self?
This quandary was addressed by a theory of self that derived from the ancient Vedas and
eventually—through the philosophies of Samkhya, Vedanta, and Yoga— evolved into the
science of intuition. According to the theory, the spine and brain operate like a receiving set,
intuiting a sense of self. Much like a radio sits in a sea of radio waves, the spine and brain move
in a sea of awareness, the substance of the cosmos. And just as the music played depends on
the station the radio is tuned to, the self of the body depends on its unique intuitive signature. As
for the embodied self, it relies on the cerebrospinal radio apparatus to manifest yet is not its
by-product. This hoary theory makes it clear why every spiritual and religious tradition later
emphasized, in one form or another, the importance of surrendering to the infinite substance,
the original God: because the individuated human self is merely a localization of an indivisible
infinite awareness, meaning that final satisfaction depends entirely on recognition of its
endlessly expansive origin as opposed to its seemingly finite expression.
Technically, the ramifications of this theory are vast. For one thing, according to its premises the
brain could not be entirely responsible for the manifestation of the mental sounds of thoughts;
instead, it would store raw impressions or memories of sounds contributing to
electrophysiological patterns of language, and the cerebrospinal axis, in its entirety, would
house other habits and patterns of awareness informing the unique “station” of an intuited sense
of self. In other words, rather than articulating the mind’s thoughts directly, the evolved brain
intuits the mind as but an attribute of an individuated sense of self. In effect, we think in the
language of memories. At the same time, a thought entertained over and over again records an
electrophysiological pattern in the cerebrospinal axis that, informing the intuitive capacity
through the creation of a pattern of awareness, does its part in defining the sense of self.
Though complex thought presupposes complex language composed of impressions of sounds
recorded in the brain, language could not directly convey thoughts. Mental or vocalized sounds
might intimate prior thoughts, but articulations of them would only approximate their meaning,
and in another mind the same sounds might evoke different thoughts. That is, only when the
“frequency” of someone’s spine and brain supports the intuition of a particular sense of self
would a corresponding thought arise in the mind. In effect, we could not share thoughts directly
through articulation; we could only share our nervous systems’s magnetic signatures through
bodily proximity, and the totality of our magnetism would be expressed in our thought patterns,
as well as in our words, beliefs, feelings, and actions. It is no wonder, then, that ancient ascetics
prized the company of their masters over books, which could only hint at the self-awareness or
embodied magnetism involved in authoring them. And from this perspective, intuition could no
longer be called the “sixth sense” but would instead be regarded as the single avenue to
self-knowledge, which when directed outward divides into currents that feed the five senses and
by which all material knowledge is a form of self-knowledge.
This theory of self has repercussions in both the organic and inorganic worlds, indicating that
the ability to intuit a sense of self is not necessarily limited to human beings and mammals. And
indeed, about a hundred years ago the East Indian physicist Jagadis Chandra Bose discovered
that plants have a nervous system equipped to intuit a limited sense of self and are capable of
reacting to their environment and perhaps even having an emotional life. According to Bose,
though human beings genetically have a far greater awareness and thought capability due to
the intuitive power of the sophisticated human spine and brain, all animals and plants have
nervous systems that can intuit a sense of self, and even a piece of tin has a “self” of sorts that
reacts variously to external stimuli and requires periodic rest. Bose concluded that despite
harboring a seemingly infinite number of diverse selves, the cosmos holds the promise of
indivisible unity because everything is in and of an infinite sea of awareness.16
Viewing the human cerebrospinal axis as a complex receiving instrument also allows us to
imagine how the movement of nervous energy in our bodies determines where we focus our
attention and where the resulting physioelectric patterns produce “magnets” of awareness that
define the sense of self. Wherever nervous energy is directed by thoughts, beliefs, feelings, or
actions, awareness follows. In other words, what a person thinks, believes, feels, or does
causes shifts of attention that then determine the individual’s sense of self. And just as some
radio stations broadcast only songs of a specific genre, different bandwidths of the
cerebrospinal radio may intuit only certain ranges of thoughts or ideas of self. Certainly, energy
flooding the senses promotes sensory awareness and ignites thought and memory arising from
prior patterns of conditioning, while energy surging through sexual organs awakens sensual
consciousness.
To test how various aspects of self-awareness are affected by electromagnetic patterns, note
your enhanced awareness of portions of the body that have contact with your hands in the
following exercise. First, place your palms together at the chest, where they instinctually go in
prayer, with fingers extended outward like antennae, increasing receptivity of the emotive heart
along the spinal radio; in time, a sense of self infused with heightened feelings may emerge.
Then place the tips of your fingers on your temples as if you were preparing to think, naturally
boosting receptivity of the cerebral plexus corresponding to the intellect. Pressing your palms
together at the center of the forehead, where it is common to knit the brow in concentration, you
may be able to experience an intensified feeling of focus. Finally, place your palms, one over
the other, at your abdomen to increase a sense of power or drive. While practicing this exercise,
you can discover firsthand how each plexus receives a different bandwidth of self and boosting
the receptivity of each is possible. Together, plexuses receiving ample amounts of nervous
energy contribute to a well-rounded sense of self containing all these characteristics.
As fascinating as this ancient theory of self is, its usefulness today depends on its ability to
satisfy humanity’s drive for eternality and lasting happiness, as well as its universality. First, it is
important to understand that shifts in awareness, too, obey the principles of electromagnetism.
This means that just as moving currents of electricity produce magnets in a power plant,
currents of nervous energy traveling away from the cerebrospinal plexuses produce
physiological magnetism in the body. Such physiomagnetic properties are formed by focusing
attention on the senses, for example, or on habits and past trauma, the palate and stomach, the
genitals, discomforts and desires, emotional and intellectual reactions to stimuli, or memories.
These physiological magnets of awareness, external to the centers of intuition in the spine and
brain, condition and narrowly define a person’s thoughts and ever-shifting sense of self. In
effect, our ideas of self are dependent on the hardware of our evolved cerebrospinal apparatus
and the software of our conditioning, habits, and thoughts.
It is because the cerebrospinal apparatus, limited by habituated patterns of sensory awareness,
tunes into only meager portions of infinite substance that the individuated sense of self
misinterprets sensory data and misidentifies the body as the ultimate source of its thoughts and
awareness. The narrow self might then do such things as hoard, steal, consolidate power, or
claim divine authority to bring pleasure to a self circumscribed by the body—all in a misguided
attempt to reach for a lasting happiness it could immediately intuit within. According to the
ancient theory of self, the searchlights of the senses and other faculties of finite satisfaction can
be turned inward to focus on their original source of awareness and thus expand the sense of
self. Once the power of the cerebrospinal receiver is enlivened by this inward flow of nervous
energy along the spine, the bandwidth of self expands and the intuitive individual, no longer
identifying solely with the body, eventually realizes the source of the self in infinite substance. In
this way, the ancient theory does indeed assist in satisfying the drive for eternality. And its
model of the human organism as a “body electric,” housing physiomagnetic patterns of
awareness, frees the study of the self from cultural, philosophical, and theological biases and
places it in the larger context of physiology and physics—making the theory universally
applicable and practicable.
The effectiveness of the theory hinges on its success in helping practitioners establish a
physiological magnetism within the enlivened intuitive centers in the spine and cerebrum. With
such a strong magnetism in place, awareness, concentrated on the highly sophisticated
plexuses and away from the conditioning of the senses and outward-flowing faculties of
cognition, compels the brain to intuit the all-pervading “broadcast” of the infinite substance of
self underlying the various cosmic substances. In this broader context, the ancient theory of self
can be adopted for our times and expressed as follows: Intuitive faculties enlivened in the spine
and cerebrum produce a nonfinite self-knowledge in which the individuated sense of self is
recognized as indivisible from the infinite substance of self-awareness.
This aspect of the theory has in fact been tested in the practices of ascetics of all religions. One
practice involves keeping the body motionless to assist in establishing a cerebrospinal
magnetism by minimizing the flow of energy to outer body parts. Because lyingdown positions
brought on sleep and were found to discourage magnetization of the spine, ascetics of many
traditions began regulating currents of nervous energy in the spine while in a motionless upright
position. This common meditation pose persists today though its intended purpose of
cerebrospinal magnetization is generally forgotten.
Another practice through which religious ascetics control energy is fasting. On a physiological
level, abstaining from food saves tremendous amounts of nervous energy that can then be
directed inward through concentration methods to magnetize the intuitive centers in the spine
and brain. Fasting, a way to die a little to the body and the senses, naturally introverts
awareness by decreasing the activity of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems.
A third practice ascetics use to conserve energy is the observation of silence. Physiologically,
speaking employs small muscles that expend more nervous energy than larger ones.
Conversation also expends energy, through the acts of listening, responding intellectually and
emotionally, and forming electrophysiological memories in the brain. Thus, silence has
traditionally been invoked to create a buffer between the sensory world and the spiritual
aspirant’s sense of self. But its underlying purpose was to conserve energy, direct energy and
awareness inward, and establish heightened magnetism in the spine and brain.
In addition to silence, nighttime is viewed as an aid to intuitive practices. Ascetics often stay
awake at night since darkness naturally introverts the attention and ensures a less active
environment. Though human beings and animals may be sleeping nearby, their patterns of
awareness are found to be submerged into the lower spine, further assisting ascetics in turning
their own attention inward. Remaining awake and disciplined at night makes it easier to
overcome habits and to direct nervous energy into the spine for spiritual pursuits.
Ascetics throughout history have realized the need to dislodge conditioned patterns of energy
and awareness, especially those endowed by parents, traumatic events, and society, in order to
create new flows of nervous energy for development of the expansive sense of self. Rumi, the
celebrated Sufi poet, described this principle colorfully when he advised readers not to allow the
snake of a habit to become an unstoppable dragon through laziness, lack of discipline, restless
company, or indifference, all of which have physiomagnetic consequences. A habit, from this
perspective, is a pattern of energy in the body, spine, and brain. Whereas a weak habit—the
snake—is easy to dislodge, a habit made powerful by repetition—the dragon—is not.17
To remove or prevent new forms of social conditioning, ascetics often turn to solitude. They
have found that proximity to the restless lives of others affects their sense of self even in the
absence of direct communication. Ascetics of the past often remained single because romantic
interests pulled their attention outward and raising prgeny used considerable nervous energy.
By contrast, the solitary life freed ascetics from the influence of other people’s physiomagnetic
patterns of thinking and living.
Today, such practices are generally followed on retreats. Fast-paced living forges a discrepancy
between daily exigencies and the ideals of a spiritual life, and for the devout of every tradition
retreats offer an environment that enhances introspection and meditation by minimizing
distractions. Periodic retreats to isolated locales are beneficial also for individuals accustomed
to having their nervous energy and attention drawn outward by television, radio, the Internet,
work, school, friends, and family. However, such getaways are superfluous for a bona fide
ascetic whose powerful cerebrospinal magnetism allows for the immediate withdrawal of
awareness from the senses in any setting.
Advancement in sensory introversion is attained through the added cultivation of psychophysical
components belonging to the theory of self, which many belief systems impede. For example,
the theory of self postulates that focusing on universal images of God calmly directs energy to
the intuitive centers in the spine and cerebrum. Worshippers who embrace exclusive and
divisive images of God are unable to go deeply inward because their images of God are
conditioned by worldly ambitions, fear, or other extroverting concerns. In effect, their attraction
to narrow images of God are the effect, not the cause, of preexisting patterns of finite
awareness. By contrast intuitive investigators, accustomed to focusing inward and sensitive to
impediments to concentration, have traditionally adopted more universal ideals of God. In fact,
great intuitive scientists from every religion explicitly referred to God as the infinite self because
they found no God other than the all-pervading infinite substance of awareness. Even the
nontheistic Buddhist doctrine of no self affirmed the indivisible substance of awareness by
merely denying its apparent individuation.
Religionists who place all their faith in prayer, chanting, and reading scripture might consider
how purely psychophysical ascetic exercises based on the science of intuition can enhance
knowledge of God. How can God be moved by the practice of an intuitive mental technology?
Though devotional prayer elicits motions of nervous energy, when the focal point used for
inward devotional concentration is an all-encompassing image of God it too can draw such
energy away from the senses and back toward the spine. In other words, even though prayer is
widely considered an intimate religious rite it is actually no more than a psychophysical activity
causing nervous energy to flow in sense-introverting patterns—another illuminating discovery
made in the distant past. And it was passed down because it induced this flow of awareness
and was widely accessible. This means that churchgoers as well as aspiring intuitive scientists
who lack the intensity of devotional concentration necessary to sit for hours focusing on an
image of God can, by practicing psychophysical techniques of sense-introversion along with
modest expressions of devotion, find themselves on a par with Saint Francis and other great
lovers of God. The two processes represent essentially the same dedicated effort in
concentrated self-searching and result in the same feeling of intimacy with the larger self,
intuited within. Where satisfying the yearning for eternality is concerned, psychophysical
considerations override any mystified presumptions concerning the rituals codified by religious
tradition.
Other ancient psychophysical intuitive practices overlooked among religious practitioners intent
on externalizing their images of God are breathing techniques for focusing attention inward.
According to the theory of self, the most sophisticated technique to invigorate and magnetize
the spine is breath regulation coupled with the active drawing of nervous energy toward the
cerebrospinal plexuses. Breathing techniques were devised to create revolving currents of
nervous energy that magnetized the spine, pulling in the energies that normally feed the breath,
heart, senses, and mental restlessness, thus centering the attention totally in the spine and the
brain.
Intutive scientists of the past, knowingly and sometimes unknowingly, weighed the merit of their
practices by assessing each one’s psychophysiological effect on the spine and brain. Methods
that drew awareness and energy inward were passed down; those that failed to do so were
either mystified and retained or entirely discarded. Today, we can likewise measure the value of
religious rituals against a cerebrospinal yardstick, replacing or improving upon those that fail to
enliven cerebrospinal activity. Everything we think, feel, and do—even just glancing at a tabloid
beside the grocery store checkout counter—contributes to a pattern of energy in the spine and
brain, which then influences one’s intuited sense of self. Aspiring investigators, like those of the
past who gained knowledge in the science of intuition, can perfect similar practices to help
center attention on the spine and brain, as described in Technique 8.
TECHNIQUE 8
Commonsense Asceticism
Ancient intuitive scientists devised methods for gradually mastering energies of the body,
approaching asceticism as no more than a means to conserve and harness nervous energy. But
in the Dark Ages, many of these sophisticated methods fell out of proper practice, whereupon
ascetics gravitated toward extreme behaviors, wearing hair shirts, self- flagellating, and
martyring themselves. As a result, the word asceticism now conjures up images of saints
surviving on water and dates for fifty years, monks living in cloisters and eating only bread
crumbs, sadhus lying on beds of nails, anchorites living atop pillars, or dervishes staying awake
continuously.
While religionists of the past often glorified ascetics who gave their lives to their images of God
in these dramatic ways, today we are wisely motivated by the ideal of balanced living. In fact,
few people outside of organized religion are interested in asceticism, seeing it as life denying.
Lacking a viable theory of self, they do not recognize how possible it is to live a balanced life by
incorporating commonsense ascetic practices to minimize exertion and stress, conserve
nervous energy, and to grow in self-knowledge.
The following practices, which derive from ascetic traditions of every religion, provide balanced
living regulations for three necessities: food, speech, and sex. Moderating your use of these
necessities allows you to harness the freed energies and direct them back into the spine, while
ensuring that you are not overindulging in them to find any “lasting happiness” they cannot
provide. Moderation essentially means restraining oneself to amounts slightly less than desired
so the body and mind gradually learn to live with less, to avoid the imbalanced behavior that
comes with excessive indulgence, and to cease obstructing expansion of the sense of self.
Limiting food intake begins by adopting a diet that excludes heavy consumption of animals.
Over millions of years of evolution, the human digestive system evolved to eat primarily fruits
and nuts with only a spattering of flesh. Applying this understanding provided by evolutionary
biology saves tremendous amounts of nervous energy otherwise expended in digestion and
clearing the body of excessive waste products, prevents recurrence of aggressions found in
animals that hunt and eat other animals, and promotes health and longevity.
The moderation of food intake also includes periodic fasting. Research shows that fasting not
only has health advantages but also, by freeing nervous energy normally used for digestion,
effectively jump-starts intuitive practices. For optimal benefit, periodic fasting includes sufficient
fluid intake and lasts from one to three days a few times a month. Other fasts entail eating only
fruits, leafy greens, and nuts (optional) for a week or two each season, or eating standard fare
but only one or two meals a day for several days a week. After years of regular fasting, you may
be able to comfortably maintain yourself with less food even when you are not fasting.
Moderating speech, another aspect of a balanced life, liberates the nervous energy normally
used in thinking and articulating. While the practice of silence contributes to peace of mind,
speechlessness maintained out of anger or hurt feelings only draws the liberated energy into
increasingly narrow patterns of irritation or sensitivity. Initially silence can be practiced every day
for twelve hours, starting from a few hours before sleep to a few hours after rising, or for a full
day once a week. Extended periods of silence, coupled with sense introversion, assist in
cultivating an intensely focused mind, as well as the capacity to harness restless thoughts and
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