More from The Irrudicible Mind (Kelly and Kelly et al.) Overmind: I have come across this again and again, first through my own experiences, and then through the writings of others, and that is the existence of the Hidden Observer, as Hilgard called it, or the Subliminal Self, from Fred Meyers. Oddly, the first time I encountered it in myself, I began referring to it as the Overmind without ever having heard of it before. I have already written about it, as many others have as well; it is based on a notion of the hierarchy of mind, similar to ideas about the hierarchies of "worlds" or realities that have been described in Islamic, Jewish and Eastern traditions (for instance, "7th heaven"). A tremendous writer on esoterica, who is still alive and whose name I currently cannot remember, I think described it best: as a glass multi-storied building where one can only look down or around, but not up. In this case, those above can see all below, but nothing above themselves. At the top, all can be seen; at the bottom, only that one level. But it can be thought of in many other ways: as adults compared to children, children not being able to understand the conversation of adults but adults, having already been children, being able to understand theirs; or as circles, as in the Hindu tradition and many Native American traditions, where we look inward from rings further and further out, perceiving all those rings between us and the center. Or in many, many other ways (for instance, a musician will hear in music qualities that others can't hear, etc), but all pointing to a hierarchy of knowledge. What makes the Overmind so odd, however, is that this hierarchy of knowledge is within ourselves; that is, one can "become" the Overmind through various means (or by accident, as far as we know) and suddenly understand what his life is about and where it is going, only to return to the normal self and not understand a thing - that is, the knowledge becomes "ineffable" to the ordinary or "supranormal" (Meyers) self. Regular meditation will bring this about, and it could be that much of mystical realization is exactly that: a realization of higher knowledge that cannot be quantified, or understood at all, by the ordinary self. By this definition, the mystical traditions, all of which are bent on reducing the noise from the quotidian self, can be seen in a more functional and less moralistic light (or not - both can be integrated). I would guess that we have all experienced flashes from our Overmind, whether in "hunches" or feelings, or outright dreams and visions of things distant in time and /or space.
Many things can be correlated with this idea, and one of the more interesting things highlighted in this book is the existence of hierarchy and odd physical phenomena associated with Multiple Personality Disorder. For one, the personalities are usually arranged in hierarchical order, one personality being aware of another or all the others while the others might only be aware of themselves, mimicking the hierarchical view of knowledge. This creates a working example in traumatized minds of what happens to normal minds in a larger (cosmic) arena. More interesting to some would be the different physical manifestations coming from the different personalities. For instance, personality X might have 20/20 vision and an allergy to strawberries, while personality Y might be extremely myopic and absolutely fine with strawberries. In both cases, the personalities will have been physically tested for the maladies or lack thereof - the one who is myopic will show cortical imperfections, while the other will not; and the one will get a rash or flush or whatever with strawberries, and the other will not. Moreover, some sufferers will have been, say, beaten in their childhood, and when regressed to a child personality, will exhibit welts, sometimes bloody, in exactly the right places (recall religious stigmata). In such cases, the physiological changes will be noted, as well as changes in brain chemistry and activation, but NO ONE has empirically proven how these changes initialy take place, such that they cause direct physical changes.
The upshot being, the Overmind knows. What is at question to me is whether or not this Overmind is an "outside osberver" or an active, molding force. Does the Overmind work in coordination with a higher, directive force, or is it simply a passive observer? And if the latter, exactly WHAT is running the show, creating, for instance, people struggling with MPD or many other problems? And, as usual, why?
My own experience suggests this: that the Overmind is a gently passive voice that does indeed see higher processes at work, but seldom interferes. It is like a graduate student teaching for a professor, in that it understands the lesson but is not in charge. And like the grad assistant, it is there, if we can hear it, to offer help in explaining what is happening on an intermediary level - kind of like a priest or, on a higher plain, Jesus or the saints or prophets or bodhisattvas. And it exists because we exist on many levels in that glass building, this "level"from which I write being called "being human on earth."
But we shall see what the book has to offer further on. The inquiry is open. FK
Many things can be correlated with this idea, and one of the more interesting things highlighted in this book is the existence of hierarchy and odd physical phenomena associated with Multiple Personality Disorder. For one, the personalities are usually arranged in hierarchical order, one personality being aware of another or all the others while the others might only be aware of themselves, mimicking the hierarchical view of knowledge. This creates a working example in traumatized minds of what happens to normal minds in a larger (cosmic) arena. More interesting to some would be the different physical manifestations coming from the different personalities. For instance, personality X might have 20/20 vision and an allergy to strawberries, while personality Y might be extremely myopic and absolutely fine with strawberries. In both cases, the personalities will have been physically tested for the maladies or lack thereof - the one who is myopic will show cortical imperfections, while the other will not; and the one will get a rash or flush or whatever with strawberries, and the other will not. Moreover, some sufferers will have been, say, beaten in their childhood, and when regressed to a child personality, will exhibit welts, sometimes bloody, in exactly the right places (recall religious stigmata). In such cases, the physiological changes will be noted, as well as changes in brain chemistry and activation, but NO ONE has empirically proven how these changes initialy take place, such that they cause direct physical changes.
The upshot being, the Overmind knows. What is at question to me is whether or not this Overmind is an "outside osberver" or an active, molding force. Does the Overmind work in coordination with a higher, directive force, or is it simply a passive observer? And if the latter, exactly WHAT is running the show, creating, for instance, people struggling with MPD or many other problems? And, as usual, why?
My own experience suggests this: that the Overmind is a gently passive voice that does indeed see higher processes at work, but seldom interferes. It is like a graduate student teaching for a professor, in that it understands the lesson but is not in charge. And like the grad assistant, it is there, if we can hear it, to offer help in explaining what is happening on an intermediary level - kind of like a priest or, on a higher plain, Jesus or the saints or prophets or bodhisattvas. And it exists because we exist on many levels in that glass building, this "level"from which I write being called "being human on earth."
But we shall see what the book has to offer further on. The inquiry is open. FK
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