Choice

I've previously written about the importance and power of letting go the past, relationships that are 'toxic' and behaviours that aren't aligned with, or heading us towards health, wellbeing and happiness.

No surprise then to find others extolling the same approach.

This from a Sydney Morning Herald Spectrum article in which American author Augusten Burroughs is interviewed.

From the article:

It's futile to try to understand the damage we have suffered, he says, because we only have our perspectives about what happened, and not the perpetrator's or bystander's. Not only this, such a search is irrelevant to what we need to do now to cope, which is to focus on the present and keep busy with activities such as exercise or housework so as to break the "addiction" of dwelling on the past.

...

"I know it sounds like the most ridiculous thing in the world but you need to force your brain out of that neural pathway, out of that trap, out of that chemical etching," he says.1

Well said, I say.

Continuing on from 'Consider some stuff', we can inquire further about the nature of stuff.

Since it's infinitely inclusive, my choices (and everyone else's) necessarily are 'made of' this one-stuff, whatever it is.

As well as the brain matter that facilitates (filters and frames the range of) choices.

Once again, one-stuff can't be excluded from all that occurs, otherwise it wouldn't be one-stuff that is the ground of all.

btw, one-stuff is perhaps a poor description. It might better be described as one-process, or one principle.

Which ultimately validates the Theory of One and All, with both sides being interdependent, and inter-penetrating, like individual and community; hand and body, wave and particle, finite and infinite.

Contents:

• Introduction
• Background
• The candidates
• Table of comparisons
• Implications, clarifications and applications
• Purpose and benefits
• Conclusions

In brief

The Table of comparisons highlights a noticeable difference between the 3 methods of classifications. Column 1 (Seth) responds well to the question: "Where do those who belong to a particular category focus their energy, time and commitment for best effect and fulfillment?"

The Enneagram responds "less directly" to this question (in that the Enneagram may offer insight that one is a 'leader' but not where to apply leadership for best effect or fulfillment).

Astrological categories provide little if any meaningful answers to this question.

Astrology and the Enneagram are not in the least "systems-orientated". They do not take account of the interactive dynamics of biological, ecological or social systems, such as that of one's local community, or how the global economy impacts and influences behaviours and attitudes. They do not therefore provide substantial insights into how we ought best interact with the world around us. They, in effect, offer little guidance as to where we might apply our energy and focus for best results and fulfillment.

Introduction

The fields and disciplines of psychological testing, astrology, numerology and the Enneagram, are, like all fields of human understanding, based on certain beliefs about the nature of reality.

So when we seek to group people into meaningful categories it's prudent to first establish the belief-system by which those categorisations are made. If the belief-system is unduly limited, individuals and groups will necessarily be categorised or 'squeezed' into various psychological or astrological 'boxes' to fit the observed behaviours. In the process those capabilities and potentials that lay beyond the accepted framework of belief — which could otherwise be recognised and developed for personal and social benefit — will be ignored or denied.

[update, October, 2016: see below]

Over the years I've come to more fully appreciate the extent to which many people seek refuge in illusory ideals ... be it religious perfection, or scientific certainty.

As I've explained elsewhere on this and the Belief Institute website, the ideal of perfection (and of perfect scientific certainty) was born around the time of Plato, and has persisted ever since. In spiritual new-age teachings and practices, it's the seeking of spiritual perfection — of transcending one's ego and finding one's perfect higher self1; in religion it's the perfection of God and of the Pope's infallibility; in science it is the certainty and control of life expressed through some equation or theory, perhaps most tellingly exemplified by the incorrect and unsupportable assumptions surrounding the solutions to Zeno's Paradoxes that date back nearly 2,500 years.