Clarifying our minds for the greater good!
Please take your time to read this carefully and think about each point – these are not trivial issues. If you are in a hurry then wait until you have time to give it proper consideration.
If these ideas resonate with you then pass it along the 'grape-vine' to those who you think may be interested in these things.
This document will evolve over time, the latest version is available at www.anandavala.info/STAR/
This document is expressed in an empirical context in order to be comprehensible to the greatest number of people but does not ignore or deny the transcendent context. See Clarifying Contexts
There is a systemic crisis in modern civilisation that permeates every aspect of our culture, our minds and our relationship with ourselves and the world. This is not a new phenomenon, it has been growing for thousands of years but is reaching a climax. We should neither deny it nor obsess about it but rather, understand it clearly and deal with it effectively. What is the Crisis?
"There are a thousand
hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the
root."(Thoreau)
Let us strike at the root! What
is the “root of evil”?
The primary approach of STAR is to deepen our concept of 'self'. The 'self' is experienced as an entity within a world (which is a cognitive phenomenon). Both are aspects of consciousness where the 'self' is the undifferentiated part and the 'world' is the differentiated part. Whilst ever the confusions within the mind are part of the undifferentiated entity the cognitive lens is distorted and the being experiences a distorted world. Over time unconscious aspects of the self are brought into the world and can be understood. When the confusions within the mind are themselves brought into the world they can be disentangled, thus clarifying the cognitive lens, making the world-experience comprehensible and able to be effectively handled.
For those at an early stage in this process of growing self-awareness it is impossible to clearly understand the latter stages of the process. When one is certain that the problem is "something out there in the world" it is very difficult to contemplate the possibility that the problem might actually dwell in our own assumptions and misconceptions. Therefore that is the place where very few people look and hence, that is exactly the place where STAR strives to look.
STAR is not about working from common assumptions and misconceptions about what we are, what the world is, what the problem is and what the solutions are - people have done this for thousands of years with NO SUCCESS - and there are currently millions of people and thousands of organisations still doing this. STAR is something different!
This process seeks to bring together a core group of minds that are ready to formulate a radically new paradigm and share it with the world for the greater good.
The purpose of STAR is: To create a self-organising chaordic organisation (intentional memeplex) based around shared purpose and principles. It is for people who are willing to put in serious effort and serious soul searching to overcome the conditioning that traps us in destructive ways of being. To do what is necessary to undergo the paradigm shift and get beyond our current misconceptions that are at the heart of the crisis. To get beyond our current level of thinking and discover or share a new way to approach things that cuts through thousands of years of propaganda, confusion and psychological conditioning, and gets to the root of the problems throughout civilisation.
The sole objective is to collectively work towards greater clarity that results in effective solutions. It won't be for the feint hearted; it will be striking at the root of delusion in the modern world in no uncertain terms. We will be seeking to discover ways to bring a lasting peaceful resolution to the global crisis through growing awareness, understanding, communication and effective peaceful mass participation.
See Simplified Anatomy of the Global Systemic Crisis and How to Heal Civilisation for a preliminary map of the problem and solution space and see more on the process of its development and application.
The principles of STAR are: Willingness and ability to REALLY think about the issues and not just play with shallow conceptualisations. All tendencies to avoid certain issues or slide over them in a shallow manner will need to be held in check in order to effectively participate. Willingness and ability to question ones own assumptions and misconceptions as well as those of others. Clear, open, honest and collaborative communication in the interests of working towards mutual understanding. All entrenched opinions that are maintained in the face of clear evidence to the contrary will be dealt with as 'crooked' thinking. No propagandist manoeuvres will go unchallenged, whether deliberate or due to propagandist conditioning resulting in habitually 'crooked' thinking.
Everything is open to debate and nothing is beyond being brought into the discussion so long as it is relevant to the issue at hand or to the integrity of the discussion. The flowchart for a rational discourse will provide a general framework that is binding on all participants and can be called upon at any time to safeguard the coherence of the discussions. People must accept that the collaborative process takes precedence over all personal issues such as ego, reputation and cherished opinions. Truth is the only authority. It will take great clarity, focus, commitment, flexibility and earnestness to engage effectively with this process.
The exact form of the stated purpose and principles are open to debate and may change, but the spirit of self-enquiry and self-honesty combined with honest, open, direct, collaborative enquiry into root causes without personal politics or denial tactics, is central to STAR and will not change.
The STAR group is self-motivating, self-organising and guided by a common vision of what STAR is about. There is no centralised hierarchical structure and no personalities stamped upon the process. The aim is to engage in collaborative truth seeking and solution seeking beyond the bounds of the propaganda discourse, in the interests of the greater good of all.
This approach is difficult for most to comprehend let alone participate in. Hence there is much preparation required before STAR can begin. We are currently at the Pre-STAR phase, which is analogous to the pre-planning, logistics and training phase prior to a major expedition. The main purpose of Pre-STAR is to prepare the way for STAR by creating methodologies and procedures that will facilitate the success of STAR. The primary result of this phase will be an effective process / learning-trail that will help prepare people to be able to participate effectively in STAR.
For more information read:
Changing How we think for the sake of all Distilled essence of my input to a conversation on the Global Mindshift forum. It has been arranged and minimally edited to express the emerging vision within that conversation.
The Objective Information Processes & Virtual Subjective Experiences Hypothesis: A bottom up reformulation of the philosophical foundations of science without the distortions of naïve realism and all the problems and paradoxes that it entails.
The Gaian-Ego Hypothesis: A Systems Analysis of Organisation, Ego, Control and Authoritarianism. This book provides a detailed analysis of the nature of the ego and the formation of the collective ego. It doesn't suggest solutions, but merely informs us of the nature of the situation. Given a diagnosis of the dis-ease we are empowered to work towards an effective solution.
The Depths of the Inner Sea: Humour has a way of saying things in a simple yet effective way and Michael Leunig has a gift for expressing the uncomfortable truth of everyday life. Here is a short story of awakening using some of his cartoons connected by very brief comments.