THE EXPERIENCES: THE TRUE ZONE OF MANAGEMENT AND LEARNING.
The first thing we need to be clear about is what we call “life”. We usually give that name to what happens to us between birth and death. The Method of Adjustments considers that the correct name to define that would be Life Experience. We will call Life the Vital Energy, which is a Potential that uses experiential tools to express itself in an Evolutionary Learning Process. Life is what we are; Life Experience is what we do with that Life during the time we are in-bodied. As our Goal is to improve the Quality of our Life Experience, we are interested in the following:
LIFE EXPERIENCE = SUM OF EXPERIENCES
I have broken a neuron. The Life Experience; which we are trying to improve; has only one component: Experiences. Look for another one. You can’t miss the point: the ONLY way to increase our Real Quality of Life is to increase the Quality of our Experiences (I mean IN EVERY MOMENT); that’s where our Improvement Process has to be applied, not in life “in general”. It is incredible, but we do not realise such evidence: “In life you have to sacrifice in order to…”.”Hold on so-and-so, you’ll get there in the end…” “By the time I retire…for the holidays…” “My dream is…” Well, now we know that you can’t have Real Quality of Life by accumulating mediocre and/or poor quality experiences.
Now I am going to put forward another hypothesis that is very complicated to understand: in order to improve the result of our Experiences we need to understand how they work. This is the formula proposed by the Method of Adjustments:
EXPERIENCE = REAL SELF + EXPERIENTIAL TOOL + CIRCUMSTANCE.
3.1 THIS IS WHAT YOU REALLY ARE: REAL ME = THREE CAPACITIES.
It is not me saying it; it is quantum physics saying it: everything is Energy. There are many types of Energy (Potential or Capacities); in our case science has called it Vital Energy and religions “soul”, “spirit”, etc. The best thing to do is not to give it names, that have been manipulated too much, and to specify that Energy is a Potential capable of manifesting itself in different ways.
That Vital Energy, Life, is our authentic Self; it is the only thing we are all the time (everything else changes: body, states, beliefs, circumstances…); that is why we call it the Real Me.
Our REAL ME (which we will have to learn to manage better) is a Capacitive Potential that has three components:
– Affective Capacity: to want or to reject (in technical terms it is called polarity).
– Understanding Capacity: to understand better or worse what we have in front of us.
– Executive Capacity: to act in one way or another.
Don’t complicate it; that is what we are; the only thing that stays the same while everything you call “I” changes (confusing us with the unstable is what doesn’t let us be calm). That Essence/Potential is what makes us feel that we are always the same even if our body, our beliefs, our family, work, social roles and, in general, our personal circumstances change. To avoid hallucinations, we are going to use what science has demonstrated:
– First Law of Thermodynamics: Energy is neither created nor destroyed, it is transformed. Just changes forms.
– Wave-Particle Duality (Quantum Physics): In what we call the Universe (where we are wandering around) there is only Energy which can be expressed in 2 forms: Waves (without form) or Particles (which appear when waves slow down their vibrational frequency). In other words: Energy creating and experimenting with matter (particles able to organize themselves first into atoms, then into molecules and finally into organisms). That’s what’s really there; the problem is that we don’t “see” our Real Self and we package our Identity to the forms we see and what we do with them.
Where do all the forms you perceive come from? Well, from those Capacities (wave); for any material thing to exist there must be three previous factors: “Something” (Energy) that wants to make it (Affective Capacity), is able to design it (Understanding Capacity) and to create it (Executive Capacity). Without “It” your body could not exist and “It” is the only thing in it that does not change (discoveries in cellular renewal have made this clear). So to call something else “I” is simply clumsy. I have just given you the news of your life: you are in the Wave!
Our Real Me, Capabilities or Potential, is timeless, it changes forms but it is permanent. As we have already mentioned, in the Method of Adjustments we have called it Level 1 or Permanent Real Level.
***3.2 THE BODY-MIND: AN EXPERIMENTAL TOOL.
So when part of the fast vibration slows down, particles emerge; that matter capable of organizing itself (using mechanisms such as DNA) into multiple organisms, among which is the so-called “Human Being” (a Being with human form). This is our Experimental Tool; to be able to use it better we will divide it into three Planes: Physical and Chemical on the one hand (which are divided into 12 incredible systems that our Level 1 manages without “us” knowing about the party: nervous, endocrine, circulatory, digestive, respiratory, reproductive, muscular, skeletal, immune, lymphatic and tegumentary); and on the other hand the Mental Plane (which is fundamentally derived from the functioning of a part of the nervous system: the brain).
Our Physical Plane, the body, is an extraordinary tool, a waste of intelligence, balance, complexity and efficiency, which we use to experiment with Reality in this “laboratory of practice” that we call the world. Within the nervous system is also the limbic system, a part of the brain that plays a decisive role in the management of the Chemical Plane (neurotransmitters and hormones). The physical and chemical (body) planes are subject to natural laws (Reality), which is why we have called them Level 2 or Temporal Real Level. The same is not true of the Mental Plane; which is precisely where we have the problem. Because it bypasses natural laws. This may be a good time to review the matter:
We have already seen that our body brings programmed 4 Real needs: Air, Water, Food and Shelter. It is very clear that we have to cover them as long as we want to be around here experimenting. You cannot consume the first 3 outside the natural limits (drink 5 liters of water or 7 paellas in one go. I didn’t say 5 liters of beer). With the fourth one, it is clear that we have more room for maneuver: a big house and a wardrobe full of clothes. The Mental Plane, which is not subject to the laws of Reality, has already crept into the real need for shelter. In fact, our mental activity is so speculative and programmable, than can create infinite non-real needs (based fundamentally on having and appearing, in order to fulfill the expectations of the environment of the moment and its appreciation or valuation). it is very important that you become aware of this.
It has also become clear that it is in our mind that our beliefs are installed, thoughts arise and our emotional impulses are managed; among other things. This Virtual plane is the one that directs our Attention and uses the 2 Real Planes that we have defined above. And I say virtual because what we are calling reality is only and exclusively in our brain, where our world is created by interpreting what comes from the 2 Real Levels; and I am not only referring to beliefs and subjective programs, it also happens with the objective (objects): Color Blindness is a very clear example of what I am saying: 2 people receive the same light wave coming from an object, one of them perceives red and the other green. It is already known that the cause is that there is a difference in the neuronal structure of the visual area. But the fact is that not only do they interpret it differently, they project that interpretation outwards! One sees red and the other green where there is only one thing; they don’t “think” red and green…they “see” it. I still remember the shock I felt when I realized this. The world we live in as reality is TECHNICALLY VIRTUAL. To convert what our mind elaborates into Truth or Reality is the biggest of our problems; that is why our Method seeks to become aware of this and to develop a Process that helps us to adjust our “vision” to Reality as much as possible.
To do this it is very important that we distinguish the TYPES OF INFORMATION THAT OUR MIND HANDLES:
- UNCONSCIOUS: Here is all the innate information, the one we bring as standard, our temperament and DNA. It shows itself in the form of impulses, impressions and intuitions and is in charge of all the vegetative activity of our body (cell reproduction, metabolism, digestion, circulation…). It is the largest section of the mind, the one that is closest to our Real Self.
- SUBCONSCIOUS: This is where the learned information is stored that allows us to do the most habitual and routine things without having to use cognitive resources on them (walking, talking, eating, reading, etc.); but (HERE IS THE TRAP) the information that comes from learning conditioned by the environment or by imitation is also installed in the subconscious: beliefs, ideals, desires, fears, goals, expectations and attitudes that will determine the quality of our life. IT IS IN OUR SUBCONSCIOUS WHERE OUR PERSONAL MENTAL MODEL IS INSTALLED WITH THE IDEAL SELF/WORLD AT THE TOP (THIS IS OUR MAIN AREA OF ADJUSTMENT AND WHERE WE HAVE TO REPROGRAM TO IMPROVE OUR RESULTS).
- CONSCIOUS: It is so called because it is the only thing we are aware of. Take note of this: what you call your reality, your world or your life is what comes to you as a result of the fight between your innate programs, your learned programs and your mind’s interpretation of what the environment throws at you. The result of that “information mess” is what you are calling Reality and is what is directing your life; in other words, the exact cause of the Quality of your Life Experience. The Conscious is where we manage our IDEA of the world and ourselves. (I/World Idea).
Let’s see an example: You have not eaten all day and you feel hungry (innate movement that comes from your unconscious), a plate of meat is placed in front of your nose and, immediately, your Conscious receives this information “I cannot eat meat, I AM a vegetarian” or “I MUST NOT eat meat, my religion forbids it” (Messages coming from your Subconscious Model, programmed by Conditioning or Imitation). Your Conscious has to decide: if you eat, you will feel guilty; if you don’t, you will continue to endure hunger despite having food in front of you. Not smart… the following.
Don’t think that this is an anecdote, it is our habitual functioning (PATTERN), you can surely apply it without difficulty to any area of your life (family, social, work…) Do you want an example of how a Subconscious/Learned Model can block the natural functioning of a person and even kill them, after inflicting a lot of suffering on them and their environment?: ANOREXIA. That’s as far as we can go; revising our subconscious programming is indispensable to improve our Quality of Life, solving stupid and perfectly avoidable suffering/conflicts.
As we have already said, most of these learned programs are installed by conditioning and imitation: associations between external stimuli and our internal chemical reactions are engraved in our mind, these mental associations are circumstantial or relative, but as soon as they are incorporated and become neuronal circuits, they become so real sensations that they become part of our body and we start to identify with them.
We have to understand that whatever is in our mind is only there, in our brain and not outside. It is a relative interpretation of the Reality outside; it can even be completely invented (beliefs, dreams, delusions, hallucinations, etc.); its contents, which are constantly changing, are not subject to the limits and laws of Reality; that is why we have called the mental plane of our Experimental Tool Level 3 or the Unreal/Virtual Level.
3.3 CIRCUMSTANCES: A FIELD OF POSSIBILITIES.
When we are born our mental activity appears, coming from the activity of our brain. At first it is very limited, because our brain is not yet fully formed, but little by little we begin to have experiences or interactions, with ourselves – personal – and with others. Our learning is then shaped by what we feel during these interactions. This learning is fundamentally emotional; because we do not yet know how to use our logical/conscious reasoning and our dependence on the environment is total. The unfortunate thing, because it limits and damages our decision-making capacity, is that we tend to maintain this state of dependence and emotional functioning when we become “adults”.
The Interpretation we make of the Circumstances depends on our Personal Mental Model, and will determine how we feel and act in our Experiences (so they will mark the Real Quality of our Life Experience). That is why it is essential that we review our subconscious programming to improve our results in our three main FIELDS OF INTERACTION:
- Family: Here we have most of our interactions in our early years (natural dependence) and we will continue to have them throughout our lives.
- Social: friends, acquaintances, neighbors, school, high school, television, social networks, etc.
- Labor: it appears when we start our professional career (colleagues, clients, bosses, subordinates, etc.).
EACH AND EVERY ONE OF THEM IS A LEARNING AREA. Our Adjustment Process will allow us to discover the most appropriate Criteria we have to use in our interactions to improve our internal and external results in the different situations/circumstances that Life presents us with (EXPERIENCES). We will see that distinguishing the factors of Experience, which ones depend on us and to what extent, is one of the main Steps of a good Adjustment Process.
Here is the Picture of the Real Experimenter and his Experimental Laboratory:
With this clear, it is not so difficult to understand the importance of training our Adjustment Posture (PCG). The other option is to ignore the subject; but maybe later, when things get tough, you will remember this. If you are not going to do anything at least keep it handy.