| It always amazes me when I meet someone who has | | | | jump, you have to consider that he uses a logarithmic |
| a disdain for expansion of knowledge. | | | | scale of 0 to 1000, with 1000 being the highest state of |
| The other day, over lunch, I was arguing with a girl | | | | measurement on this planet, exemplified by the Christ |
| about a principle of abundance. I illustrated this principle | | | | Consciousness. A rise of well over a 100 points for our |
| with anecdotes about historically famous millionaires | | | | species is enormous considering a significant rise in |
| who had applied this principle successfully. | | | | consciousness is about 5 points in a single lifetime. |
| Her response: âI can't use this information. It | | | | In Vedantic literature, the highest values are considered |
| doesn't come from my experience.â | | | | to be Jnana and Bhakti. Jnana is knowledge of the |
| Since her idea of reality was only what fell into her | | | | absolute; it is recognizing the field of pure potentiality, |
| immediate experience she was discounting the | | | | the quantum soup, from which all manifested things |
| possibility of knowing anything outside it. Yet, unless | | | | arise. When this Jnana is reached, a state referred to |
| she was willing to acknowledge the possibility of | | | | as enlightenment, or satori, or connecting with the |
| something outside her immediate circle of influence, | | | | Christ Mind predominates; at this point true Bhakti, the |
| how could she invite the actuality of the experience. | | | | unconditional love for all life, emerges. |
| Unless one has a hypothesis, experimentation is not an | | | | Thus the pursuit of knowledge, whether exoteric or |
| option. | | | | esoteric, is of supreme value. Exoteric knowledge |
| Here is another example. During a certain period of | | | | allows for a greater power in the world of matter. |
| time, a friend of mine and I, while working and living in | | | | Esoteric knowledge allows for the next step in |
| similar circumstances, developed a completely different | | | | consciousness, living beyond conditioned thinking in the |
| view of reality. During this time, I read books on | | | | pristine quality of the moment. |
| super-string theory, quantum mechanics, occult | | | | What I find fascinating is the idea that both exoteric |
| phenomena, and strategic thinking. My mind was | | | | knowledge, exemplified by science, and esoteric |
| exploding with the richness of the world that I had | | | | knowledge, exemplified by mysticism, appear to be |
| uncovered. She, on the other hand, preferred to live | | | | reaching a common consensus about the nature of |
| within the range of her limited experiences. My life took | | | | reality, the nature of ourselves, and the purpose of life. |
| a quantum leap for the better, hers remained the | | | | Since we cannot, due to the limitations of time-space, |
| same. | | | | learn through direct experience, we must rely on |
| Since my college days, I have consumed an average | | | | vicarious experience. In a single book, a man's |
| of three books a week. My view of the world since | | | | condensed knowledge can be transmitted to your |
| those days has expanded so enormously, and my | | | | brain. It took Albert Einstein many years to formulate |
| experience of my life and of myself has grown so | | | | the Special and the General Theory of Relativity, and |
| exponentially that I barely recognize the person I used | | | | behind his breakthrough was the research and the |
| to be. | | | | pondering of hundreds of the finest minds. Yet, in a |
| In my view, the development of the printing press and | | | | week, given a 200 page book, I can grasp the |
| the genius of the global brain called the Internet, have | | | | essentials of what took so long to discover. This is |
| been inventions of such massive importance that they | | | | nothing short of miraculous. |
| have accelerated the development of consciousness | | | | Sometimes, I meet people whom I have not spoken to |
| to an unbelievable extent. | | | | in years. I find that mentally they have as little |
| In this century, we have experienced more awareness | | | | understanding of themselves and the world around |
| than at any other time in history. Never before have | | | | them as when I knew them before. They even have |
| we, as a species, been aware of so much possibility, | | | | the same problems that they used to have. |
| so much power, and so much diversity. Perhaps, | | | | One does not have to be an intellectual to read a |
| somewhere along the line, there is a distinct possibility | | | | book; one merely has to be curious. And if our species |
| that we will even give up our brutality. | | | | were not curious, we would still be in the neolithic age. |
| Dr. David Hawkins, who uses a unique method to | | | | Books are magical apparitions. Time-bending |
| measure the expansion of consciousness using the | | | | messages. The wisdom of Socrates or Marcus |
| non-linear dimension, has concluded that at the time of | | | | Aurelius can inform my decisions today in the 21st |
| the Buddha, the average consciousness of all of | | | | century. And now with the advent of the Internet, |
| mankind was around 80; during the time of Christ, it | | | | knowledge will expand so rapidly that before the end |
| was around 100; and during the present day, it is | | | | of this century hover-cars and the scourge of horrific |
| around 200 to 210. To appreciate the enormity of this | | | | mental and physical maladies will be a thing of the past. |