Shamanism for the Age of Science: Awakening the Energy Body - Kenneth Smith 2018

Learning
The Formation of Reality

Characteristic of the order found in the first field, learning requires rules and methods to gather and make efficient sense of perceptions. This is where logic and reason enter; they have the ability to organize thought. Whether for computer programs, scientific inquiry, or journalistic reporting, logic requires the formation of a consistent set of beliefs or valid arguments. Without consistency, we can’t build on what has already been learned.

Although the pursuit of logic may seem at times tedious, an understanding of logical fallacy—a mistake made in a line of reasoning that invalidates it—is invaluable. It is wise to be watchful of the logic that shapes an argument, for it ends up shaping your world. It is a fallacy of logic to say that you are correct based on the use of force, for instance, or that you are correct because you are an authority on a subject, or when you appeal to pity in order to sway another.² Jumping on the bandwagon of what has come before or what everyone else is up to commits yet another fallacy of logic; it uses an appeal to what is generally considered to be true as proof that something is true. Even the argument “the scientific community knows this to be true” is a fallacy of logic. In practice, this type of argument may prevent what has been held as true to become obsolete, or it may prevent discovery. This is why fallacies should be removed from learning.

These examples are often deemed universal fallacies because they apply to all forms of logic, even those used by various professions, which have their own systems to build on prior knowledge. Different disciplines vary widely in their overall approach to what is being studied, the technical terms that render meaning, the inherent structure or logic, and the applications of knowledge. Measuring psychoanalysis against mechanistic physics isn’t appropriate while applying universal fallacies to test their integrity is not only appropriate but necessary.

Pertaining to the energy body, logic determines coherence, the harmony or imbalance of the various bits that go into cohesion. The strength and therefore the utility of cohesion hinge on well-crafted logic. Without this, cohesion is ill formed and dissipates. This is a key to understanding learning, the stabilization of a new cohesion. Awareness of the fallacies of logic guides us to avoid weak-kneed coherence by providing strength through objectivity. Through well-ordered logic we form the strongest, most resilient cohesion. Knowledge of the procedures and effects of building cohesion then forms the foundation for awakening the entire energy body. Without objectivity, we go hither and thither, spinning on a wheel that has no true reference to the natural human condition.

Objectivity is a tricky thing. Damasio makes the point that while the conscious mind is real, it must be investigated as a subjective experience. Don Juan says the individual assemblage point position determines a subjective experience and yet the world itself is objective; in other words, there is a uniform, constant domain of energy that is perceived differently by individuals. Two people may observe the exact same building, for example, but their experience varies. At the same time, different people may also share experience due to having similar assemblage-point locations. Common experience allows buildings to be constructed, scientists to achieve agreement, and cultures to form consensus. Don Juan goes on to emphasize the need for sobriety, for clearheadedness, of which objectivity is a part. Knowing the subjective side of interpretation provides a measure of objectivity.³

The scientific model offers an exquisite example of a procedure for learning, a method that instills objectivity. In its rarified form, nothing is arbitrarily dismissed or assumed to be true. This approach enables a highly detailed investigation and elucidation of the heretofore-unknown aspects of mind, body, and environment. The prevailing view of reality in our contemporary world has been markedly influenced by scientific inquiry.

Yet in practice science often becomes scientism. When practitioners become unduly glued to their thoughts, mental rigidity prevents discovery. Novel inquiry into new models of reality and new modes of perception stultifies. At this point, the revelations of science become something other than science. This takes a high toll on individuals and groups, such as when certain forms of medicine may be delayed in finding their way into the hands of those in need, or different views of the nature of time, space, and our relationship with a greater world are summarily dismissed.

By its very definition, the scientific method is based on rational logic. Reason, though, is like the channel markers leading to and from a port. It offers direction and context; it isn’t the thing itself. But what if you were to use other forms of perception, such as those permitting direct access to that which is being studied? Might you then have more data to examine, to formulate, and to use? And what if these skills had been honed over centuries to a professional level producing a new method of rigorous inquiry?

This is exactly what occurred during the growth of Taoism and the Toltec Way. Because more avenues of perception were used, learning was accelerated. And thus they were able to imagine, feel, and see and accurately map the energy body. Considerations of meridians and cohesion began to influence healing practices. In wider context, they produced a worldview, which included principles of learning such as those outlined here. As with any approach to learning, the new principles were based on their new worldview. Yet they did this in a way that they remained opened to further exploration and willing to let their view of things become obsolete; a hallmark of objectivity. This reflects the very purpose of recognizing fallacies of logic—to have some measure in order to better learn.

Enhanced learning is an effect of the Toltec method, and logic is a part of the mix. Comparing the two approaches—scientific and shamanic—serves to illustrate the greater process of building reality. Both views, whether we are talking about the behavior of planets or of energetic waveforms, are based on empirical observation. Toltec shamans simply use different capacities for observation, which result in different data, different learning, and different knowledge.

Enhancing Awareness

As important as learning and imagination are, the more the energy body wakes, the less meaning they have. Each is real, as real can be, and yet “real” is arbitrary. What is considered to be real hinges on a number of factors, including personal and cultural meaning, survival imperatives, and the current map of reality, to name a few, all of which reflect environmental factors impacting cohesion. As the conscious area of the energy body expands, a new dynamic unfolds. Learning and imagination are then equal parts of an active awareness that brings us closer to being. In this light, imagination and learning are part of a practical method to enhance awareness.

Learning applies to integrating awareness within the first field, and imagination provides great stimulation by generating more options. Imagination, on the other hand, develops the second field. It also concerns expanding awareness and therefore supports learning. Stretching the first field solely by learning more of the same known world occurs slowly. Deliberate use of imagination adds a vibrant dimension to learning as it brings into awareness substantially more and varied references. When used with the other cornerstones, learning and imagination offer a chance to dramatically leap into previously inconceivable vistas.

Imagination lends itself to rapid assemblage point shifts characterized by new cohesions. In a nutshell, imagination supplies the conditions to move the assemblage point; learning holds the new cohesion in place. The inordinate time needed for reason-based learning can be offset by the cornerstones of seeing, feeling, and imagination. Seeing permits unparalleled perception of the mechanics of the second field. Feeling provides the sense of the experience, a relationship for personal balance and direction, and guidance for deriving meaning. Imagination offers conscious exploration of unconscious domains.

The crux of becoming more conscious is to learn through imagination that we live in the midst of infinity, a perception that awareness of the third energy field stimulates. Not recognizing this may lead to stagnant perception and could be the harbinger of our species’ demise, as we might not be able to adapt to the significant challenges facing us as we remain stuck.

Imagine Learning

As commonly understood, learning often involves developing a wider and more detailed picture based on that which is already conscious, or at least readily available, like new information found in a library. Learning in this sense is more like hardening a veneer of awareness than actual learning.

To a significant extent, learning in any form requires imagination because learning necessitates opening further to something. Even if what you are learning is the ABCs, you must awaken to new possibilities that the alphabet exists and that it can be used for something. Moreover, nonrote problem solving is centered in imagination; novel solutions are inherently imaginative. Integrating the first and second fields simultaneously indicates the grounding of imagination and the opening of learning, and the correlate expansion of imagination and stabilization of learning. Imagination permits going beneath the surface of current assumptions into the unconscious to allow new propositions to be entertained, possibly to the point of their becoming concrete imaginings.

Once the value of imagination is acknowledged, then it can be refined. Learning solely through reason has become overaccentuated to the point that we have lost connection with imagination, even though it is one of the most reasonable aspects of the human condition.

Learning to Imagine

The utility of imagination hinges on how well you explore the potential of the second field and then integrate that experience into the first field; that is, how much potential becomes actualized, how much of the unconscious becomes conscious, and therefore how much is learned. In this pursuit, we can exhibit works characteristic of genius or we can become lost. While the focus of this book is positive development, awareness of the conscious-unconscious interactions also sheds light on many cognitive disorders. The writings of mystics and psychotics, for instance, are often similar. Yet mystics are able to integrate their otherworldly perceptions into their daily life while psychotics are ensnared by them, because they are unable to discriminate between potential and actual.

Imagination furnishes a way to shift your assemblage point. As it moves, you become aware of the nature and effects of the assemblage point, which reveals not only the mechanics of the energy body but the relativity of reality. Since interpretations of reality result from projections of the known world, imagination allows you to become more fluent with perception and less bound by psychological projection, a topic covered in chapter six. Seeing accelerates the shift and restabilization of the assemblage point, as you directly perceive the energetic causes and effects of your observations.

The intensity of the everyday world often hinders imagination. Ordinary tensions and worries, requirements of making money, upholding your place in a physical universe, and by the gravity, as it were, of trying to hold on to your worldview bind perception to a simple layer of life that only resembles being conscious. When this intensity diminishes, it’s like a screen is removed, revealing a free-flowing, vibrant universe of energy. It is not that your worldview is an illusion; it is as real as anything else and yet is only one of many possible cohesions. The energy required to hold a singular assemblage point position in place may drain your resources to an extent that you can’t reach other versions of reality.

Since our education normally does not include imagination as a principal feature in the formation of reality, it is all the more difficult to translate the unconscious into the conscious. Compounding the matter, we are often taught to dismiss imagination or at least relegate it to a minor role. Fortunately, thinkers such as Einstein provide us other options, if only in the often quoted, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.”⁴ Imagination, then, is not making things up; it is finding out what exists beyond the current boundaries of accepted reality. It delivers more consciousness.

The learning of imagination is like learning any other skill. You need a context to understand its nature, a desire to make it blossom, a sense of meaning that indicates why you should invest your time pursuing it, and a means to produce it. Then you practice and learn.