Mission Coach Newsletter
January 2006 (Vol. 13) ISSN 1746-1332

Welcome to the January 2006 Mission Coach newsletter.

This month is part 4 of our exploration of the ego in which we take a look at our body, the “hardware” of the ego, and discover how we use it to experience the Realm of the Relative.

 This Month's Article
Ego - Who (on Earth) Do You Think You Are?
(Part 4 Ver 1.0)
Are We All Being Taken for a Ride?

Outcomes for this Article

• recap on the ego so far
  
• discover how the quantity and quality of information we receive through our senses determines our “agreement” with reality

Recap on The Ego So Far
In part 1 of this article (October 2005) we looked at how the ego was the “chief tool” in creating the illusion of the Realm of the Relative. In part 2 (November 2005) we discovered we are here (in the Realm of the Relative) to experience “Who We Really Are” and that the essential components of experience are “change” and “time”. In part 3 (December 2005) we sought to find the answer to the question: “if we are all individuations of One unconditionally loving God – why are some people evil and sadistic?” and we discovered how it is the interplay of the illusion of good and evil, life and death, hero and tyrant that makes the totality of the experience of life on Earth interesting!
 
This month we look at the role of the body in creating the “Human Experience”.

Are We All Being Taken for a Ride?
I don't like theme park rides that have my stomach geographically oriented above my head (e.g. Rollercoasters), but one type of ride that has captured my imagination is the “simulator”. A few years ago I had the good fortune to visit Universal Studios in Los Angeles where I experienced the “Back to the Future” ride.

On sitting down, in what was obviously a mock-up of the car from the movie, I was surprised a heavy metal bar was needed to hold me on to the seat of a car that was clearly going nowhere because it was attached to a large piece of machinery bolted to the floor and there was a large movie screen just a few feet in front of it!

The movie started and the car began to move. Intellectually I knew it was impossible for the car to move more than a few feet forward, up, down or sideways and there was a limit to how far it could tilt – but my senses were telling me something completely different! My eyes told me we were moving fast because in the movie, objects, initially small in the distance rapidly became larger as we headed straight towards them. The sound of whooshing air, the sound and vibration of the engines and the pressure on my back all worked together to create the illusion I was in a vehicle that was hurtling through space.

The aim of the designers of the ride was to have me forget I was sitting in a (semi) stationary mock up of a car and have me believe I was in the “real thing” – and they did a great job. For the few moments I was on this ride I forgot where I was, I even forgot who I was. My three primary senses: visual, auditory and kinaesthetic (touch or feeling) where overwhelmed with information which “conspired” together to create the illusion I was flying through space. My body and mind were flooded with sensory information that overwhelmingly created the illusion the designer of the ride wanted me to have.

When we forget where we are, and who we are, we allow ourselves to become totally immersed in an experience. How does this all fit together and what has this got to do with ego? Please read on . . .

Why Did You Choose That Body?
Imagine you exist as an energetic bundle (or Spirit) in the Realm of the Absolute. You decide, that in order to experience who you really are (an individuation of God), you will enter a cosmic theme park in the Realm of the Relative called “Planet Earth”. There is a ride in this park called the “Human Experience” that you really want to go on – in fact, you have been on this ride many times before.

The “Human Experience” is especially good because you get to design and wear a suit (also known as a body) which is packed with sensory equipment which flood the body with so much information that you are totally convinced the ride, and the park, are for “real” even though you know both are just part of the illusion of the Realm of the Relative. What’s more, the body contains a sophisticated device for recording your experience of the ride. This device, the brain, serves as the interface between the body and your mind; and your mind serves as the interface between your Spirit and the brain.

The “Standard” body is available in a variety of colours from light pink to dark brown and comes, already fitted, with 5 types of “illusion sensors” (eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin). The body is designed to make the Human Experience so real you completely forget who you really are (an individuation of God), where you really are (the Realm of the Absolute), and what you have entered the Human Experience to do (your Mission or Purpose for this ride-time).

If the real you (your Spirit) wants to be adventurous, you may choose to “customise” the Standard body to create a particular type of Human Experience. For example, as the body “grows on you” you may decide it will develop certain features and strengths. Or, you may decide it will start with, or develop, certain weaknesses. Your body could be beautiful, or it could be restricted in some way to make the Human Experience more challenging and, from the perspective of your Spirit, more interesting.

But If This is Really All an Illusion Why Does it Seem So Real?
Please try this experiment:
Sit comfortably and close your eyes (once you have read the following paragraph!). Imagine you are in a chair watching your favourite movie. You can see the picture in front of you there on an ultra-high definition wide screen TV. You are hearing the sound of the movie through the latest high-fidelity “surround sound” technology which is so good, it sounds like the actors are standing right next to you.

You are totally absorbed by the movie, maybe it makes you laugh, cry or become excited or scared. As you continue to watch, 3 of your 5 senses are engaged in the experience:
1) visual: you can see it
2) auditory: you can hear it
3) kinaesthetic: you feel good about it otherwise it would not be your favourite movie!

Suddenly the sound stops. No longer can you hear anything, no voice, no music, no background – nothing. The movie continues in total silence. Your sense of hearing is being deprived of the sensory input of sound.
How do you feel while watching the movie now?
Do you feel the same way about it as you did before?
Does it still make you laugh, cry or become excited or scared?
Probably not.

Now the picture, which a second ago beautifully filled the entire screen, shrinks and only occupies a small square at the top left corner, the rest of the screen is completely black. The picture you are looking at now is less than 1/10th of the size it was before. What’s more, all the colour has gone from the tiny picture that remains; instead of full colour it is now shades of grey.

Your sense of vision is being deprived of the sensory input of the bigger picture and of colour.
How do you feel while watching the movie now?
Do you feel the same way about it as you did before?
Does it still make you laugh, cry or become excited or scared?
Probably not.
The chances are you will, at the very least, be disappointed, and, at most, be very angry you are having to experience your favourite movie without sound, without colour and without the big picture.

We have deprived just 2 of your 5 senses of the quantity and quality of sensory input they had before and, as a result, how you feel about the movie (the kinaesthetic sense) has changed and therefore your experience of the movie has changed. Watching the movie no-longer makes you feel good, no-longer does it make you laugh, cry or become excited or scared. With no sound and a small grey picture the movie seems to be less “real”.

What you have just experienced is the opposite of my experience on the “Back to the Future” ride at Universal Studios. When we reduce the amount of sensory information (make the picture smaller and remove the sound) or reduce the quality of the information (remove colour from the picture) things become less “real”. Conversely, when we increase the amount of sensory information (make the picture bigger and give it sound) or improve the quality of the information (put colour into the picture and use “surround sound”) the movie becomes more “real”.

From this simple experiment we can see that our sense of “reality” is based on 3 things:
1) the quantity of sensory information
2) the quality or nature of the sensory information
3) our interpretation of the quantity and quality of the sensory information

A whole industry has grown out of the desire to change our interpretation of the sensory information we receive (point 3) – it’s called the “drug trade”.

A whole industry has grown out of the desire to recreate reality by increasing sensory information (point 1) and improving the quality of the sensory information (point 2) – it’s called “virtual reality”. The ultimate goal of VR is to “artificially” produce sensory information of such quantity and quality we are no-longer able to distinguish between what is “real” and what is not. In other words Virtual Reality seeks to create the perfect illusion of the Realm of the Relative which itself is the perfect illusion – now isn’t that interesting?

Conclusion
Our “agreement” with ourselves and each other, about what is real and what is not, is governed by our interpretation of the quantity and quality of the sensory information we receive – i.e. what we see, hear, feel, taste and smell.
Our interpretation of this sensory information is governed by what we believe to be true about that information.
What we believe to be true is a function of; you guessed it - the ego!

Next month, in part 5 of our exploration of the ego, we delve into the mind – the software of the ego and we shall see how we use the phenomena of “change” and “time” to create the Human Experience.

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