The Last World-Bender

Man is a multi-brained and multi-natured being. His nature bridges, and partakes in, multiple ‘worlds’. Being formed from the interaction of different worlds brings ‘tensions’ and ‘contradiction’ into man’s life. The ‘reconciliation’ of the different worlds is an ongoing work, it takes work in order for the different worlds to interact in a mutual and harmonious way. The action that makes the different worlds compatible and brings them into reciprocal relation is ongoing.

The difference between worlds brings ‘tensions’, and these ‘tensions’ may express differently depending on the nature of their medium of expression. Part of man’s nature and function concerns his role as a medium of expression for the interaction of different worlds. Man enables different worlds to come together and interact, and he is also a means of expression to this action. The presence of different worlds also provides the means for ‘hazard’ and ‘uncertainty’ in the working of reality. The presence of different worlds, that are enabled to interact, provides the means for different possible outcomes to processes and events. That each world has its own nature and a degree of independence means that there can be diversity in their meeting and interaction and its results. The meeting places of different worlds provide ‘ways in’ to different kinds of occurrence and results. Though these interactions and results are governed by ‘laws’, in a given instance of interaction between the different worlds there can be the inability to determine beforehand what is going to happen and its results. This is because it is possible for change to occur in the moment, and this change is related to the degree of independence of the different worlds in how they contribute to the results.

One expression of the presence of different worlds can be the subjective experience in which not all the contributing worlds or elements, that are involved in some interaction, are brought into the sphere of the knowledge and awareness of the subject. This means that there can be ‘unexpectednesses’ and unforeseeingnesses’ etc. Another expression of the presence and participation in different worlds can be in the experience of the ‘inner’ and ‘outer’. One crude example of ‘inner’ and ‘outer’ can given in terms of the ‘mind’ and ‘senses’, that which is ‘mental’ being ‘inner’ and that which is ‘sensory’ being ‘outer’. The mental and sensory worlds can be seen to have different natures and to operate according to different laws. We participate differently in each of the two worlds, and this brings ‘tension’ into our experience.

An expression of this ‘tension’ between the mental and sensory worlds can be given in terms of the difference between mental and physical ‘objects’ or material. We work and interact differently with the different kind of ‘object’ that is present in each world. The interaction of mental ‘objects’ occurs in a different way to that of the senses and physical objects. When we are engaged in some physical action and process, we are simultaneously engaged in its mental counterpart. These two processes are linked, in ‘space and time’, even though they each operate in a different way with a different ‘form and sequence’. These two processes can not only link and interact in different ways, but we can also be aware of them and their given interaction to different degrees. We can be more or less aware of the given form of interaction between the two worlds, and we can be more or less involved in influencing this form of interaction and its results.

The presence of the two different worlds means that we participate in them in a different way. A mental action can not only occur ‘before’ or ‘after’ its physical counterpart, it also occurs in a different way, with a different form and sequence to its process. My mental experience of the process of lighting a fire, for example, is different to my physical experience of the process. The fire is lit in the mind in a different way to how the physical fire is lit, or is lit in my senses. The process is gone through in a different way in the mind and senses, and these two are tied together in the over all or total action and process. A different form of freedom and limitation is present in the different worlds and their processes. A tension can then arise when two different forms of freedom and limitation are experienced together. The difference between them is highlighted and this can give rise to an energy that may manifest in different ways. The mental ‘log’ that is used to light the fire offers a different form of ‘resistance’ to the sensory log. For instance, the mental log may happen to be placed exactly in the ‘right’ place or where one wants it etc, whereas the sensory log may be ‘misplaced’ and perhaps have to be re-placed into the wanted position. This difference between the mental and sensory processes can cause such as ‘identification’. On expression of this identification can come in the form of negative emotional reaction, such as when we may perhaps make a mistake with the physical process or sensory object. This negative emotional reaction is due, in part, to the fact that man already experiences a different form of freedom and limitation in the mental world to what he experiences in the physical world.

Intentional connection between the mental and physical worlds, and their differing forms of process, can aid in the conscious, rather than mechanical, completion and fulfilment of some task or event. This connecting of the mental and physical worlds can aid against negativity and identification, but it involves more than just ‘thinking about what one is doing in the sensory world as one does it’ and also more than just ‘paying attention to what one is doing as one does it’. There has to be greater participation in the mental ‘version’ or aspect to the given task, event, or action etc. This also has to be accompanied by greater participation in the physical and sensory aspect to the process. Going through the mental act or action that is involved in lighting the fire means something more, and not less, than ‘imagination’, as it concerns direct participation in the mental world.

One expression of greater participation in the mental world, and the greater intentional connection between it and the physical world, can concern the aspects of ‘being’ and ‘essence’. Greater participation in the mental world gives a greater appreciation of the ‘being’ and ‘essence’ of the elements involved in some process, how these different ‘beings’ and ‘essences’ are related and interact. In the lighting of the fire, there is greater insight and participation in the being and essence of such as smoke, flame, wood, coal etc. This goes beyond simply engaging the physical and sensory aspect to the process or elements.

A beginning to the intentional connection and participation in the mental and physical worlds, can come in the form of making efforts to keep the mind active in some direction whilst engaged in some physical task or action. This can be used to aid against identification and negative reaction to the physical task or action. The mind may ‘separate’ from the habitual emotional reactions that arise from the physical process and its resistance or nature. This can then liberate the emotion from the habitual reaction, by removing one of its means of support, that is the habitual mind. This effort can change the form of relation between the mental and sensory worlds, and it can provide another means for the energy, of the tension between worlds, to manifest in a different way. This way can be creative and reconciling, such that man can come into alignment in both the mental and physical worlds, coming to make something from them, making something from his own act of reconciliation in regard to his different natures and worlds.