Transmissions: A Dialogue

One of the benefits of having a close friend/companion is to be able to bring out half-formed ideas between yourselves, and for each to use the other as a sounding board in building emerging partial concepts into wholes. It has been noted historically that we humans can often only arrive at our findings by bringing them into the light of day, and hearing our own thoughts manifesting. Another dividend accruing to folks that have been around each other for a goodly time – in our own case 47 years – is that there comes into play a ‘communicative shorthand’ whereby the flow of emerging thoughts don’t have to be explained to each other, since prior conversations have built a base of mutual understandings to the present. Thus it was, on one recent morning on our usual dawn walk by the lake that the following conversation commenced, and unfolded in stages over the day.

[Footnotes are linked to help others break the code of our communicative shorthand.]

Keith: Marnie – have you ever wondered where new thoughts and insights come from?

Marnie: Well, I think that thoughts and insights come from ones recombinant experience, such experience including things that one has deeply studied. (A)

K: Granted, that certainly often occurs. But what about those pivotal flashes having no basis in one’s past experience? For instance, a realization as to what was needed for one’s life, say a life-altering change of course or commitment necessary to one’s development or completion. One’s destiny calling, as it were?

M: Well, you’re bringing this topic up, so you must have something in mind; what are you sensing?

K: Now, this is not conventional, yet I often have wondered if one doesn’t sometimes communicate with oneself across time. That one’s future self in some mysterious fashion transmits a thought, or insight, or impulse that one may be open to sensing – and that this ‘transmission’ becomes subjectively identified as being one’s own thought, which then becomes the fulcrum of internal dialogues that evolve into needed decisions. Similar to the concept of “attractors” in modern dynamics, representing the trajectories of change or ‘pull’ towards a goal.

M: Are you suggesting that with the benefit of post-game hindsight, one could feed back a critical change in life-plan to one’s younger self?? One’s own subjective time-machine? But if that were possible, that would mess up everyone else’s life.

K: Regardless of source stimuli, all changes occur in the here-and-now, and all time arrows for everyone proceed forward. The ‘transmission’ is subtle, exquisitely subtle, a guidance which is taken into ones consciousness through inner processes and identified as coming from ones own creative springs – or if one is religious – from the Divine source. Regardless of insight source, the key in any event would be that one was ‘open’ to guidance (B) and not closed off.

M: In other words, the individual was sufficiently humble to have not ‘closed his accounts with reality’, as otherwise he would disregard the impulse and the signal would not arise sufficiently from the subconscious noise into consciousness consideration. To hear the still small voice of Destiny’s call may require that one ‘step outside the box’ or prison of ones past experience. But then what of the concept of free will? If one were to get into the habit of doing nothing until receiving an external ‘transmission’, how would one learn from confronting challenges and manifesting one’s own decisions in the here-and-now – after all, such confrontation builds one’s own essential experience bank, and that is necessary to test out decision options regardless of the source. Further, not all intuitive insights are safely usable. One is held responsible for one’s actions – so foresight based on one’s personal experience is the acid test.

K: The internal transmission must be subtle, so subtle. No burning bushes nor writings on the wall. I feel that there is a subtle 2 way flow of transmission throughout one’s whole life, whereby we are always monitoring our thoughts and actions both backward and forward – so that we think and act in certain ways unique to our self image, and identify ourselves with our self-image model as to how we should be thinking about things, and then processing the results of our thoughts through our actions. And periodically “asking” our future self for guidance “is my action now going to be OK with you in the future?”

-But now a thought occurs – what if there is no future self responding? Does that mean one has no future, that one is on the cusp of death?

M: I think there would always be a response – remember that if what you are suggesting is true, in effect we are able to collapse time. That whether one is not yet in this body (pre-birth) or out (after death), the eternal, non-material aspect of one’s self is always in the developmental continuum, and thereby learning and capable of steering its destiny through successive embodiments.

And there is another aspect which may enter into and effect our lives – and that is the influence that one’s ancestors have on one, even if no longer bodily present. You’ve mentioned that sometimes when you don’t know how to tackle a task, that you visualize how your father would have proceeded, or how your grandfather’s ‘mind’ had been used in the present to better understand animals.

K: Yes, that is so. Further, I must admit that there have been times when I have felt very lost, that no one understood me or cared a damn whether I even lived, and then – if it were possible – I went off for a long walk by myself. And after a while, it was almost as though my ancestors walked with me. I can’t say that they advised me what to do – after all, the times had changed from what they had experienced – it was my challenge in my time. But in a deep, healing way I sensed that my ancestors abided with me. Just a sensing of their uncritical presence gave me the strength to carry on (C).

I think that it is always important to remember that we who are now alive are descendents of the winners in life’s lottery. Not victims, not losers. We are survivors and winners. The spirit with which one’s ancestors approached the challenges of their days whilst on earth carries on into our own lives. For example, my parent’s problems and challenges – how to learn, gain a livelihood and support their dependents – were as important to them in their time as such perennial issues are to all generations. The creatures of each generation owe their very physical existence to the ones who went before, and I believe that one’s ancestors have a continuing interest in their descendents. To those who have preceded us, our own personal fulfillment in our short days of embodiment are also their concern, and in a vital rather than vicarious sense.

M: So, not only is one communicating with oneself at a deep level across the dimension of time within one’s own life, but that dialogue is nested within the dialogue of one’s ancestral line - that’s a lot of rowers manning the boat.

K: And of course – by extension – all the rest of humanity is in the same boat – all those who have lived, and still live, have a vested interest in deriving meaning from their own precious existence. A pretty big boat it is! But fortunately for us the voices, or transmissions, or instincts from those not so identified with ourselves as our own lineage are somewhat fainter. The reducing valve of consciousness that Aldous Huxley conceptualized (D) keeps us from being flooded out by greater downloads of ‘All That Is’ than our transceivers (brain-minds) can utilize.

M: When one expands the ‘transmission’ concept to that scale, it reminds me of that quote from Emerson which is tacked on the corkboard in our office – “We lie in the lap of an immense intelligence, which makes us receivers of its truth and organs of its activities”. The trick seemingly is to be ‘open’, but not so open as to drown. So one should only take as much insight as can be utilized, similar to taking any nourishment.

K: And not only what can be utilized, but enjoyed. For this is our time under the sun, and life’s lessons for us are assimilated much better when we are healthy, happy and realizing our potentials.

- - - - - - - - -

M: Now, on a challenging point, what happens in the case of adult children who have estranged themselves from their immediate parents, and thereby are not able to avail themselves of the minds of their ancestors such as you are able to do with your father and grandfather because you shared space over time with them? Are the estranged ones cut out of the ancestral line of transmissions?

K: Well, such adult children would have shared a formative period of their lives with their parents, so they can always avail themselves of that particular association through visualization, should they so desire. As to individuals cutting themselves asunder from their whole lineage, we all have considerable powers within our own minds to not only deprive ourselves – but also to later heal the rifts. At the meta scale, we mortals just cannot know the full consequences of actions over time (the ‘mind of God)’, but we can nevertheless intuitively feel the rightness of our path, and thereby have a sense as to how the process works. My own belief about this stems from sensing the energy that must underpin and also drive the whole life process. That energy seems to be love, but on such a scale as to not be logical to mortals. [But then this whole dialogue would be beyond the bounds of common consensual logic.]

For instance, in relationships things happen, then differences arise, then positions harden, then estrangement. But that doesn’t really translate, on the inner passages, to children hating their parents, nor parents desiring misfortune to befall their children. Parents may from their experiential base see the error of their child’s choices, but accept the necessity of stepping aside and allowing the child to engage its own learning opportunity – especially step aside if it is seen that the child is full of hubris, or stubborn and in not inclined to listen to the parents. The parents have to accept the child’s right as its own self-organizing entity, and also accept a portion of the suffering arising to their extended flesh-and-bone because of their child’s actions. If there is no communicative ‘openness’ because of the estrangement, then what else can be done? Inwardly, both ‘sides’ lose but the transmission proceeds regardless; all in the Universe arises from love, all is energized by love, and all suffer because of the depth of that all-encompassing love.

From a personal perspective, I always thought that it was more educative personally, to try to maintain ongoing periodic contact with my living ancestors as frequently as possible. For one thing to see how they were processing life, both physically and mentally; and whether their thoughts and attitudes about things changed over time, and because of what influences. All too soon I would be in their shoes, and a little forewarning might help. While one could internally visualize such contacts to some extent, external visuals help remove any doubt.

A rather long, shared silence……

M: And what of the parents?

K: They’ll get by… They have each other.

M: Yes, as Kushner wrote.(E)

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Footnotes:

(A) Recombinant experience – taking aspects of thought sequences from earlier understandings – the analogy being that of recombinant DNA to create unique form.

(B) ‘Open’ as in an altered state of consciousness arising from prayer, meditation, centering, reverie and questing.

(C) Akin to MICHAEL VENTURA’S concept of THE WATCHER – “that sense of a constant companion, who is you yet more than you, and who seems always with you, watching from a slight distance --- always a bit older than you, usually silent, features indistinct - not actually passive but rarely active. Its action is to watch. It’s outside of you (glimpsed in the mirror sometimes). Anyone who travels alone is aware of this companion - the sense of being in the company of oneself, - the presence from which comes the mood of your solitude. It is necessary to befriend one’s Watcher - not make an enemy of it, nor judging ‘conscience’. Then despite one’s own dislike of oneself (for one’s tabooed actions and thoughts) your Watcher will be calm, non-judgmental and a friend to one’s solitude.

Notwithstanding the lack of formal recognition for the ‘Watcher’ entity as a cultural concept, the sense of it is so common that it is taken as a given. During bad times one’s relationship with one’s Watcher is critical. It may be all one has then. The Watcher does not appear to care about society or morality or the idea of good or evil. The Watcher cares about YOU, and if it’s on your side to begin with, it’s all the way on your side. When we do look into our own eyes in the mirror we have the inescapable impression, so powerful and astonishing, that someone is looking back at us---that experience of being looked back at sobers us immediately---someone looks back questioningly, serious, alert and without intent to comfort; and we feel more depth in the eyes looking at us than we ordinarily sense in our own eyes as we stare out at the world. How strange! Who could it be that is looking at us? We conclude that it is another part of us, the half that we don’t allow to pass out of our eyes when we glance at others - and that darker and more serious half looks back at us only at rare times.”

(D) From Aldous Huxley: “Each one of us is potentially Mind at Large. But in so far as we are animals, our business is at all costs to survive. To make biological survival possible, Mind at Large has to be funneled through the reducing valve of the brain and nervous system. What comes out at the other end is a measly trickle of the kind of consciousness which will help us to stay alive on the surface of this particular planet. To formulate and express the contents of this reduced awareness, man has invented and endlessly elaborated those symbols which we call languages.

Every individual is at once the beneficiary and the victim of the linguistic tradition into which he has been born - the beneficiary inasmuch as language gives access to the accumulated records of other people's experience, the victim in so far as it confirms him in the belief that reduced awareness is the only awareness and as it bedevils his sense of reality, so that he is all too apt to take his concepts for data, his words for actual things. That which, in the language of religion, is called ‘this world’ is the universe of reduced awareness, expressed and petrified by language. The various ‘other worlds’ with which human beings erratically make contact are so many elements in the totality of the awareness belonging to Mind at Large.”

(E) Rabbi Harold Kushner [When Bad Things Happen To Good People] - In Archibald MacLeish’s recasting of the ‘Job’ story, Job and his wife cease looking outward for justice, for fairness in the world, but rather choose to go on living (and creating) life. Job’s wife says (pointing to their inward capacities for love as being their necessary path) –

“The candles in the churches are out,

The stars have gone out in the sky,

Blow on the coals of the heart

And we’ll SEE by and by……”

Posted 16-09-06

Acknowledgement:

Our children – source of past fond memories and current inspiration: And Our Children’s Children:

Everett Lloyd Elliott (b.1960); and his wife Karen – m. 1984 Bradley Clement Elliott (b.1964); and his wife Katariina – m. 1991 Keith Ronald Elliott (b. Jan 1966 - died Mar 1966) Robert Dwight Elliott (b.1969); and his wife Kim – m. 2000 Melissa Dawn Elliott (b.1971); and her husband Jeff Whitaker – m. 2002

Meghan Elliott (b.1987); Lauren Elliott (b.1991) Ryan Elliott (b.1994); Kirsten Elliott (b.1997) - - - - - - Olivia Elliott (b.2002); Gavin Elliott (b.2004) Sawyer Whitaker (b.2003); Jackson Whitaker (b.2005)

Keith and Marnie Elliott’s “REMEDY” Site

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