and presence, or we must excuse it to ourselves or others, making us defensive and petty in the process Furthermore, thinking our opinions and beliefs are true and important just because we have them pushes us into this same dynamic of contraction because we become immune to feedback and reason, and blocked from seeking what’s true beyond our own viewpoint 10:24 In modern society we’re increasingly biased toward the wants and needs of the individual, focusing on the self to the exclusion of anything beyond that apparently existential “reality.” The more this cultural value flourishes, the more self-serving we become and, somewhat ironically, the smaller our sense of self becomes This happens without any awareness on our part largely because we have no other self-experience to compare it to So it may be hard to grasp how this occurs 10:25 Imagine being dedicated solely to your own personal comfort, making sure that every action is aligned with a commitment to avoid the slightest risk of discomfort The first thing to notice is just how restrictive such a pursuit is You can’t take a chance on a confrontation or anything around others that might bother you the least bit You can’t tell the truth and risk disapproval You won’t adopt any discipline to grow since it might obstruct a whim and could demand the “pain” of effort You can’t sacrifice yourself in any way, even if you’re happy to serve a worthy cause, because it would infringe on your devotion to personal matters and force you to step outside your comfort zone Furthermore, the more obsessed you become with pursuing comfort, the more you will find discomforts within formerly acceptable levels of experience that you must now try to eliminate 10:26 You can see that the world you occupy would get very small very quickly, becoming like a prison that you dare not venture from for fear of compromising your comfort Now apply this same principle to everything done to exclusively serve an insular self Focus your attention on the experience of living within a self-serving inner world isolated from all others and how you currently relate to this apparent fact of existence Can you see how this tends to lead to a more isolated and smaller sense of self? 10:27 Over time these actions not only chip away at our “soul,” so to speak, shrinking what we’re willing to be responsible and accountable for, they also become the norm and so become what we identify as our “real” but hidden selves In the end we become stuck in an isolated world, struggling to protect this inner sanctum, while at the same time trying to be recognized or loved by others Both of these pressures push us into an ever-shrinking inner world, without any awareness of the consequences that result Yet this whole dynamic and tendency can be turned around Reversing Self-Contraction 10:28 The way such a turnaround might occur is open and varied It simply has to adhere to principles that reverse self-contraction, embracing a self-expansive dynamic by committing yourself to principles and actions that aren’t wed to a separate inner self For example, as I’ve suggested before, imagine what would be the case if you allowed nothing to occur in your “inner” world—no thought, emotion, perspective, mood, judgment, etc.—that you wouldn’t freely, openly, and willingly have be known by all others Your internal world would be turned inside out Such an experience would certainly be new, wouldn’t it? Further, imagine that the only activities you engaged in, internally and interactively, are those you’re willing to take a stand for, back whole-heartedly, and are willing to “be.” Since you live within your own internal experience, communication, and behavior, the beingness of your self shows up in what you think, feel, and 10:29 There may not be many accessible life examples to help clarify this point Yet if you’ve ever been head over heels in love, perhaps the elements that comprise that experience can provide a clue about a self-expansive state What are some of the components that create this kind of state? When in love, and it’s mutual, your internal state is obviously positive and your sense of well-being is assured Because you feel accepted just as you are, your unresolved agendadrives tend to fade away You feel complete and fulfilled, and are more willing to openly share whatever is so for you With an overflow of positive emotional abundance, you find yourself wanting to spread the joy and wishing good for all You’re so secure in your own happiness that likely what you formerly found irritating in others you now see as endearing 10:30 Even though this state is usually only brought about by being overwhelmingly at the effect of circumstance in the form of another person, it does produce a shift that tends to be expansive When we feel complete, connected, and secure, with a positive future outlook, many of our petty social reactions and struggles fade away because we tend not to be defensive, and so these reactions aren’t needed or reflexive This has the effect of freeing us from dynamics that normally reduce our experience to an isolated inner self-world In the case of such love, we see it is temporary and dependent on circumstance Yet, imagine existentially creating such a state without the circumstance or emotion, and one that applies broadly without being restricted to an individual Novel thought, isn’t it? 10:31 Shifting from self-contraction to being responsible for what takes place in your internal state and expressions makes it possible to create a substantially new experience If you generate all sorts of negative or dysfunctional internal activities and manipulative behavior, then this is what you’re taking a stand for and “living as.” If you create only thoughts and emotions, dispositions and moods, judgments and attitudes, perspectives, and so on that are empowering and that you can fully get behind without reservation, then you have no reason or motive to hide them Your internal state would be the same as your expressions, and what you are “being” as a self would be totally acceptable to you 10:32 It’s important not to confuse such an endeavor with suppressing anything in any way Instead, it is genuinely changing what’s there at its very core Such an undertaking would likely have successes and failures, needing correction and improvement, and you wouldn’t want to make it an ideal of perfection but rather an anvil to forge a new experience of being Being authentic, complete, whole, and honest are natural outcomes that must occur with such a shift Now, don’t just imagine it, it Try it out, work to create such a sense of being, and see what happens 10:33 To get you going, try this exercise: Inside-Out Meditation Sit and focus on your internal state in this moment Notice whatever is occurring for you Now work to match the inside and the out Have no feeling or thought that you wouldn’t be proud to have visible and known all around you Feel like your internal world is open and available to the world all around you What changes in your experience? Now imagine making that shift permanently and in all relationships What would change and how would it change? Because this work is about you and your experience, clearly it all hinges on you What you personally or don’t understand is critical to your pursuit of either consciousness or personal growth Pursuing Consciousness 1:65 The Importance of Purpose 10:34 As I mentioned earlier, your purpose for doing anything or engaging in any activity is what directs that process This doesn’t just apply to cultural or physical inventions, it also applies to your internal state and behavior, which are dependent on many invented assumptions and beliefs Regarding all inventions it is important to ask: What is the purpose for doing this or believing that, or even feeling whatever you are feeling? What does it really serve? Is it a purpose worth engaging? If it is not a healthy and empowering purpose then it should be tossed If an action or activity is not aligned with the purpose for which it is generated, then the activity —whether an internal state or a behavior—should be changed so that it fulfills the purpose that was intended If it serves no useful purpose, stop doing it 10:35 Clarity of purpose translates to clarity in action Whatever your real purpose turns out to be, it will determine what’s appropriate and what’s not Once you’re clear about it, you can recognize whether your actions, thoughts, or feelings are truly aligned with that purpose and then you can adjust accordingly This “clarity of purpose” not only refreshes but empowers your experience, and makes life much more effective—and simpler A Quick Practice: Breathe! 10:36 Intellect dominates the internal state, and, along with the complexities of conceptual and social self-survival, we can wind ourselves into knots of worry and stress It’s useful to frequently remind ourselves that none of that activity is relating to Now To relax your mind and free it from turmoil, consider that primarily all you need in this moment is breathing 10:37 If you find you can’t breathe, your focus will immediately zoom in on activities devoted to restoring your breathing; you will have very little attention or mental activity on anything else When you can breathe, which is almost always, you rarely notice When you pay attention to your breath, however, it is experienced as good and as present As you breathe in this moment, grasp how much mental stuff is not necessary Remember to take time to just relax, breathe deeply for a while, and appreciate it Let go of everything else, and give your mental-emotional struggles a break The water cannot talk without the rocks James Richardson Proof of God 10:38 We’ve seen that our self-experience is generated as a function of the body where collective biological activities create perceptive faculties, and we identify with being the receiver of what’s perceived From this position, recognition of being the perceiver-of-perceptions develops into an internal core-identity, the prime element of which is the distinction of sentience In this way, consciousness becomes “trapped” within this identity and experience 10:39 Yet, imagine that whatever allows for consciousness is the same thing that allows for life and existence, and that this same source is also responsible for the seamless and brilliant construction of the universe—even as it’s assessed through the distinctions that human minds are capable of discerning Obviously, this source, whatever it is, would have to be the essence of all of existence, and must be totally inclusive and without limitation and therefore absolute It can’t be individual but must include individuals It is the “beingness” of existence itself and all that is It would have to be your true nature and the true nature of existence 10:40 How could anything that is perceived, or even perception itself, be this absolute? It can’t Yet can perception and conception be separate from or evicted from the Absolute? No, ultimately they too have to be of the same nature The absolute nature of existence must be the whole story, or what “is,” without leaving out a single hair or aspect Not being containable within the known, it seems to be unknown But it shouldn’t then be thought of as the “unknown thing.” Both known and unknown must share the same nature 10:41 Is a table absolute? It shares the same nature as the Absolute, and yet it itself is relative and limited and so not absolute How about a sink? No, a sink isn’t absolute Then perhaps it’s an apple, or a person, or god, or a Number Mongol pencil Clearly, there is nothing, no matter how obvious or mundane, grand or mysterious, that could possibly be absolute, since all are relative and distinct So the nature we’re looking for must be inconceivable and without distinction, and yet still true of existence 10:42 Because there can be no perimeters, restrictions, or exclusions, this Nature can have no element in it The nature of existence could therefore be called Nothing, or, to say it another way, it can’t exist as anything The nature of existence is not conceivable because it is nonexistent Which is to say, existence is exactly what it is and is Absolute How could it be anything else? In the end, whatever is absolutely true is absolutely true 10:43 No matter what it is, why would we think that some idea or image or conclusion or perception —all of which must be limited to that insular and particular form—could be what is absolutely true? Just using reason, we can understand that the true nature of absolute existence can’t be anything we can conceive or imagine This simply means it can’t be formed or shaped or distinct in any way—and those are the only ways we can conceive or imagine anything Consciousness without form or limitation isn’t grand or large the way it sounds; it isn’t any thing at all It has no limit or form because it is nothing 10:44 In this case, we have to confront the fact that the nature of absolute consciousness must be of the same nature as objective existence A new mind-boggling distinction needs to be made in order to square this possibility with any known reality What is the source of all this? Whatever that is, it is what it is regardless of what we call it, or whether or not we can conceive of it By definition it must be absolute, therefore it can’t be any one thing or even limited to all things This nature must be Infinite, and Now, and Nothing Form is the same as emptiness, Emptiness is precisely form 10:45 Seriously, the very heart of existence has no aspect, no element to it at all—that’s what makes it both the source of everything and everything itself Absolute Reality is the same as Absolute Consciousness Oh well, you didn’t really think I could prove God, did you? Believe nothing; no matter where you read it or who said it, not even me Buddha Keep in Mind 10:46 This communication is a lot to take in It wasn’t meant to be grasped only on an intellectual level—difficult as that alone may be—but to be contemplated and questioned The truth is the only goal Remember, fact is always more grounded and useful than belief, but, armed with the Truth Principle, we can push beyond belief and even fact 10:47 Pursuing the truth on a deep level, we find that our experience is made up solely of distinctions, and that the nature of distinction is immaterial and created From this insight, we can see everything in a new light Having learned to think existentially, we observe that our most fundamental sense of self is held as an internal object and that this has consequences We are also able to question whether or not this is what we really are 10:48 Blaming circumstance and instinct for our woes doesn’t get us very far when we realize that we are a “learning machine” and have consciously and unconsciously created our world, for better or for worse Since our experience is founded on personal and cultural inventions, focusing on the purpose for any of them to exist gives us the power and ability to recreate them if necessary Also, noticing that every personal experience, no matter how frequent or familiar, is something that arises to serve a purpose—and so comes and goes—shows us that it can’t be the essence of what “is” and so it can’t be “us.” 10:49 Deep insight leads to more insights where we start to experience the creative aspects of our own existence—just as discovering the creation of language reveals the construction of self and other and the purpose for internal dialogue Simply becoming responsible for what we generate as our internal world—taking a stand for what we create and what we aren’t going to support— radically changes our self-experience Whenever we challenge fundamental existential assumptions about the nature of our entire world, new possibilities arise Grasping the creative nature of context and our role in creating experience, we are empowered to master our world rather than suffer it 10:50 None of this can be absorbed in a day, but the spirit of investigation and discovery can be taken on in a moment Living life as an ongoing contemplation instantly shifts your experience and world From this, insights arise Breathe, contemplate, and be happy For more information about Peter Ralston and the ongoing work of Cheng Hsin go to: PeterRalston.com or ChengHsin.com For a smartphone-friendly site check out: PersonalEmpowerment.me If you haven’t done so, it’s best to complete the entire trilogy: The Book of Not Knowing Pursuing Consciousness The Genius of Being After that, you may be ready to take on the less structured work (written for advanced students) by reading Ancient Wisdom, New Spirit—transcribed from recordings of live interactions with Ralston in various settings in the 1980s; and Reflections of Being—a slim collection of early essays highlighting many of the basic principles and communications in a highly condensed form When you’re ready, if Ralston is still teaching, you are invited to join him at his Center and take advantage of live interactions that can take you much deeper than can be obtained on your own or from a book Other books by Ralston: The Principles of Effortless Power The Art of Effortless Power Zen Body-Being About the Author Since having several enlightenment experiences in his early twenties, Peter Ralston has devoted his life to a relentless pursuit of the truth, investigating everything from the principles that govern movement and interaction to the true nature of self and reality Much in demand as a teacher of consciousness workshops since 1979, Ralston has done more than forty years of intense contemplation and personal experiential investigation into the nature of self and reality Ralston’s consciousness work is acclaimed by people from a diverse range of disciplines, from spiritual teachers and psychiatrists to cognitive scientists, physicists, and artists He is the founder of Empowerment, as well as the founder of Cheng Hsin and the Art of Effortless Power For a while in the late 1970s, Ralston worked for Stewart Emery and Actualizations, and has served as facilitator for other personal growth organizations such as: Lifesprings, Tony Robbins, Institute for Self Actualizations, Esalen, and others Ralston’s other titles include The Principles of Effortless Power, Zen Body-Being, The Book of Not Knowing, and Pursuing Consciousness His books have been published in six languages .. .The Genius of Being Contemplating the Profound Intelligence of Existence Peter Ralston North Atlantic Books Berkeley, California Copyright © 2017 by Peter Ralston All rights... Delbert/Shutterstock.com Cover design by Mike Kane Interior design by Happenstance Type-O-Rama Printed in the United States of America The Genius of Being: Contemplating the Profound Intelligence of Existence is sponsored... Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Ralston, Peter, 1949– author Title: The genius of being: contemplating the profound intelligence of existence / Peter Ralston Description: Berkeley, California: North Atlantic Books,