The Information Age
We live in an information age, so we're told. Children are plugged into the Internet from an early age and taught how to download facts and figures. Individuals and companies spend fortunes obtaining information and trawling through the mass of data to extract some meaning.
It's a shame people don't learn how to use the information they already have.
The real secret to understanding is not so much getting information but in seeing the situation from a different point of view.
Imagine a period sometime in the future when archaeologists dig up the remnants of what passes for civilisation in the 21st century. They find papers with some strange symbols. The papers are in different colours, the patterns vary but there's something similar about them. They put the information into a computer to find commonality in the patterns. Schools of thought arise, some saying that the colour is the important key, others the width of the lines. Some say that they are of religious significance, others that they are merely ornamental. Finally a person picks one up and views it with crossed eyes - it's a 'magic eye' drawing and a three-dimensional image pops out. It's not a question of having the information; it's a matter of seeing it in the right way.
There's an element in human behaviour that causes people to go over the same scenario again and again. For example, if we give someone some components that have to be assembled, very often they will have a preconception of how the pieces fit together and will attempt to fit the pieces in accordance with this mental picture that they have. Sometimes, if they persevere, a strange phenomenon takes place. They are forced to a frustrating stop and at that point inspiration comes. Suddenly, it's clear how the pieces go. What happens is that their mental picture is wrong and so long as they keep that picture they are closed to a different one. When they give up, the correct picture is able to manifest itself.
I mentioned in a previous article how scientists could be beguiled by their picture of the world and reluctant to accept alternative pictures. In fact sceptics frequently ridicule ideas simply because they don't fit in with the accepted picture that scientists have. In other words, what is acceptable is what conforms to current thinking.
An element that runs through all mystical thinking is that of clearing (or stopping) the mind. Meditation involves keeping the mind still and stopping the mental treadmill that normally engulfs us from when we get up to when we attempt to finally go to sleep. So long as the mind runs down these mental grooves it is unable to be responsive to receiving real information. This treadmill that stops people enjoying the simple things in life can cause depression and one of the causes of suicide is the lack of spirituality especially among the young.
More on this later.
