LEVELS OF ATTRACTION

In the last Reflection I wrote about Levels of Reality to distinguish the dimensions of inner and outer reality and some of the multiple levels in each of those. The term “reality” is not a monolithic term referring to a singular thing. What is real depends on the dimension in which w are referring. The two primary dimensions are within our nervous system-brain (inner reality) and “out there” beyond all of our interpretations, understandings, information processing, communication about it (outer reality).

To fail to make this critical distinction confuses map and territory. Some people who confuse the two are fanatics. For a fanatic, his or her map is the one, the only, the true, the only true map. It is real. It is the territory, and woe be unto the person who questions it! Eric Hoffer called this kind of person a “true believer.” For the fanatic the primary purpose in life is imposing the maps on others and even on the world.

There are others who confuse map and territory. One group doe so by assuming that whatever they map is real or is going to be real. This is a delusion however. The delusion is that they have that kind of power in their mapping and that the only possible thing that could be wrong in life, in the world, is that they are just not mapping enough— believing enough, imagining enough, intending enough, etc.

The problem in this is that they think that they can map anything, and that whatever they think, they make it so. This over-simplistic understanding of reality forgets that we are mapping a territory and that the territory has to be taken into account in the mapping. It’s the old thing of taking a map of London and trying to navigate around any other city on the planet. It won’t work! Sure, there will be a few streets with the same name, perhaps a similar river or mountain, but for the most part that map is not designed for any territory other than London.

Mapping does not create external reality. By mapping we create some of our internal reality —our subjective reality so that it calls our beliefs, identities, hopes, dreams, intentions, etc. into being. And as our mapping interacts with the constraints of our body, our context, our mind, our nervous system, we are able to tap into the predispositions, talents, and potentials and create something new from all of those components.

It was on this note that I ended Meta Reflection #23 regarding the givens and constraints of the world. Yes indeed thinking makes it so to quote Shakespear, but thinking does not make everything so and it does not dismiss or automatically over-ride the givens and constraints of reality. Mostly, the thinking that “makes it so” refers to our self-reflexive thinking, the thinking we engage in as we create our inner models of ourselves, our world, our place in the world, etc.

It is on the inside, in that inner world of our subjective reality made out of the thousands of belief frames, intention frames, decision frames, understanding frames, identity frames, permission frames, etc. that “as we think, so we are.” This is the domain of psychology, of your inner psycho-logics. As you map things with your thinking, believing, and framing— so your brain and nervous system attempts to “make it real.” It does this first and foremost inside your body as your representations on the theater of your mind which then, in turn, sends messages to your body and all of your higher belief frames sends commands to your body.

No wonder it’s so critical to learn all you can of your Movie Mind—becoming conscious of your representations and how to edit the cinematic features with as much skill and elegance as possible (see MovieMind or any good NLP Introduction). And no wonder it is even more critical to learn all you can of your higher self-reflexive mind —your meta-states so that you can become conscious of the frames you have set and continue to set. Awareness of that level of your mind puts you at choice point in your psychology. Then you are able to elect what to set as your desired frames (see Winning the Inner Game).

Think of these first two meta-dimensions as levels of attraction. Attraction at the first level, the level of representation is pretty powerful. What you picture in your mind and all the qualities of sound, sensation, smell, etc. that you edit into those images powerfully influences what you create in yourself and your world. This is the place of imagination— images, inwardly “seeing” your goals, hopes, dreams, or fears, dreads, worries, angers, resentments. Twenty some years ago in Dallas, Texas the cancer researchers discovered the power of images and imagination. And for longer than that, athletes have known the power of “seeing” their best practices in their minds from Jack Nicholson’s famous quote about only hitting the golf ball after he creates a little movie of a perfect shot.

Yet if that level of attraction is power, the meta-state level is a hundred times more effective. This is the level of belief. It is the level when we take our representations and step back and confirm them with layers of validation so that we say to ourselves “This is real,” “This is the way it is.” “This is true.” Say that about anything and you will convince your nervous system that it is real and so you will feel and then act and try to bring into creation.

At this level we have to be careful, because as Jesus noted, “Be it unto you according to your belief.” Whatever you believe— true or false, heathy or sick, invigorating or dis-empowering, life-enhancing or morbid and neurotic — whatever you believe you will see the world in terms of it and attract things into your life to try to make it real. I say “try to make it real” because you may or you may not. It depends. If the map is really delusional, you won’t be it real at all. If the map does not take into consideration the facts of reality— physical facts, empirical facts, political facts, social facts, etc., then the map probably will not empower you to actualize it. You will end up frustrated, angry, confused, disillusioned, etc.

It is at this higher level also that we have the attraction of our intentions. Our intentions govern nearly everything. This is the executive level of consciousness where we get to decide, set our direction, choose our beliefs, choose our thoughts, behaviors, even our emotions. Of course, it does have to be acknowledged, appreciated, and owned. And when we do that, then we can align our attentions to our highest intentions. When it is not, we will suffer from IDD— intention deficient disorder and, living attentionally, be pushed to and fro by everything in our environment and head that grabs our attention. But, more about that next time.