Firstly, let's review some basic concepts. In my blog post DEISM I: WHAT IS DEISM? I defined God as: (1) That great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; (2) as that than which none greater can be conceived, which is (3) the sum total of all that exists with absolute awareness of all its parts. And, in DEISM II: METAPHYSICAL MODEL, I concluded that (1) within "the sum total of all that exists" there are two absolute worlds or levels of awareness: the first is Primal-Heaven, wherein there is primal spirit and absolute awareness, and the second is Primal-Earth, wherein there is primal matter and absolute non-awareness; (2) that there were five worlds in-between those absolutes in descending order: Higher-Heaven, the Otherworld (a world wherein there exists a balance between spirit and matter, selflessness and selfishness, forces of expansion and contraction, and awareness and non-awareness), Middle-Earth (the world of human beings), and Lower-Earth (the world of the other organic life forms, such as microbes, plants, insects and animals); (3) awareness grows at the level of Primal-Earth and through reincarnation souls spiral upward through all the levels until they achieve oneness at the level of Primal-Heaven.
Secondly, let's review the conclusions in my blog post PONDERING LOWER-EARTH. I concluded that (1) souls are fragments of Absolute Awareness, (2) Lower-Earth souls exist as some form of an unindividuated collective that projects itself into physical lifeforms, all of which lack the possibility of Dasein, which is an entity "distinguished by the fact that, in its very Being, that Being is an issue for it," (3) there is a span of awareness in Lower-Earth from its boundaries with Primal-Earth and Middle-Earth, (4) as projections of Lower-Earth souls achieve Awareness of Individuation they cross the boundary into Middle-Earth, and (5) the process of evolution from the more simple to the more complex is synchronous with the process of the ascension of the soul.
The difficulty in trying to understand Middle-Earth metaphysically lies in the fact that it is the level that we exist in. When I concluded that Lower-Earth was a level of awareness that lacked the individuation of Dasein, I was able to do so because of knowing that human beings have it. I don't know what awareness the Otherworld has, or where lies the boundary between our worlds. Although this is a difficulty, it is not an impossibility, at least not entirely.
There are some quick conclusions that we can make from what has been concluded thus far. As Lower-Earth has a span of awareness between its boundaries with Primal-Earth and Middle-Earth, so too must there be a span of awareness between Middle-Earth's boundaries with Lower-Earth and the Otherworld. This means that not all souls are at the same level within Middle-Earth. Some souls are new arrivals from Lower-Earth, some are at the boundary of the Otherworld and others are at various levels in-between. However, all are growing and learning according to their distinct levels and abilities.
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| United States Declaration of Independence (1776). |
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
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| "Thomas Jefferson" by Rembrandt Peale (1799). |
From a political point of view, there is but a single principle; the sovereignty of man over himself. This sovereignty of myself over myself is called Liberty. Where two or three of these sovereignties are combined, the state begins. But in that association association there is no abdication. Each sovereignty concedes a certain quantity of itself, for the purpose of forming the common right. This quantity is the same for all of us. This identity of concession which each makes to all, is called Equality. Common right is nothing else than the protection of all beaming on the right of each. This protection of all over each is called Fraternity. The point of intersection of all these assembled sovereignties is called society. This intersection being a junction, this point is a knot. Hence what is called the social bond. Some say social contract; which is the same thing, the word contract being etymologically formed with the idea of a bond. Let us come to an understanding about equality; for, if liberty is the summit, equality is the base. Equality, citizens, is not wholly a surface vegetation, a society of great blades of grass and tiny oaks; a proximity of jealousies which render each other null and void; legally speaking, it is all aptitudes possessed of the same opportunity; politically, it is all votes possessed of the same weight; religiously, it is all consciences possessed of the same right.
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| An NPC meme found on Reddit (2019). |
NYTimes:
NPC means “nonplayable character” or “nonplayer character.” It’s a term, borrowed from the world of video games, for a character that is controlled by the computer rather than by a player. An NPC often advances the game’s plot by saying scripted lines, or assisting the playable characters in some way.
[...]
Several months ago, users on 4chan and Reddit, the online message forums, started using the term NPC to refer to liberals. These people, they said, join the anti-Trump crowd not because they are led by independent thought or conscience to oppose President Trump’s policies, but because they’re brainwashed sheep who have been conditioned to parrot left-wing orthodoxy, in the manner of a scripted character.
As a Reddit user, BasedMedicalDoctor, explains in a thread about the appeal of the meme, NPCs are “completely dependent on their programming, and can’t do or think on their own.”I think that there is something to the NPC meme, but I would not describe it as a soulless human being. I think that there are many human beings out there that are new arrivals to Middle-Earth, or at least lower in awareness, and therefore have less developed souls.
As an aside, it could be possible that we have more NPC-types in ratio to more developed souls because of the increase of pets over the last few hundred years. It could very well be that close interactions between Middle-Earth entities and Lower-Earth entities could cause the awareness growing process in Lower-Earth souls to speed up, possibly because it gives more opportunities to learn and experience. Furthermore, this speeding up of the growth of awareness could lead to an increase in their incarnation into Middle-Earth. That being said, I know that animals have been domesticated and have lived closely with humans for tens of thousands of years. However, there are many more human beings on the planet than ever before in recorded history and therefore there are many more pets. There are also a great many people that treat their pets like children and have a closer relationship with them than with other human beings. This is definitely a possibility worth mentioning.
As another aside, I would like to point out that there is also a possibility that there may be humans who possess souls from the Otherworld, Middle-Heaven, or even possibly, Higher-Heaven. I have not found any logical reason within my metaphysical model that would prohibit this. The incarnations of the Hindu avatars, Jesus Christ, the Buddhist Bodhisattva and Buddhas all reflect the concept of entities of higher awareness reincarnating in Middle-Earth for specific reasons, or to help humanity in some way. I would like to explore these ideas a bit more in another post.
Alright, back to Middle-Earth. As I said already, we don't know what the difference in awareness is between Middle-Earth and the Otherworld, but there are some patterns. First, at the level of the Otherworld, there is an equal balance of spirit and matter. Second, at Primal-Earth there in non-awareness, which begins to grow at Lower-Earth where souls exist as a form of unindividuated collective. These souls gain awareness of individuation at Middle-Earth where they have the possibility of Dasein, which is an entity "distinguished by the fact that, in its very Being, that Being is an issue for it."
Thus, we could conclude that Otherworldly awareness already has Dasein as a given. We could also conclude that Otherworld souls have true free will. Many people may think that we already have true free will, but we do not. As human beings, we are still greatly subject to our human nature and societal and cultural pressures and influences, all of which are part of human nature. Human beings are subject to human nature and their choices are weighted in the directions of all that that implies. We have free will, but only to a degree. We do not have true free will.
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| George Ivanovich Gurdjieff (unknown date). |
In Search of the Miraculous, by P. D. Ouspensky:
"Man is a machine. All his deeds, actions, words, thoughts, feelings, convictions, opinions, and habits are the results of external influences, external impressions. Out of himself a man cannot produce a single thought, a single action. Everything he says, does, thinks, feels—all this happens. Man cannot discover anything, invent anything."
"It all happens."
"To establish this fact for oneself, to understand it, to be convinced of its truth, means getting rid of a thousand illusions about man, about his being creative and consciously organizing his own life, and so on. There is nothing of this kind."
"Everything happens—popular movements, wars, revolutions, changes of government, all this happens. And it happens in exactly the same way as everything happens in the life of individual man. Man is born, lives, dies, builds houses, writes books, not as he wants to, but as it happens. Everything happens. Man does not love, hate, desire—all this happens."
"But no one will ever believe you if you tell him he can do nothing. This is the most offensive and the most unpleasant thing you can tell people. It is particularly unpleasant and offensive because it is the truth, and nobody wants to know the truth."
"When you understand this it will be easier for us to talk. But it is one thing to understand with the mind and another thing to feel it with one's "whole mass,' to be really convinced that it is so and never forget it."
[...]
"Try to understand what I am saying: everything is dependent on everything else, everything is connected, nothing is separate. Therefore everything is going in the only way it can go. If people were different everything would be different. They are what they are, so everything is as it is."Gurdjieff also said some metaphysical things that I am going to borrow.
In Search of the Miraculous:
Somewhere about this time I was very much struck by a talk about the sun, the planets, and the moon. I do not remember how this talk began. But I remember that G. drew a small diagram and tried to explain what he called the "correlation of forces in different worlds." This was in connection with the previous talk, that is, in connection with the influences acting on humanity. The idea was roughly this: humanity, or more correctly, organic life on earth, is acted upon simultaneously by influences proceeding from various sources and different worlds: influences from the planets, influences from the moon, influences from the sun, influences from the stars. All these influences act simultaneously; one influence predominates at one moment and another influence at another moment. And for man there is a certain possibility of making a choice of influences; in other words, of passing from one influence to another.Keep in mind that when Gurdjieff is talking about the planets, moon, sun, and planets, he is essentially talking about higher levels of awareness, according to his system called the Ray of Creation. What he is saying is that these higher worlds exert various influences upon human beings. Let's look at it this way. I have already concluded that "the process of evolution from the more simple to the more complex is synchronous with the process of the ascension of the soul." And that means that the synchronicity involves the soul influencing physical evolution and physical evolution influencing the soul by offering opportunities for experience, learning, and growing awareness. I would also note that this further implies that genes and genetic evolution are also connected to soul awareness and thus, it is a possibility that genetics must align with a soul before a soul can reincarnate into a physical body.
Therefore we already have a prime example of spirit influencing matter. Experiments in quantum mechanics have already shown how observations can affect reality at the quantum level. Furthermore, the very nature of my metaphysical implies that spirit can affect matter, as God is defined as "the sum total of all that exists with absolute awareness of all its parts." By this very definition, all things are connected and can, therefore, exert an influence on everything else, like gravity. Therefore, the idea that higher levels of awareness influence Middle-Earth is not only possible but a given.
In Search of the Miraculous:
"To explain how, would need a very long talk," said G. "So we will talk about this some other time. At this moment I want you to understand one thing: it is impossible to become free from one influence without becoming subject to another. The whole thing, all work on oneself, consists in choosing the influence to which you wish to subject yourself, and actually falling under this influence. And for this it is necessary to know beforehand which influence is the more profitable."What Gurdjieff is suggesting is that here on Middle-Earth we do not have true free will, but only the possibility of choosing the influences presented to us at any given moment.
Therefore, I conclude thus far that Middle-Earth is a place for developing individuated souls and strengthening the will, which can only be done by choosing those influences most favorable to our being, our true self—that is, the soul must exert its influence over us that we may choose that which is aligned with its nature. Free will is a choice based on preference, not a weighted, or coerced choice. By choosing those influences that we fall under that are most aligned with our soul, we are exercising will in a more freer way.
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| The yin-yang symbol, tàijítú (太極圖). |
The growth of awareness is a struggle between To Be or Not To Be. It is not easy and it is not supposed to be. In Middle-Earth, it is a fight to choose the right influence to fall under at any given moment. And this is why knowledge of what exists and the influences for which we can choose to fall under are so important. Because we have to know something to respect it, and we have to respect it to love it because we can only fight for that which we love.





