FIRST LEVEL. DUALITY

Going beyond the dual mind (dual perception)

First level goals:

1. Give a person simple and effective techniques for independent work.

2. Teach them how to use them to solve problems.

3. Lead to some understanding of the dual (dual) structure of the human mind.

4. Get a good result of applying the techniques, removing at least the acuteness of their main problems.

5. Improve the ability to accept AS IS.

THEORY

DUALITY

All the techniques of the first level (listed on this page) are based on the use of dualities.

Duality (duality, dichotomy) is a pair of opposites (polarities, poles) in the human mind. For example, good and evil, love and hate, good and bad. There are a huge number of dualities, and each has its own set. There are more general and abstract ones, like those that I have listed (they are relevant for most people), and more individual, specific ones, which are very relevant for one, and do not matter at all for another.

All dualities exist solely in the human mind. One pole of duality is opposite to the other (complements it, balances it) - but only in the human mind.

The whole mind (including the subconscious) is built on the basis of dualities. Every concept in the human mind has its opposite. Often this is expressed simply by negation. For example, “buy a newspaper - do not buy a newspaper”, “get married - do not get married”, “hot - not hot”. The last duality demonstrates that a particular concept can have several opposites. That is, “hot” already has two opposites: “not hot” and “cold”. Some people agree with this, some don't. because everyone has their own set of dualities with which a person has agreed in the process of life.

It should be understood that if any duality is real or relevant for you, then this is because you once created it yourself, or agreed with it (agreed that it takes place). To accept duality is to create it for yourself. It is also your creation, even if you were forced or persuaded to create it. That's why never forget that you are the creator of dualities. This will speed up the work. When you process duality, you go beyond the duality mind.

Everything that exists in the mind (and subconscious) is held there solely by the existence of dualities. Dualities are the foundation upon which experience is layered. This is how the mind works (hereinafter, by the word mind, I will also mean subconscious, because it is also built on dualities).

By working with the extremes of duality (with polarities), you are touching the whole material in between! This is the most efficient. Less effective (but justified in some cases) is to work with single episodes from life.

An example of finding duality. Suppose, to the question “what do I want?”, I find the answer “to have my own business”. Thus, "I want to have my own business" is half of my actual duality. Now we need to find the other half, opposite, opposing. Often it is formed by negation, with the help of the “not” particle. As a result, I get a ready-made duality "I want to have my own business - I don't want to have my own business." Before putting it into operation, you need to make sure that the duality is formulated in the most correct way. Perhaps it would be more correct to say: "I intend to have my own business - I intend not to have my own business", or like this: "I should start my own business - I should not start my own business." Semantic shades are different, so you need to choose the most appropriate. Make sure that the second pole is absolutely opposite to the first."I want to have my own business - I don't very I want to have my own business” is the wrong wording, because the second pole is not completely opposite (it is somewhere between the extreme points). An incorrectly formulated duality will yield fewer results, or none at all.

Everything that is relevant to you can be formulated in the form of duality and worked out.

By answering these questions, you will find many of your beliefs. Any belief or judgment has its opposite, forming a duality, and is processed like any other duality. You cannot completely deal with a belief without touching its opposite.

DUALITY LIST

So, answering your questions and writing a list of your dualities(highly recommended), choose what is most relevant (concerns or interests) and start working with it. Over time, the list will be replenished with new dualities, and the old ones, worked out, will be deleted. Choose the most relevant duality each time and work with it.

In itself, compiling and adding to the list has a therapeutic effect, as it allows you to see the picture as a set of dualities, and not separate poles. You will immediately feel the difference and it will be beneficial. Also, this list will remain in your mind; and in life, when you deal with any pole on the list, you will also see the opposite pole, which will keep you from diving (introversion) into one of them a little.

PRACTICE

And here I will give a couple of effective techniques (exercises, processes), successfully tested on myself and others. They are enough for the purposes of the first level. They are fully adapted for independent use, and relatively quickly take consciousness beyond the limits of the dual mind.

To work through each duality, you will need to choose the most appropriate technique. If it seems to you that a particular duality can be worked through by any technique, choose any. Each technique has its pros and cons. Understand.

POLES SIMULATION

The bottom line is to alternately create and hold the attention of the poles.

1. Create the idea that ________ (pole 1) and hold onto it.

2. Create the idea that ________ (pole 2) and hold onto it.

"Create an idea" means to make that idea exist. or think this idea. Desirable hold at least her few seconds, which at first may turn out to be a very difficult task - since material from the past will come up, connected in some way with the held pole. By the end of the study of duality, it will become easy to hold the poles, without unpleasant sensations - nothing will come up.

While holding the idea, try to feel it as much as possible!

We do alternately 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, etc., accepting AS IS any rubbish that falls out of the mind, and continue to the final result.

This is a very simple technique for working through dualities, but at the same time quite powerful. In my practice, I have used it often, and always with good results. For most dualities, it fits perfectly.

Duality examples:

1. Create the idea that you are the cause of everything in your life.

2. Create the idea that you are the effect of everything in your life.

1. Create the idea that you are special.

2. Create the idea that you are the same as everyone else.

1. Create the idea that there is a destiny.

2. Create the idea that there is no destiny.

Note. When creating an idea, try to endow it with absolute certainty, as much as possible for you - this is more effective. That is, for example, if you create the thought “there is a destiny”, then let this thought sound confidently, without any doubts. Then just as confidently "there is no fate."

You work on the first pole, then the second, again the first, again the second, and so on until the final result.

SIMPLIFIED POLE MODELING

(For those who find the above option very difficult)

1. Create the idea that ________ (pole 1).

2. Create the idea that ________ (pole 2).

Just alternately 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, etc. No need to hold on to an idea, no need to try to feel it. You create one thought, then immediately another, and so on until it becomes much easier.

Then you need to return to the original version and work with dualities properly.

POLES DESCRIPTION

We take a sheet of paper, divide it in two with a vertical line. From above in the first column we write one pole, in the second another. We draw a horizontal line under them.

Below, under each pole, we describe it - as detailed as possible. It's like you're trying to explain to a child what each polarity means, what meaning it has. For you. How important, wonderful, grandiose, disgusting or undesirable, etc.

We draw another horizontal line under the description of the poles.

Further, under each pole, we write absolutely everything that you have connected with it: emotions, thoughts, plans, decisions, expectations, surprises, goals, successes, failures, experiences, people, awareness, etc. As a rule, at first the material pops up by itself, just take it and write. There is no need to filter anything, no one will read it. The challenge is to exhaust EVERYTHING related to each pole.

Try to fill both columns as evenly as possible. Do it until the end result. Having exhausted the material, the sheets can be destroyed.

Note. Not all dualities will be 100% “cleaned out” by these techniques, but they will clean out the negative well. Some of the dualities will have to be "finished off" by techniques of higher levels. See also other techniques on the pages of this site.

When you have tried all the techniques of the first level, got a good result, solved acute problems, or at least significantly weakened their impact, you can go to level 2.

Duality

Not knowing the dual nature of this reality does not exempt you from its impact.

This world is based on dualities, and you can't get away from it.

In order to take off you have to go down.

The Warrior of Light possesses a dividing sword in order to clearly see both sides of duality, and, having seen, to connect them.

Success

Successful is such only against the backdrop of unsuccessful. Therefore, they are two sides of the same coin.

Negative and positive

Negative and positive are two sides of the same coin. Like a hand washes a hand. Tell me, please, which of your hands washes the other hand? From one another is born. How do you know what light is if you don't know what darkness is? The very idea of ​​light comes from the idea of ​​darkness, and vice versa. They are together, they are connected. So if you recognize and defend only one side, you will not understand the whole.

Disadvantages and advantages

Our shortcomings are an extension of our virtues. One cannot exist without the other.

Judgment

You can only know what is slow in relation to what is faster.

Good and bad

The "good girl" will be with the "bad boy". If the "good girl" becomes bad, then the "bad boy" will begin to become good.

Exit

The exit from duality is in its middle and is a vertical vector directed upwards.

Fatigue

There is mental and physical fatigue. Physical is removed by relaxation of the body or sleep. Mental fatigue can be very strong and can end in depression. It is connected with falling on one of the sides of duality.

Understanding

In a three-dimensional reality built according to dual laws, you will not find understanding, it is impossible. It is possible only in other, qualitatively higher, states of consciousness. But in order to get to them, we need to start from what is here, that is, from duality.

Iceberg

Any dualities that exist in this reality are in the inner world of the person himself. By activating duality, a person consciously manifests only one of its sides. But the other side of it, which is in his subconscious, is just as strong. It's like an iceberg that has visible and invisible parts. You attract a partner whose visible part is opposite to your visible part. This creates an opportunity to see both parts of this duality and to come out of it through awareness.

Subconscious

The one who gives you the most emotional feeling - pleasant or unpleasant - is very important to you, because with his help you can see the duality in yourself, because he brings out your subconscious side.

Psychological trap

You cannot get out of a psychological trap until you understand the mechanism of its action. To do this, you need to see in yourself the duality that created this psychological trap, see the two sides of this duality and accept them as two equal parts. As soon as you accept them, you will instantly find yourself in the “golden mean” of duality and be able to get out of it. The way out of duality is in its middle.

Neutrality

Duality can be compared to a magnet that has a plus and a minus, which creates a strong tension between them, and you are drawn either to minus or plus, or winding back and forth. By balancing in the middle, you will become neutrally charged and pass through without being attracted to either of the poles of duality. That's what you need to find within yourself - neutrality in relation to any duality. Your problems are one or more dualities, parts of which pull you in different directions. These are your lessons. First of all, you need to identify the duality or the trap that you have fallen into. The other person involved in your problem usually expresses the opposite side of it. To harmonize relations with him, to accept him, to be grateful to him means to achieve neutrality within yourself, that is, to solve your problem.

The Duality of Faith

Man is a peculiar being: he needs to believe in something. Moreover, any faith is based on certain beliefs that reflect only one side of duality. Then beliefs that reflect the opposite side of this duality become for a person what he will fight against, defending his faith.

The duality of society

Struggle in society arises between organizations expressing opposite views, that is, representing opposite sides of certain dualities. For example, the struggle between Islam and Christianity, capitalism and communism, criminals and policemen, and so on.

Dilution of duality

A set of human experience comes at the expense of breeding by a person of opposite sides of the dualities that are part of the structure of his personality. In the process of self-examination, these dualities become more and more pronounced and can be realized.

Activation of dualities

Activation of duality occurs through conscious identification with one of its sides and subconscious identification with its other side.

Activation of duality is an increase in the intensity of tension between its opposite sides, which is experienced as fear and leads to an increase in the struggle between them.

Activation of duality leads to an increase in the amplitude of oscillations between its opposite sides, that is, a person begins to strengthen the physical implementation of the programs of both one and the other side of the dualities of his personality.

Awareness of duality

Only through awareness of the dual nature of his personality can a person reach a higher level of consciousness from which he can observe the play of dualities in his personality.

Personal awareness

Our process goes through living and seeing in ourselves various dualities that form the character of our personality.

Law

You need to understand the basic law of the work of dualities, if such an understanding begins to enter into you, then you have the opportunity to be aware of yourself.

Required Knowledge

If you are not aware of the dual structure of this reality and your personality, then you will not be able to be aware of yourself, that is, to see yourself as you are now.

There are many practices, confessions, theories, views, but they do not give a complete vision of oneself, since each of them is generated by certain dualities.

In order to get out of all the dualities of this reality in one lifetime, one must have knowledge that allows one to do this, and realize it in oneself through one's own living it, that is, one's own experience.

The fall

Man separated himself from the Spirit, that is, from God, and fell into the duality of the personality and the conditioned mind.

Duality scale

Mastering the whole scale of duality is possible only through the acceptance of its opposite sides in oneself.

conditioned mind

A person sees with his conditioned, fragmentary perceiving mind, that is, he sees only what his mind allows him to see. He does not see the whole of what really is, but only sees the reality limited by his conditioned mind.

Problem

When we are fully aware of any duality that our mind is programmed for, we eliminate the tension between its opposite poles, that is, we neutralize it. It remains just a memory of what was associated with it in our lives, but it is no longer experienced as a problem. It can be said that it has already been cleared. The problem ceases to be a problem, only the memory of it remains.

The problem can be solved only by going beyond the level of dual ideas that gave rise to it. But for this you need to realize in yourself how your problems are born, through the vision of the mechanism of functioning of dualities.

If you see a problem in yourself, then look for the opposite side of the duality that you do not recognize and thereby support and strengthen your problem.

Understanding

In order to understand what is heard or read, one must know what dualities this material is about. Understanding this is very difficult, for this you need to begin to see your personality.

paradoxical thinking

To think paradoxically means to see everything that happens here as a play of dualities.

Paradoxical thinking is holistic thinking. It is difficult to express it in the currently existing language system, since it does not, and cannot have, concepts denoting a non-dual state.

Silly - smart

"Stupid" and "smart" are just definitions of your mind.

Exit

If you go beyond dualistic ideas, then nothing can hurt you, while you see everything as it really happens.

Spiritual Surfer

Just slide on the crest of duality.

Be surfers on the wave of your experiences and get great pleasure gliding on their crests.

Points of view

The paradox of dual reality lies in the fact that none of the points of view that exist in it is true.

Duality principle

In order to see how everything happens here, you need to understand the duality of this world. Here everything is done according to the principle of duality. One part of the duality flows into the opposite, creating tension and buildup, as when riding on a swing. Any processes, whatever we take: physiological, political, economic, religious, follow the principle of duality.

Conflict

Conflict is a struggle between opposite sides of duality.

War

The war of opposites will continue until you see the interaction of polarities in yourself.

Process

The main goal of our Process is to get out of dual perception.

positive and negative

In a dual reality it is not possible to be only positive or only negative. We are both at the same time. To see it in oneself means to go beyond dual perception.

Saints and villains

Villains are created by saints, and vice versa.

Above and Below

The higher you go, the lower you go. This is so as long as you are in duality.

We are this contradiction

If we have identified with one side of the polarity, then we are obviously lying, we cannot help but lie. We call it the truth, but it is the truth of one side of the polarity, and the truth of the other side is the opposite. And only the understanding that two conflicting ideas exist in us at the same time can lead to enlightenment. Both are true and the other is true, although they are mutually exclusive, but both exist, and in both you are without seeing it.

True

The truth is that there are two opposite sides of polarity, and they are one. Only by seeing and recognizing this in ourselves, we can reach a qualitatively different level of consciousness. Not understanding this keeps us crucified in 3D reality. Truth is multidimensional, which the conditioned mind does not want to accept, thus limiting our perception.

see duality

You need to see the duality that is present in your ideas about yourself, others and the world.

Man - three in one

Entering the dual world is accompanied by the separation of the body-mind from the Soul, that is, the loss of memory of oneself as a triune being.

The exit is the same as the entrance

It is possible to reach unity, integrity, unconditional love and awareness only through their opposite, the living of which is our main experience of being in this world.

Harmony

Harmony is achieved through balancing the polarities within oneself.

Identification

You can get out of identification with something only by seeing both sides of the duality that gave rise to this identification.

Duality (duality) of the mind and the material world

Working through dualities and going beyond the mind

The first thing a person should know about the mind is that he (the mind) is not. The soul or consciousness is not the mind, but because of the identification with the mind, that is the impression, and this identification itself is the result of the activity of the mind. Just as the soul (consciousness) is not the body, so it is not the mind either. Consciousness is that which perceives (or is aware of) the mind and body, and every person is fundamentally this consciousness, .

To get out of the influence and control of the mind, you need to stop identifying with it, and for this you need to understand the dual nature of the mind, which we will talk about now.

The mind has the same dual nature as this entire material world. consisting of opposites. For example, hot-cold, light-dark, good-evil, right-wrong, etc. All these dualities exist in the material world, therefore they are also reflected in the mind of the individual, and a person, whether he wants it or not, is subject to the influence of these dualities.

Whatever you put your attention on is where your mind goes, because the mind moves with your attention. If you direct attention to the negative, the mind absorbs this negative and starts thinking about it, so it is useful to balance it with positive. For example, if an unpleasant event happened, look at it from a different point of view - you don’t know what this event leads to. Perhaps it is thanks to this bad event that success and happiness will come into your life. A black streak cannot last forever, unless, of course, you constantly think about the bad, thus preventing you from attracting something good into your life.

Everything that appears in our life originates in the mind; If we think negative, we attract negative. Think positive, attract positive. Therefore, the wrong approach is “I am against war, hunger, etc.,” because in this way war, war, war, hunger, hunger ... is constantly spinning in your mind, and you attract it. The correct approach is “I am for peace and prosperity”, and the more you focus on peace and prosperity, the more peace and prosperity enters your life. The more actively you oppose some evil, the more this evil gathers in your mind, it acquires details, forms, and sooner or later this evil will knock on your own door and say, “You called me, here I am. Now I'm with you."

What you focus on is what will be attracted into your life. Thus, one can control the mind and one's life in the material world. You need to learn how to switch to the positive pole and not plunge into the negative, or even better - take a neutral position, absolute tolerance, but this is already the level of the sages. They know that "good" and "evil" are relative concepts that exist only in the mind of a person, and precisely for this person. Such people are above the dualities of the mind, they live on the platform of the mind, it is higher. And that is freedom from the influence and control of the mind. It is necessary to understand well the device of a person in general, including an understanding of the soul and, and thanks to this knowledge we can avoid the undesirable and build our life in such a way as not to regret later the stupidly lived years.

Dualities are extremes, and a person who goes from one extreme to another cannot be calm, cannot be happy, he is always tense, forced to defend one or another extreme, polarity (one of the poles of duality). The mind moves, that is its nature, it cannot stay in the middle.

Buddha's "middle way" is a state of no-mind, it is a balance, a neutral state, it is being in the middle of duality, and not at some of its poles. This is the zero point, the point of the mind, it is being out of the mind.

How to go beyond the duality mind

Spiritual life begins when a person goes beyond the duality of the mind, out of duality, stops judging “good” or “bad”, relying on the properties of the mind to accept or reject, depending on whether you like it or not. Of course, the mind continues to like or dislike something, but since a person has ceased to identify himself with the mind, he has come out from under its influence and has ceased to judge things on the basis of the likes or dislikes of the dualistic mind.

Mind control begins with balancing the poles, which means not sticking to one pole for long. Just see the second pole, the opposite polarity, and be aware of yourself as a soul or consciousness that is outside of both of them (if you see both polarities, then you are, accordingly, neither of them).

The human mind is prone to self-deception. He says: "To be happy, I have to buy that, go there, do that, fifth, tenth." Of course, this does not bring lasting happiness, only temporary pleasure, inevitably followed by disappointment. And not everyone can realize that the mind deceives itself, time after time, endlessly. People go on chasing after the material pleasures of this mortal world, thinking, "This time I will definitely get happiness!" and getting a little satisfaction as a reward, which is inevitably followed by another disappointment and, since material pleasures and suffering are two sides of the same coin. You cannot take only one side of the coin: if you grab one, you automatically get the other.

Breaking out of the vicious circle of the dualistic mind is not an easy task. To do this, you need to develop the mind, study wisdom, analyze. And when a person is obsessed with the material, he is not up to it. Many do not even understand why it is necessary to leave the dualities of the mind at all, they believe that they can find true happiness in the material world, which will not entail disappointment and suffering. In this case, a person must suffer "to the eyeballs" and become so disappointed in the material world that he will have no hope of finding true happiness in it. And then he begins to look for a way out in esotericism, reading relevant books, listening to sages and trying various techniques and practices.

Working through dualities

There are special techniques for working with the mind, they are based on working out dualities(duality) and are designed to pull out the attention of a person who is stuck (heavily immersed) in one of the poles of duality. There are techniques designed to work in pairs (the psychologist-client scheme), which is easier at the initial stages of working with the dualities of the mind, as well as techniques adapted for independent use, they are described in the article “Working out dualities - going beyond the duality of the mind" - this techniques for working out dualities (polarities) of the first level (for more details, see the article at the link).

Using such techniques, the person's attention is released from the pole (polarity) in which it is stuck, and thus the person acquires a calm, neutral state, a "state of no-mind" - as Osho said. Duality processing techniques are versatile and easy to apply; they free a person from accumulated negativity, false beliefs, fanaticism in a particular area of ​​activity, as well as related psychological problems, stress, depression and illness, that is, from all the consequences of being stuck in one pole of duality.

Getting rid of the influence of the duality of the mind, a person automatically gets rid of the influence of the duality of the material world, because these two phenomena are directly interconnected and interdependent - one does not exist without the other. However, despite the fact that these techniques liberate and allow you to "stay afloat in life", it should be remembered that they are not an end, but a means, since the ultimate, and not a comfortable existence in this physical world.

Going beyond the mind allows a person to focus on the most important occupation - self-knowledge, knowledge of one's eternal blissful spiritual nature.

The article is based on the materials of Serebryakov's Vedic lectures, in particular on the basis of the lecture "The Dual Nature of the Mind" from the seminar "Secrets of the Mind"; other esoteric texts are also used.

You can read hundreds of amazing reviews on working through dualities- on the author's website at the link above. Reading the successes of other people who have tried these simple techniques, you come to the conclusion that almost any life problem can be solved if you work it out in the way described. Try it too, you'll love it!

Discuss on the esoteric forum :

complex physical systems such as stars, mountains, and trees are made up of elementary physical particles.

The other entity is mental in nature. By definition, "mental" is something non-physical, something fundamentally different from the physical rather than a part or variety of it. It is not clear what exactly this mental entity consists of, but it seems quite natural to accept that whatever this “building material” is, it is the same as the one that forms our subjective psychological reality. Consequently, mentality is formed by subjective, qualitative states of consciousness located inside the mental space,

in in which conscious events occur. It is directly manifested in our sensations, perceptions, thoughts, emotions, images subjectively experienced in the stream of consciousness. As a rule, non-physical substance is portrayed as a kind of illusory mentality, independent not only of physical matter, but even of the physical laws that govern the physical world. It is believed that the mentality is not amenable to physical measurements and observations and, perhaps, consists of extremely delicate, intangible "atoms of the soul", not similar to any physical particles and existing

in mental "soul space" that lies outside of physical space and time.

Definition of monism

Unlike dualistic theories, all monistic theories proceed from the fact that the world (the Universe as a whole) consists exclusively of one type of substance. However, different monistic theories disagree on what the ultimate nature of this fundamental substance is. According to some of these theories, the essence of the universe is material (materialism or physicalism), while others argue that the universe consists solely of mental substance (idealism). However, there are also known theories that believe that at its core the Universe is neither "mental" nor "material" (neutral monism). We will return to these differences in due course, but now we will take a closer look at dualistic theories of consciousness.

Dualistic theories of consciousness

Dualistic theories take it for granted that both physical matter and subjective consciousness are real phenomena existing independently of each other. They owe nothing to each other and exist in the Universe on an equal footing. They're just completely different. This is one of the attractive characteristics of dualistic theories. They show the same respect for the external physical world, basically accepting all the natural sciences as far as possible, and for our inner, subjective world, recognizing that this is a special reality that is outside of physical reality.

However, dualistic theories also have some serious shortcomings. First, they have difficulty answering the question of what "material" non-physical mental substance is made of and where it is located relative to physical space. They only talk about what it is not: it is not physical. But what does it mean to be non-physical or non-material? If our consciousness is based on a non-physical mental substance, then we need a testable scientific theory that describes and explains exactly what mental substance is, how it behaves, and where it can be found. Consequently, dualistic theories are not always capable of

A. Revonsuo. "Psychology of Consciousness"

offer us compelling solutions to ontological problems related to the basic nature of consciousness. But things get even worse when they try to answer the relationship question: what kind of relationship exists between non-physical mental substance and the physical world, such as our brain and our body.

If we know anything about the connection between consciousness and physical reality, it is that these two worlds seem to work harmoniously with each other whenever we perceive external objects or perform intentional actions. On the one hand, the sensory organs of our bodies receive physical energy from the outside world and turn it into neural signals, which are somehow transformed into subjective sensations and perceptions in our inner psychological world. On the other hand, we formulate thoughts and make plans and experience desires and cravings for anything in our minds. With a single effort of will, we can make our muscles, limbs and bodies move in physical space "under the direction" of our consciousness and intention. One gets the impression that the interaction of consciousness and physical reality is a “two-way street”: first, the external world “penetrates” into our consciousness, which, due to this, perceives and feels it, and then our consciousness turns to the external world and, thus, controls body behavior at will.

As a rule, dualistic theories differ from each other in how they answer the question of relationships, namely, what kind of relationship exists between non-physical mental substance and the physical world, primarily between our brain and body? Three main alternatives are known: interactionism, epiphenomenalism, and parallelism.

Interactionism

As the name of this theory suggests, its main idea is bilateral causal interaction between external physical reality and subjective psychological reality, or between brain and consciousness. In other words, physical stimuli in the outside world (for example, electromagnetic energy in the form of light) first affect the sense organs (for example, the retina of the eye), then the signal is transformed into neural impulses that enter the brain, primarily in the visual cortex in the occipital region of the brain, after which, at some stage shrouded in mystery, the physical activation of the brain comes into contact with non-physical substance, or consciousness, which allows us to have a subjective experience: we see. This is the bottom-up causal path, the path from physical entry to conscious exit. The "top-down" causal pathway, also called "mental causality," runs in the opposite direction from conscious "input" (a thought, desire, or intention to act) to physical action. Consider an example. Let's say you feel a sudden strong desire to eat chocolate. This desire is a conscious experience. It makes you look around for a candy bar, quickly grab it, put it in your mouth and sink your teeth into it. Thus, conscious experience causes physical changes first in your brain and then in the neural impulses that travel from your brain to your muscles. Eventually these changes lead to physical movements in your body.

Often in our daily lives, bottom-up and top-down causal pathways form interactive sensorimotor loops. When you step barefoot on a thorny plant, you feel pain and an urgent need to get rid of it. Then you try to determine the pain point, look at the wounded place and feel it, and having felt

A. Revonsuo. "Psychology of Consciousness"

thorn, you pull it out with relief. Walking through a field planted with strawberries

in looking for a ripe red berry and when you see one (as a result of bottom-up neuronal activity from the retina to the visual cortex, and then into consciousness), you reach out to pick it (as a result of bottom-up activity, from conscious perception and desire to explicit physical action).

It seems that the causal interaction of the physical and non-physical worlds proceeds quite smoothly. Indeed, in our daily life we ​​do not have to think about it at all. As soon as we open our eyes, physical stimuli begin to affect us, resulting in conscious visual experiences. We use our physical bodies to carry out our intentions and fulfill our desires, and it all seems to work without a hitch. The problem is to explain how exactly two diametrically opposed worlds - such physical processes as neuronal activity, and such non-physical qualitative vibrations of the soul as our sensations, thoughts and desires - are able to interact with each other at all, not to mention such direct interaction. In other words, the interactionist approach should equip us with a scientific theory, at least a preliminary one, about the mechanisms of interaction between the two worlds.

Why, then, did the interactionists not offer us a theory, or at least a description of these mechanisms? The problem is that the physical world causally closed

in itself, and the non-physical world, respectively, causally inert(at least in relation to the material). The causal closure of the physical world means that physical events can only be caused by other physical events and are capable of causing further events of a purely physical nature through purely physical mechanisms. Causality (causality) requires mechanisms that have such physical properties as mass, energy, force fields, physical movement in physical space, etc. The causal inertia of consciousness means that our experiences, if they are completely non-physical, are not at all necessary for this for some physical event to occur, and their nature is such that they cannot decisively affect anything in the physical world, including neural activity in our brains. If consciousness consists of a ghostly mental substance, then it, like prototype ghosts, should simply move smoothly through all material objects, without exerting any influence on them!

The problem the dualist faces is this. In order to interact causally with the physical world (for example, with the brain), an entity must at least have some physical properties. Therefore, the mental substance must, after all, have some physical properties in order to have any effect on the activity of our brain. For a dualist, however, consciousness is by definition something non-physical. How can something completely non-physical, devoid of mass, energy, motion, gravity, spatial extent, location, and all conceivable physical properties, cause any changes in such an object of the physical world as the brain? How exactly does a mental substance exert a physical influence on the brain and realize the physical manifestation of its free will? This is a secret with seven seals. Until there are convincing scientific hypotheses about the mechanisms of interaction between the soul and the brain, interactionism remains a purely metaphysical speculation, which has a meaning only for philosophy, but plays no role in the empirical science of consciousness.

The problem of explaining the nature of the two-way interaction between mind and brain is not the only problem of interactionism, although it may be the most difficult. Other problems arise when we try to "embed" the dualistic

A. Revonsuo. "Psychology of Consciousness"

a view of consciousness into a scientific understanding of the world, formed thanks to other branches of empirical science, including the history of evolutionary doctrine (phylogenesis), individual development (ontogenesis) and neuropsychology. At what stage of evolutionary development did an intangible mental substance first become causally connected with biological organisms? How and why did this happen, barring divine intervention? When did the first living creature have a soul and turn into a thinking being, able to "see the light" and feel its own existence? Presumably, until this greatest moment in the history of life on Earth, every being on this planet was a completely unconscious zombie, a mere biological machine with no mental life whatsoever. A similar question can be asked about the human fetus or infant: when, how and why does the connection between the mental substance and its developing brain arise? When does an infant first "see the light" or experience its own existence?

It is believed that the mental substance itself is capable of transforming biomechanical zombies into thinking beings with an inner subjective life. And this means that there is an urgent need to find answers to questions concerning the emergence of inner life in the process of evolution and development of the child.

to be recognized as such a radical turning point, or to imagine some mechanism capable of explaining how it all happened. All the changes that we can objectively record along the evolutionary path appear to be purely physical, chemical and biological and form a smooth, continuous continuum. From a biological standpoint, the place where the soul supposedly became connected to the brain is an arbitrary point on a continuum at which an unfathomable force connected the soul and the brain together.

Another problem that the dualist faces has to do with neuropsychology. Today, we are aware of a number of neurological disorders in which damage to the brain tissue or its functions, which have arisen due to various reasons, causes serious changes in consciousness and personality. As a result of a brain injury, the patient may partially lose the ability to perceive, feel changes in body image or even have out-of-body experiences, lose memory of his entire life, or experience changes in temperament and personality that turn him into a completely different person. Consequently, one gets the impression that the structure and content of subjective psychological reality should directly and completely depend on the structure and functions of the brain (this issue will be considered in more detail in the section on neuropsychology and consciousness, chapters 4-6).

However, if we assume that the non-physical mental substance is completely independent of the physical substance - the brain, why are such signs of the soul as consciousness

and self 1 of a person, are irreversibly destroyed as a result of damage to minor areas of the physical brain? After all, according to dualism, the soul should safely continue its existence without any problems and in the absence of a brain. However, all empirical evidence derived from neuropsychology suggests that we all have a deplorable fate: destroy

1 Self (I) is the central part of consciousness, summarizing the individual experience of a person. In Russian, there is no difference between "I" active and "I" passive. In English I-subject corresponds to "the I", or "I". The self-object corresponds to "the self", i.e. "self" includes elements of reflection. For example, we say: “I hit myself,” i.e., the object

and the subject is represented by one reflecting person. Thus, "self" means a person, at the same time

performing the action and undergoing it. - Note. scientific ed.

A few words about the principle of building a dual world. The Creator, as a whole, in the form of a Ball - Mind or a spheroid, “took and divided itself” into two components: into the Male and Female parts of Himself, in the same way as a whole single cell divides. Maybe seen under a microscope? (I did not invent anything here, I just build a certain sequence of reasoning). Having “divided” the One integral state of Himself into “incomplete states” – Masculine and Feminine, the Creator got the opportunity to become “disconnected” as well.

This assumption is very conditional. Take this theory as one of the options for transmitting information. It's just such a vision by the Mind (author), limited by human thinking. And in the case of the planet Earth, these are three dimensions X, Y, Z and another fourth dimension - time. This is where the concepts of space and time come from.

But, interestingly, the Creator did this only in his thoughts so far and realized that this division does not carry strongly colored emotions, because mentally we can do anything and this does not make our stomachs more “full” or more fun. And the Creator went further in his creative impulse. He clearly realized that being divided into two halves of himself in his thoughts and at the same time remembering this, he would not get interest and pleasure. There is no powerful feeling only in virtual pleasures and with full memory and knowledge. It is necessary to make these halves of Himself forget about their present holistic state (Themselves) and begin the process of creative self-knowledge and unification into an integral single “organism”, absolutely not understanding why they need it. And then, knowing oneself in an unknown state, an interesting and exciting pastime is possible. Then, with a dual system for constructing a disconnected world, it is possible to compare two incomplete states and constantly, when comparing them, restore an integral single picture. And each time this picture of representations will always be new. This ensures "lifelong entertainment". Comparing different states, the Mind learns something new, and this is creative self-knowledge based on the dual system of comparison in the experience with the planet of the dual system of organization of life understanding. For example, in a high school physics course, you will be asked to measure the charge. And how to measure it? It can only be compared with another charge. And then there is such a thing as a potential difference or voltage. In a household outlet designed for 220 or 110 volts, if you look closely, you can be surprised to find two small holes (a three-phase network is not considered in this example at all). So this does not mean at all that only current will flow through one hole, and only voltage will flow through the other. Two holes are needed to compare the potentials of the charges. After all, our world is dual, and therefore we compare only two states, and even with linear thinking, as in the army - along the line.

If the world were organized as a “triad”, then it can be assumed that there should have been three holes in the socket, not including grounding. So in the Universe, first there is a “Flash of Life” and at this moment the whole Universe comes to life and creates, and then there is a “Fading of Life” in order to feel the general pleasure from the result of the creation of all Minds inhabiting the Universe, accept this state and compare with a past state that is already deep in memory. Then, as a result, become One in the general state, how to go through the roll call and, in a new state of subsequent self-knowledge, make a “Flash of Life”, repeat everything again, and again, and again. “Flash of Life”, “Extinguishment of Life”, analysis of a new state and comparing it with the previous one, again “Flash of Life” of a fundamentally new world and “Extinguishment of Life” for comparison, etc. "Simple moves"(group "Tatu").

So, for more intensely colored sensual pleasures of the game of self-knowledge, the Creator decided to condense the mental structures of the male and female information flow to a “material state” and gave them forms – men and women, respectively. He “compacted” these two heteropolar information models to “substantiality” (to a real physical body, which is familiar to all of us) with only one goal - to get more strongly emotionally colored sensations from the interaction of dense energy (material) forms. Here I deliberately miss a lot of things that are not so important for describing the theoretical part of the "Psychology of Reality". I miss a whole layer of knowledge and concepts of how the materialization of information programs takes place. Just like in Scripture: and the Lord created two people - a man and a woman.

Although, if you look at our “material” world “from above”, as if with a look from the information subtle world, then a very strange thing is revealed - our material physical world is absent, as such. It simply does not exist in the form in which we - earthlings - are accustomed to seeing it every day. But let's not get ahead of ourselves, but analyze everything in order, "from top to bottom."
In order to more clearly imagine why the Creator needed to move from informationally separated states to energy states, let's imagine an orange as an example. If we remember in our thoughts how an orange smells and what it tastes like, then we seem to feel something, but if we pick up a real orange, smell it and put a slice in our mouth, then the sensations will be much stronger. Is not it? If someone has not tried an orange, then imagine the same process with a product known to you, which you can put in your mouth, chew and feel something emotional. If you don't eat anything at all... I don't even know what to say. Call me personally on the phone, the number of which you will find at the end of the book, and we will come up with a clear example for you personally.

In memory, we have an instant and clear memory that there is a vibration of the sensation of orange taste and smell, but we are not interested in this knowledge. We need to experience a new emotional sensation every time we taste an orange. This is similar to the concept of emotions through energies. The same can be imagined with a kiss of a loved one or when touched. This is the difference between virtual relationships stored in our memory and real bodily ones, that is, between energy forms or densely material ones. One of the Razumovs, who was not incarnated in the dense world, told me during “communication with him” that he envies us people that we can touch each other. And we envy each other about this? I asked the people and saw a certain smile and misunderstanding of the question. Hence the phrase : "What we have - we do not store, having lost - we cry." But there is no need to get upset, for many people everything is already very pretty in life and without unnecessary touches.
Therefore, when we remember everything and know everything, it is boring and emotionally empty. But when we remember again what brings us vibrations of joy, emotionality and pleasure - that's what it makes sense to live. Life happens only at the moment of the “Flash of All That Is”, i.e. at the moment of “I am here and now”. And in our case of the organization of the perception of the dual world, we live by the creation of reality, analyzing and emotionalizing when comparing the two boundary states of the All That Is. The most important thing is that the Creator did all this show with Love. And since he “disconnected” himself from Love, he must unite everything back with Love into an integral state of Himself. That such arose in his mind and the Game began.