Doing some re-reading last night, vol. 2 pp. 141-142

1. Where does pacifism fit on the entropy scale? (Your experiment can't be an analog of Earth. Pacifists, here, might be less than 1%. But with Earth's PMR ruleset, those 2% zero-sum players, on p. 141, would be farming the remaining population under a pyramidal power structure.)

2. Please define, *personal power* [p. 142], because I cannot connect the common usage of the expression to a low entropy state in the + direction.

Roland,

1) I agree with your assessment in your first paragraph. I also suspect that the numbers in each category would change dramatically over time. Pacifism is the real-world application of a utopian concept. Pacifists tend to be sensitive and caring which are good characteristics, but there is no special entropy decrement handed out for being a pacifist or any other sort of "ist"

2) You are confused because you are thinking of personal power in the service of an ego (the normal condition in PMR). I am talking about personal power that accrues solely because one is getting rid of ego -- the power of a low entropy being — i.e., the power that comes with a larger awareness and deeper fundamental understanding; the ability to manipulate reality in multiple frames, to control and apply psi as necessary, to live in the larger reality, and to query AUM's database at will, etc.). This is the power (greater ability to do work or to have an effect) that is gained because entropy is lost -- the two always go together.

Tom C

Pursuing this personal power as a goal be counter productive wouldn't it? Let me explain myself.
When I first became interested in the paranormal at a very young age I desperately wanted these types of abilities. To be able to go out-of-body (inspired primarily from reading Journeys Out of the Body and the Lobsang Rampa books), read minds, view the Akashic records, etc. was fascinating to me. Not that I wanted to do these things to grow famous or impress my friends but I wanted to be able to experience these things. I don't know if there was any underlying ego motivation but I wanted to be spiritually powerful. I guess I did think that having these abilities would make life easier. I now think my pursuit of the outputs caused me to ignore the proper inputs and processes.
As my studies continue and effort has been applied sporadically over the past 20 years my view has changed. Developing these abilities was still important but knowing myself fully at all levels became the goal. I have learned that growing up spiritually is the more important goal and the pursuit of this has caused more growth in the abilities category than all the previous time spent. Basically, what I am saying is the pursuit of growth should come first and then combined with effort in directing your consciousness the abilities will come naturally. Does this seem right?
I think most people approach these things from the wrong end leading to frustration or simply giving up. But without the dangling personal power carrot, what other impetus can there be?
I do have a question in all of this. What role did guidance play in developing these abilities? I know that you were instructed some by Robert Monroe early on but was there other guidance at work? For example, when you learned to "query AUM's database at will" was it through personal trial and error or were you guided? Just curious. It seems like it would be hard to stumble onto some of these abilities randomly.
Ramon

Ramon,

Your first two paragraphs are right on. Hardly anything needs to be added.

As far as guidance goes: Sometimes maybe (guidance can be very effective and very subtle at the same time.) Sometimes definitely (loud and clear). But most of the time it was a process of trial and error experimentation pushed by circumstances, fueled by a desire to learn, and aided by intuition. How much of the circumstance and intuition was guided or nudged is hard to tell.

If you were taken to Tokyo and left there for 5 years you, would somehow learn the language and learn the city even if you never made any friends. Knowledge develops on its own as necessity and experience plays with chance and choice. I have been exploring consciousness for 35 years — you can learn a lot in 35 years just by bumping into things if you pay attention and are curious.

Tom C