LAW OF THREE (59) The Purpose of Thinking

LAW OF THREE (59)

THE PURPOSE OF THINKING

"...thinking must never be regarded as merely a subjective activity. Thinking lies beyond subject and object. It produces these two concepts just as it produces all others. When, therefore, I, as thinking subject, refer a concept to an object, we must not regard this reference as something purely subjective. It is not the subject that makes the reference, but the thinking. The subject does not think because it is a subject; rather it appears to itself as a subject because it can think.

Rudolf Steiner. Intuitive Thinking as a Spiritual Path.

Thinking is a human experience. Its usefulness depend on how conscious we are of the thinking process and to what use we put it. The clarity of our awareness determines whether we think our thoughts or our thoughts think us. The first is real thinking and the second fictitious thinking.

'That we are thinking is real, while what we are thinking may be a fantasy' A. Blake

Thinking can be seen as a dialogue between thoughts, feelings, and sensations. It may consist of what I am, what I wish, and what I do, each voice claiming an independent I and an independent will.

Thinking arises out of conflicting aims and desires between voices.  Each with their respective semi-conscious or unconscious agendas. The need for discernment and reconciliation of conflicting aims and desires has given rise to the development of different psychological and spiritual targets, methods and techniques.

From an intellectual view of evolution, thinking needs to evolve into understanding by the practice of conscious dialogue or formulation.   From a devotional perspective, thinking is the necessary resisting force to let go in the way of surrendering our ego programs.

Both the intellectual and the devotional ways and methods bring stillness to the mind, facilitating the observation of its movements, sounds and articulations.

LAW OF THREE (58) Sin and The Law of Three

LAW OF THREE (58)

SIN AND THE LAW OF THREE

"Sin comes from a Greek word meaning to miss the mark, 'a term from the art of archery' What does missing the mark actually involve? It presupposes a target, which is called the bull's eye. A bow is the means by which the archer tries to launch the arrow into the centre of the target. The purpose of the art of archery is to hit the target every time or to get as closed to doing so as possible." Thomas Keating. Heartfullness.

In the same context Thomas Keating says: 'The psychological experience of a separate self sense is the root of all sin; get rid of that and there won't be any more sin."

From the perspective of the Law of Three, sin is a dual experiencein which the presence of the 3rd or reconciling force within is not felt. 

In Archery, when the archer, the arrow, and the target are in perfect alignement they become a unity. In this configuration the target does not exist as a separate entity: the target , as it were, enters creation when the archer is united with the target and the felt sense of separation no longer exists.**

Nearly three thousand years ago the 'omnipresence' of the bull's eye is explained in the Mahabharata (the sanskrit epic of ancient India)

"Dronacharya organised an archery competition to test the skills of his pupils. He kept a small wooden bird on a tree at a distance. He asked all the pupils to take aim at the wooden bird's eye. To every pupil he asked the question:'What do you see?

Each disciple replied the same: I can see the bird, leaves, fruits, sky, etc. Dronacharya's anwer was: 'put down the bow and leave.' 

The last one to be asked was Arjuna. Dronacharya asked him: 'what do you see?' He answered 'I can only see the eye of the bird', Dronacharya kept asking him if he could see other things but Arjuna replied,  'No teacher,  I can see nothing other than the eye of the bird.'  Dronacharya, happy with Arjuna's  response told him to shoot. The arrow sprang from the bow and went straight into the bird's eye."

**I am in God and God is in Me.

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LAW OF THREE (57) Attention, Carrier of the Third Force

LAW OF THREE (57)

ATTENTION, CARRIER OF THE THIRD FORCE

"We are carriers of the Third Force which we can bring into a situation through the power of Attention."      J.G. Bennett

 Attention is not another force in a triad, but the carrier of a force (the 3rd force) which we can bring into any situation. Attention directed to a point releases information.  If we put our attention to our left foot, information from our left foot will arise carried by our connected attention.  The information arising from the left foot will be the reconciling force of a first triad. 

One triad leads to another.  If the information received about our left foot is cause for concern and feel the the need to visit the doctor, need will become the active force in a succeeding triad where the resisting force will be the reluctance see a doctor.  Our indecision could be halted by contradictory circling thoughts preventing temporarily the entry of a new reconciling third force which would facilitate progression. However those circling thoughts may be brought to an end if a new alarming information enters in the form of a painful and swollen foot.  The new information may trigger the entry of the final decision to visit the doctor.

Information may come from different sources.   It may come from the present or from the past; from higher or from lower planes.   It may come from memory or it may come from intuition. .

If we direct our attention to our hand for a couple of minutes, we notice all kinds of information and commentaries entering our awareness.  Information from the past may come in the form of thoughts like: 'what a worn out hand this is', etc.  However if we allow all the past recorded memories about the hand to pass by,  a new vision from a deeper source of information may arise like: the extraordinary miracle of the sudden apparition of 'this hand'.