SAFETY AND BELIEFS

There is a fundamental difference, and animals would understand it.

Animal security means having a nest, shelter, or a food hoard. Animals need to use their focusing abilities to find and build security.

Humans have learnt to look for both security and safety by focusing.

We tend to think that when we have security we will be safe. Food, shelter, relationships, work, and finances are our main concerns. They're usually highly organised with insurance policies, laws and police, and passwords for internet and banking.

In our first years of childhood, feelings and ideas about safety get associated with specific dangers, such as fire, and electricity. Safety is often about keeping us safe from our own inventions, with safety warnings on medicines and machines.

Road safety is a prime example with its rules, lights, and sounds, which we must focus on and learn, (a behaviour which some animals have learnt to copy).

The key point is that humans try to find both security and safety by focusing. We hardly remember how it feels to use our panaral senses.

Humans are the only animals who try to find peace of mind through ideas and beliefs.

Beliefs are the epitome of focusing. Beliefs are awe-inspiring, often beautiful, perfect ideals to focus on.

For hundreds of thousands of years beliefs enhanced human life. Ancient cultures were bound together by their beliefs. They gave us safety, purpose, and identity. They were mutually confirmed, celebrated, and we worshipped together, openly. Our beliefs were culturally anchored and we found social cohesion in our common understanding of life.

But these days everyone worships something different. There is no universal consensus. We are taught to believe in ourselves.

Today, every individual is free to find and follow their own beliefs. And believing is better than disbelieving.

Many have a simple belief in work, play, and family. Some choose old traditions, others politics or science, spirituality or the local football club. Most follow someone else who seems to believe in themselves. Groups form following social norms, and typically we identitfy with a mixture of group beliefs. These constitute our identity and world view.

Probably the deepest sense of safety which most people experience is in a love relationship.

And none of these are wrong, in fact, most of them are right, and we need to use anything we can to help us feel safe.

But the point is, emotional or psychological safety with any individual or social group, is always belief in a specialised focal point and there is no consensus. In our modern cultural climate, safety and wholeness are often being confused with closed-mindedness and even pride.

The amount of people who look for safety or peace of mind panarally is practically zero.

Mutual Respect
There's nothing intrinsically wrong with beliefs. Our ideals and beliefs give us the promise of peace of mind or fulfilment. And, if we are devoted to some pure ideal maybe we will find a degree of personal peace.

But these days, there is such diversity in beliefs that there simply isn't enough social acceptance, let alone mutual confirmation, to go around.

The solution to this, among those who are most concerned for humanity, is that we need to follow Gandhi and Mandela, we have to learn their lessons on mutual respect for all beliefs.

And respect and empathy will certainly help, but only in extraordinary circumstances would this ever develop into a feeling of wholeness or peace of mind.

Our focused experience of ourselves and life is inhibiting our understanding.

Focusing always creates a subject-object situation. The focusing system doesn't feel complete unless the parts are in a relationship.

And if we're looking for peace of mind or a sense of wholeness, being any sort of focal point in a relationship is ridiculous, or at best misleading.

Focusing and beliefs have great value. Beliefs are necessary in order to have an identity and feel like an individual with a reason to live – with something to do, a direction and purpose. Beliefs define us and guide us in what we do and think.

This has immense value, but it isn't necessary to be an individual with an identity in order to feel safe and wholesome.

Animals are often alone, out in the wilderness where life is insecure.

Panoramic sensing evolved to live as safely as possible in an insecure world. It was built for that purpose. It was built to feel safe and to remain open, alone, in the middle of life.

It is inherently inclusive of everything possible, it is inherently whole.

There's no question about what to do next, there's no going round and round in cricles, reasserting the same old ideas and worries, reconfirming our identity and purpose, our beliefs, our comfort zone, our box.

In this sensory condition we can't want or think of anything specific, because if we do, we stop being panarally aware. There is only a vague sense of our individual identity, wanting, desire, or a sense of purpose. For animals this is a constant reminder of being without wanting. It is a selfless state of being.

And this selfless state is synchronically, and not coincidently, also open and safe.

Among animals the panaral state usually only lasts a few seconds. This is long enough to establish the sense of safety, and they repeat this short intense experience regularly.

Animals fear for their mortal safety, as we should for our psychological safety.

Though it's questionable how animals think, when humans use it, all associative thinking stops – the thoughts stop being habitual and neurotic.

Humans have a great luck and privilege. We neglect this privilege.

But, the basic reason modern life became unsafe and we became unsure, is that we forgot how to be panaral. We relied exclusively on focusing, and then with our focused thinking and questioning we dismissed all our consensual focal points.

Modern civilised humans have no mutually confirmed herd mentality; everyone must find their own individual comfort zone. And this requires a degree of closed-mindedness.

Each individuals' comfort zone is anothers' threat. We try to surround ourselves with like minded people, but we never really know if we threaten or are about to be threatened by one of the crazy beliefs around us.

Socially and individually we are not psychologically safe... it's realistic... it exists... it's nothing which can be psychoanalysed away... not until psychologists study animal behaviour and realise that all other animals find their sense of safety by using their panaral senses.

I can't explain the neurological connections involved in the cognitive process; but rather than be vulnerable, or paralysed by panic, fear, and worry, animals sense panarally.

If vulnerable animals were stupid and dumb, felt no fear, and ignored danger, they would be eaten alive.

Exceptions to this rule are very rare and either prolific or poisonous with no natural enemies. Examples are the Ocean Sunfish or Mola mola, who are incredibly stupid but equally prolific. And the Koala Bear who digests so many eucalyptus leaves that it's poisonous to other animals.

In a species with no panaral awareness (and no common focused consensus) we can expect stress, fear, worry, anger, paranoia and even paralysis. We can expect such a species to cope with this stress by repressing their feelings and inteligence... and/or compensate with impressive defensive weaponry.

Stopping Still and Sensing – The Natural Balance for Beliefs

We have spent centuries fascinating ourselves with theories and facts about how to find peace and safety.

But why? Why all this emphasis on focusing? Why are we making life so difficult? How many humans have found peace of mind?

Panaral sensing evolved to make focused activity – want and purpose – safe, (and successful). It's been there all the time. Why are we so blind to it?

Tunnel Thinking and The Blind Spot describes how focusing, especially in our modern overfocused times, has overpowered our ability to experience the world panarally.

We need focal points in life, but they need to be alternated with panaral awareness.

Panaring makes focusing safe. Panaring makes life safe.

Animals find psychological, emotional and physical safety by opening their eyes and ears, staying still, silent, and panarally alert to everything possible.

We are ignoring a basic rule of nature.

Our higher beliefs are especially strong, loveable focal points, yes they are useful, but they need panaral balance.

Generally speaking, whether a belief is in abstract Gods, leprechauns, Atlantis, or UFOs, if it is combined with, and still felt as valid after periods of panaral sensing, then it is safe and will profit the culture's survival.

We are blinded in a closed circuit focusing system, we've forgotten our natural panaral talents and don't realise how easy they are to use.

Going panaral at regular intertvals is the only realistic and direct way to disrupt our obsessive thinking and wanting, and slowly resolve our insane individual and cultural dysfunction.

We not only believe in order to find peace of mind, we display our beliefs openly.

In traditional times it worked wonderfully, the outward display of our beliefs was central to establishing our psychological and social safety.

This habitual human behavioural pattern is deeply imbedded in us.

So nowadays, we still feel a need to express our views openly and wear the clothes and badges of our identity. We do this to be recognised and feel psychologically confirmed and safe. (Or we've become depressed, drunk, lazy, or lost.)

But safety, among animals, avoids display.

If a vulnerable animal has any concern about its own appearance when seeking safety, it is to be invisible.

Animals display only on specific occasions to do with courtship rituals, social rank, and territorial behaviours.

The only animal who looks for peace and safety by displaying are humans. This fascinating theme is explored in Display Rituals.

Extreme and violent behaviour will need at best early preventative panaral care. In time, I could foresee peripheral lights and sound stimuli being developed (use your common sense, i'm not suggesting electrodes) and used as therapy for anti-social, and even criminal behaviour.

Please continue with Abstract Reality vs. Panaral Reality

Back to Chapter Three : Civilisation's Habitual Ruts
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