Is This the Real ET? - Test Your Integrated Intelligence!

Real or fake? Can you feel it?

Is this the evidence that we have been waiting for? Is this really ET? You may have heard the story and sent the video already, as it appeared on YouTube today. The YouTube video, below has already been viewed several million times. It’s gone viral as they say. You can see  the video here:

How can we work out if it is really an ET who didn’t quite phone home fast enough, or a fake (for the sake of convenience let’s exclude other theoretical possibilities, such as that it may be some human mutation, a prehistoric creature and so on)?

My purpose here today to compare and contrast an analytical approach to the problem, with an intuitive one, using what I call Integrated Intelligence (INI). You might like to try the exercise below, which will test your ability at INI, and help you improve it.

Standard interpretations of the Siberian ET will take the observable data, and analyse it. The problem with analysis, like all logical deduction, is that there are always implicit assumptions which underpin the way the data is analysed. Let’s take a few examples.

A standard dismissal of the possibility that this is a genuine ET is that there’s no way that an alien could possibly travel the vast distances between stars, given the laws of physics. Yet how much do we really know about the laws of physics? Our science is barely 500 years old, as John Maddox, the late editor of Nature journal once commented. At the turn of the 20^th century a noted physicist stated that there was no way that human beings would ever travel round the world in 24 hours or less. His rationale? There was no way a ship could cut through water that fast, given the laws of physics. I think you get where I’m coming from.

Another obvious reason to dismiss the Russian ET is that it is essentially humanoid. The argument here is that evolution on distant planets would be very unlikely to produce anything remotely human looking. Our DNA is unique to Earth, as are our planetary conditions and history, which are crucial to natural selection and evolution. In fact alien life might be so radically different from us, that we might not even recognise it as life if we did stumble across it.

This is a reasonable argument, but again there are fundamental presuppositions which underpin the analysis. Firstly, it presupposes that there is no connection between Earth and other star systems. This might not be so, even at a physical level. Ironically, it is one of the two men credited with first describing the DNA double helix back in 1951, Francis Crick, who later argued that it was possible that the amino acids which are the foundation of life on Earth may have arrived here on comets. Some recent evidence makes his claim more credible, as apparently amino acids have been confirmed to be existent in some comets.

Given this, there may be some property of our DNA that is shared with other star systems, which lends itself to forming life structures such as we see on earth. Yes, it’s a stretch.

The other physical connection could be the aliens themselves. A common hypothesis in New Age circles is that aliens themselves may have “seeded” the earth. In that case, evolution is not a purely random process.

Evolution may also not be as random as we think if there is an active intelligence behind it. This is commonly ridiculed in mainstream science, and I won’t go into the arguments for intelligent design here. Let me just refer to one rather radical possibility. There are many anecdotal reports of people seeing nature spirits, or something akin to them. These are supposed to be “assigned” roles to nurture particular species of plants and animals. These would the equivalent of spirit guides, only not for humans. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, the late thanatologist, claimed to be a regular communicator with “fairies”. Of course nobody in mainstream science is going to touch this with a 40 foot pole, but I personally would not dismiss the possibility entirely. The reason is that I once had an eerie experience which makes me take the idea seriously.

When I was about 14 years old, I awoke in the middle of the night with a spooky sense that there was something outside my window. My bedhead was directly below an open window, and there was the edge of a garden outside. That night, I gingerly sat up, and looked outside the window, and into the garden directly below. To put it bluntly, what I saw scared the shit out of me. Right below the window, about four feet away from my head was a ball of glowing white light sitting in the garden, almost touching the outside wall of the house. It was about 2/3 the size of a soccer ball. I blinked a few times, then pulled my head in real fast – and right under the blankets. I was totally terrified. The next morning I got up and went outside, and there was nothing there. I had no frame of reference to process the event, so I told myself that it must have been a very fluffy rabbit – although I knew it didn’t look much like a rabbit at all. I put the experience out of my mind for over a decade, until some other “paranormal” experiences made me question once more what I’d seen that days as a teenager. One of those experiences was witnessing a huge ball of glowing white light flying through the night sky, as well as another UFO formation on the same night. (You can read it on page 44 of my book Extraordinary Mind - you can download the first 50 pages for free here if you want).

I could go on and address some other limitations of rational ways of knowing, but let’s just leave that there for the time being. All I am saying is that, despite its wonderful capacity to assist human cognition, rationality as defined in modern western cultures is somewhat self-limiting.

One of the prime differences between INI and rational ways of knowing, is that the former works through a collapse of the gap between knower and known. Western rationalism operates with the insistence of the separation between observer and subject. In fact it is a prime presupposition of Western rationalism that the gap between knower and known cannot be bridged. I, and many mystics and the Romantics of Western lore, believe that this is a false assumption. INI works with the presupposition that consciousness contains non-local properties, and that the universe features an essential, indivisible holism, as well as distinct parts.

OK, enough of the philosophy. Would you like to give Integrated Intelligence a try with the Russian ET? Here’s an activity which combines two INI Tools: The Light Trance State, and the Feeling Sense, as described in my book Discover Your Soul Template. The former is a state of deep relation which allows you to access a non-ordinary way of knowing, and the latter describes a deep intuitive feeling which comes to you as you permit intuition to operate. Here’s what to do.

Watch the video of the Russian incident on YouTube. Try not to make any judgments, just take careful note of the “ET” in the ice. Now, move away from the computer, and sit somewhere quiet where you can relax, away from any noise or distractions. Begin by closing your eyes and focusing upon your breath. Just feel yourself relaxing deeply as your breath moves in and out. Note any tension in the body, and just let it go. As thoughts come into your mind, just acknowledge them, and imagine them floating away in balloons (or just let them go). Return your attention gently to your breathing each time.

After two or three minutes, allow yourself to bring the image of the Russian ET into your mind. See yourself standing over the ice where it lays. Next, imagine your feelings moving out from your chest, and merging with the ET. Just imagine pulling it into you (if you like). What does it feel like? What does it feel like it is made of? Is it organic or non-organic? You might like to imagine yourself touching the surface of the ET with your hand? Go ahead, smell it! Is there any odor? Trust whatever feeling and impressions come to you. This should only take a minute or so. Then imagine yourself moving away from the scene, return your attention to your breathing, and open your eyes.

Ideally, when you do something like this, write down your impressions immediately in an Intuitive Diary. That’s one of the INI Tools I recommend in Discover Your Soul Template. If you can learn to trust your Feeling Sense, it is a very wonderful tool to have at your disposal.

I would love to hear of your impressions. I will tell you mine in a day or two. I don‘t want to “lead” you in any particular direction here.

Marcus

What is Spiritual Realism?

Realism and spirituality are sometimes thought of as opposite ends of the spectrum. This is particularly true with those who are more skeptically inclined.

·         “Spiritual? Get real!”

·         “You are delusional!”

·         “I’m an empiricist. If you can’t see it or touch it, it ain’t real.”

·          

Those with a spiritual bent are sometimes equally dismissive of action in the world. Many believe that introspection and being ‘as one’ via some non-ordinary state is what matters most.

·         “Money and business are not spiritual. They are evil.”

·         “The world is an illusion. Only spirit is real!”

·         “I am a spiritual being having a human experience. I don’t need this stuff!”

·         “Sexuality is best avoided.”

Most developed societies today are dominated by cultures and education systems which focus upon the physical world of money, markets and technology at the expense of the spiritual. This imbalance needs to be corrected.

Here I am going to state the case for spiritual realism.

Spiritual realism acknowledges the reality of the spiritual dimensions of mind and experience, but also finds value in actions and experience in the physical world.

Spiritual realism begins with the currently non-testable (although personally verifiable) assumption that human beings have both a physical body, and a spiritual consciousness. That spiritual component exists in conjunction with the physical body, but also transcends it. Put another way, the spirit survives the physical death of the body.

This does not mean that the physical body is not important. Spirit is expressed through the body and brain, including all its biological and evolutionary drives.

Spiritual realism finds business and capitalism to be neutral in themselves. In terms of positives, they present endless opportunities for individuals to take action and learn about their soul purposes, and their soul issues. The human collective can also learn from the market place. Capitalism is often driven by egotism, greed and lack of compassion and respect for human dignity. It tends to bring out some of the negative aspects of the human species – the shadow. Yet it is in seeing this dark side that these collective issues can be acknowledged and transcended. The market place is also a medium through which the reverse side of the coin can be seen: compassion, generosity, respect for fellow human beings. Actions taken in alignment with spirit trends to be respectful of the highest good of all.

Any action taken in the world is driven by inner processes. These can be biological and egocentric: the selfish gene in action. Such actions are essentially driven by the alienated mind – consciousness which lies in ignorance of its inner spiritual aspects. Alternatively, an individual can relax and enter a state of receptivity. In receptivity, actions can be driven by the wisdom of spirit.

Spiritual realism involves a deep commitment to the truth. My reading is that the current average level of commitment to truth is around 3%. In alternative spiritual movements it is around 5%. In mainstream western science it is around 7%. Both mainstream science and alternative spiritual movements remain largely at the whim of the ego, which is a trickster. Each has its common delusions, although they tend to occur at opposite ends of the philosophical spectrum.

I arrived at these percentage readings from doing a quick check, which is an intuitive tool taught to me in years gone by my spiritual teachers.

Those of a spiritual predilection might feel a little offended by my reading which suggests that mainstream science rates more highly than alternative spirituality in its commitment to truth. I was a little surprised by the reading myself. The reason is that there are just a whole lot of people of spiritual persuasion who are basically part-timers. They play around with the nicer parts of mystical/spiritual practice, but are not really committed to a genuine inner process. This drags the average consciousness level and commitment to truth down.

Having said this, a genuine commitment to truth in either science or spirituality can take a person well beyond the typical level of commitment to truth. In fact there is no need to separate these two domains.

A genuine science permits a full range of questions, a full range data to be acknowledged, and a full range of theory to be developed. Of course in practice, this is far from the case, as mainstream western science is still dominated by the mechanistic paradigm and western materialism in general. This has held western science back for the past century.

A fully embracing spirituality is also “empirical”, in the sense that it permits a full range of experience and data to be acknowledged and processed by the mind. In practice, however, the ego tends to dominate much spiritual and religious practice. A common result is that there is a large level of delusion in many spiritual practitioners. In fact, spiritual realism acknowledges this tendency towards self-deception, and is comfortable with being “wrong”. It asserts that the mind tends to create concepts and beliefs and attach to them, because they create a sense of certainty, of safety. In this sense the ideal attitude is one of relaxed observation of the mind and its games, witnessing the delusions as they surface.

The human ego is part of the deal in being a human being. In fact the human ego is a protective mechanism which emerges from our biology, to maximise the chances of survival of the physical body. You are not going to be getting rid of your ego anytime soon. The key then is to witness its machinations and develop the right relationship with it.

One of the best things about spiritual realism is that it permits a full expression of fun and playfulness. What’s the point of having a spiritual philosophy if you can’t have a good time with it? That’s not an excuse to become hedonistic. It’s an invitation to lighten up and enjoy having a body – dance, sing, eat, drink and express sexuality in moderation! (the expression of these will vary from person to person, and change throughout the lifespan).

Finally, in order to enact spiritual realism, the individual needs to be able to bring about a state of presence at will. For it is in presence, in living in the moment, that the mind becomes silent and still, and that the intuitive voices from within can be heard. Presence seeds receptivity.

The truth is that it is not easy to enact spiritual realism. It’s challenging. That’s what makes it so rewarding. It can be stressful if approached the wrong way, but it can be uplifting and a whole lot of fun if done the right way. What would be the point if it was all too easy!? The key is to relax with it. Throw away the spiritual robes and allow yourself to be authentically human!

Marcus

The Media Fast: Go Hungry Today

In his highly thought-provoking book The 4-hour Work Week, professional young vagabond Timothy Ferris recommends taking a complete media fast (see my review of Ferriss' book here). That is, he suggests stopping watching, listening to and surfing the news media in all its forms - indefinitely. Ferriss recommends a total fast, but that is probably more than many people would prefer. I would include myself in that category. I prefer to be selective in what I read and watch in the media. Nonetheless, I believe that it is highly beneficial to detach for periods of time from the mass media.

It is Ferriss' idea of the media fast that inspired me to include a media fast day in my Urban Enlightenment booklet and workshop. Again, this is an easy-to-do process that anyone can apply - if they are prepared for a little discomfort as their daily routine changes. For greater effect, try turning off the media for longer periods, say 1-3 days, or even a week. 

The Media Fast is meant to be part of a 30-day programme, and will work best as it builds upon the attention-shifting processes outlined in Urban Enlightenment. (A one-off day is is less likely to be as deeply transformational). 

Here's the process in it's entirety. Give it a try!

The Media Fast

Newsflash: the media world isn’t real. That’s right. By ‘real’, I mean it does not project an impartial view of the world. Remember the first law of consciousness: what you focus upon expands, and the media focuses upon that which sells newspapers, airspace and that which gets viewers glued to the TV screen. By definition, the media brings to attention that which is loudest and that which captivates the attention. The problem is that your senses are a vestige of more ‘primitive’ human urges and needs. Your brain is ‘designed’ to be alert to the dangerous and the threatening; and to scan for possible procreation prospects! This is the way our minds and bodies have developed through millions of years of evolution.

The popular media exploits your primitive biological impulses, and locks you into a world of fright, flight, and another unmentionable ‘f’! Everything is distorted through the lens of the Darwinian mind. A plane may have crashed in Africa today, but another 100 000 planes took off and landed without a hitch – but that didn’t make the news. Nor did my stopping on the way to work on Tuesday to check if an old guy sleeping on the stairs downtown in Hong Kong was OK (he was just drunk).

The other issue is that the media presents a consensus reality that effectively brainwashes us. As just one small example, ideas related to Integrated Intelligence, which I have written about extensively, almost never appear in the mass media, and when they do it is often done so in a derisive manner. Clearly, such cognitive constraints can prevent us from activating our full mental potential.

Today your task is to completely detach from the media, no matter what! Do not read any newspapers, media-based magazines, web media, nor view any TV news media  and so on Instead, place your attention elsewhere. Make sure that while you are out and about that you note the REAL world around you. You will probably notice that you are not about to die, and that not everyone wants to have sex with you! Relax and enjoy your safe life in the security of the present moment, the only most real world you can ever experience.

Marcus