Third Force

The individual is important, but not at the expense of the group. The group is important, but not at the expense of the individual.

The ‘partnership model’ vs the ‘dominator model’.

Group consciousness can achieve much. The organising around the same aims. However a collective stuck in habitual activity reaches a kind of limitation. Once all our basic needs are satisfied, what else is left?

Now, from an evolutionary point of view, group consciousness has considerable advantages. But a mechanical existence, propped up by tradition, cannot produce Da Vinci’s, Shakespeare's, Hypatia’s, Aspasia’s, Bach’s or Nicola Tesla’s. All societies need its progressive men and women genius of its day.

The case could be made that it took Left brain consciousness to create modern civilisation. That is because left brain consciousness is simply a far more efficient method of evolution. A talented left brain individual like Thales or Pythagoras or Plato, produces important ideas. And these ideas are disseminated by means of writing-influencing the many-the power of expanding perspectives, similar to the role of shaman.

The dangers with exclusive left brain consciousness is that it has a habit of frustration turned on to the rest of society. It can rationalise cruelty. Think the Empire growth model or the corporate. In contrast the right brain collective can lack desire for progressive change. Preferring less structure, foundation and grounding. The outlier who chooses to go against the grain, can be singled out as a threat to the established social order, and risks punishment as a result.

Any cultural transformation, for good intent(an ascending octave)- or for bad intend (a descending octave)of any society, requires third force. A breakthrough that can occur through right knowledge.

Goodwill and understanding alone can change nothing. In a world in which the forces are in equilibrium, change can only be brought about by a third force.

But what is third force?

In his Experiment in Autobiography H.G. Wells pointed out that ever since the beginning of life, most creatures have been ‘up against it’. Their lives are a drama of struggle against the forces of nature. Yet nowadays, you can say to a man: ‘Yes, you earn a living, you support a family, you love and hate, but - what do you do-who really are you?’ His real interest may be in something else - art, science, literature, philosophy. As the bird is a creature of the air, the fish is a creature of the water - man is a creature of mind.

An unconscious being thinks he has freewill but he has almost non. Human nature cannot be changed by wishful thinking.

Humans possess self awareness and the ability of self reflection. From the moment man began to perform any kind of religious rite - carving sun discs, burying the dead with funeral observances - he now reached a higher level of consciousness. With observations of the heavens, worship of the moon goddess, hunting magic (with priestess as shaman) and a life whose rhythms were those of nature.

As an individual, isolated in left-brain consciousness, man began to use his mind in a new way. Pythagoras invented the word ‘philosophy’ - love of wisdom: that is, love of knowledge for its own sake, not for any practical purpose that it might serve. Plato describes how Socrates stood in the same spot for a whole day and night in quiet contemplation, preoccupied with some philosophical problem.

However man is not solely a creature of the mind. There is an intuitive part of man. Yet he continues this odd faculty of living inside his own head. The chief development in man in the past few centuries has been a development of imagination. But at this point we became aware of a new problem. The escape from this world was so intoxicating that many lost all sense of material reality. Romantic poets, painters and musicians - found the world of fantasy so greatly preferable to the harsh realities of life that they began committing suicide, or dying of substance abuse in alarming numbers. The typical artist archetype of the nineteenth century was an ‘Outsider’, who felt miserable and alienated. De L’Isle Adam’s Axel summed it up in the words: ‘As for the living, our servants can do that for us.’

When the average person is faced with a challenge they are awakened. But with no struggle, the leisure conundrum inhibits the growth of interior and exterior experience. The human's true capacity almost dies. For the spirit’s angst is driven to find purpose.

The truth is that although the development of human intentional imagination in the past three centuries has been extraordinary, it is not powerful enough to keep us in the present moment always and everywhere. We drift into the past, we drift into the future, we get lost in a passive daydream. We become an unconscious state.

As we look at the matter closely, it becomes obvious that this development of the imagination with intent, is the third force that can alter the course of human evolution. Our technological civilisation has created more freedom than man has experienced in his whole (by our standards) recorded history, yet he is not aware of his sovereignty. His spirit feels bored, trapped and restless.

Third force creates a sense of freedom. Being in the present moment is peak experience. These experiences always produce an overwhelming sense of authenticity-the reality of freedom becomes something attainable. In such moments, our usual sense of lack of freedom is seen as an illusion. The enlightened know that freedom is always here, and they simply learn to lift the veil, reconnect and align with it. To see it is like a painting made up of small dots from which only as you step back, a face suddenly emerges. And once you can see it, you can always go back and see it again.

We can be sure that our ancestors of thousands of years ago found it far easier to induce peak experiences, for they were relaxed and close to nature. Then came the dominant culture of Left brain consciousness, which induced a kind of reality tunnel. Closing down other innate human faculties. Thankfully through creativity can one throw off the tunnel vision and can once again regain consciousness of true freedom.

What lessons has 'peak experience' have to offer? It brings a sense of delight and courage - in fact, we see courage as being of central importance. We also see that the peak experience depends on a high degree of inner pressure. If we wish to live in such a way that we have regular peak experiences then we need to maintain an air of gratitude and self realisation.

In conclusion it was necessary for human evolution for us to break away from the limitations of collective consciousness. Even though it still has its enormous communal survival advantages. The new left brain consciousness served to break away from mindless habitual traditions. In Dostoevsky’ Possessed, the character Svidrigailov says that he dreamed of eternity the other night, and that it was like a narrow room full of cobwebs. This is a symbol of left-brain consciousness. When galvanised by courage and optimised, it is capable of a far greater intensity and self mastery.

The occult magi tradition states that the trick is the ability to naturally achieve peak experience right brain consciousness - the mode of nonverbal, synthetical, present moment, analogical, non temporal, non rational, spatial, intuitive and holistic. In spite of the trappings of left brain dominance- mode of the verbal, analytical, symbolic, abstract, temporal, rational, digital, logical and linear thinking.

‘Those who have no will find themselves tormented by phantoms of their own making, and the gates of peace closed to them.’

Left brainers can induce right brain consciousness. But the typical right brainer can’t so readily access left brain consciousness. Which means that, at this point in evolution, left brainers have some advantage in a modern age. But if we were to observe indigenous communities, their rich collective awareness-modern consciousness seems barren and constricted. There is little to no reverence for the spirit world.

The shamans access the hidden powers of the labyrinth that is mind. In some ways they are far more efficient than we are. To really inner-stand this comes as something of a revelation, which teaches us a great deal about what it means to be truly human.

Right-brain awareness is like a broad, gentle flowing river fooding the chambers of the psyche. Left brain awareness is like a powerful jet of water-single minded and determined. Both powerful attributes when working in unison.

The Zen teachers understood that the flash of insight cannot be achieved by explanation; it comes to one spontaneously. Try as you may, one cannot reach Kether through mind.

The recognition that consciousness raising is very much an attainable art form. When we add a spirit of rebellion, angst can be an instigator for change. The counterculture anarchist as a force, when it doesn’t reduce everything into ashes, can ignite a fire so bright-that it’s impossible to completely extinguish for long.

All the enlightened are anarchists...but not all anarchists are enlightened.