Critical Path
“Critical Path is a state-of-the-art summary of human evolution.” – Marilyn Ferguson, author of The Aquarian Conspiracy
On the back cover of one of my copies of Critical Path reads….”
Today we find ourselves in the midst of the greatest crisis in the history of the human race. Technology has placed in our hands almost unlimited power at the very moment when we have run up against the limits of our resources aboard Spaceship Earth, as the crisis of the late twentieth century — political, economic, environmental, and ethical — determine whether or not humanity survives.
Critical Path is both a history of humanity’s social, political and economic systems and a road map for survival.
The book is soooooo comprehensive.
It is an astounding read.
Not easy but definitely worth the effort.
“The Yellow Brick Road” is an introduction to a step-by-step process of awakening to and engaging, with integrity, the “field of play;” “The Territory.”
REMEMBER, the map is not the territory.
Ken Wilber, in his Integral Theory, presents a comprehensive “map” of evolution.
So does Bucky.
One way of achieving a deeper understanding is to inquire into the concept of “fractals.”
The most optimal mindset, cognitive pattern; attitude to discover and cultivate in a yoga practice is one that leads with a seeking mind; a conscious mental state of inquiry.
Better to be in “the mystery” than to be in “the know.”
“Yoga is self-observation with compassion,” Swami Kripalu.
Everything in nature grows, changes, transforms, evolves in a similar manner.
Fractal inquiry is a scientific/mathematical perspective.
Diving deeper we discover The Fibonacci Sequence.
This is where it starts to get interesting,
OK, Let’s start the Foreword to Critical Path.
IT IS THE AUTHOR’S working assumption that the words good and bad are meaningless. This is based on science and not on opinion. In 1922 physicists discovered a fundamental complementarity of disparate individual phenomena to be operative in the physical Universe. This was fundamentally amplified with the subsequent discovery of the always-and-only-different, always-coexisting proton and neutron which, with their always-coexistent- electrons, positrons, neutrinos, and antineutrinos, are eternally intertransformable.
See what I mean? Bucky writes long and creative sentences.
I like that he acknowledges his “working” assumption.
Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) is an immune deficiency disease.
For whatever reason, the immune system decides that the islet/beta cells in the pancreas that produce the hormone “insulin” are “bad” and destroys them.
Critical Failure. In business we call this situation a single point of failure.
No Insulin = No Life.
Not good.
Are the words good and bad meaningless?
I believe, to do this work; spiritual healing, spiritual inquiry, spiritual recovery or whatever you want to call it, one must know when, where and how to suspend belief and disbelief.
Awareness drives growth.
Equanimity sustains it.
Before 1922 if a person got T1D the treatment was basically starvation.
The prognosis??
Maybe a few weeks.
Injectable insulin was invented in 1922. Coincidence?
BTW, this diabetes thing is huge in our society.
The numbers are staggering as far as the amount of people affected.
95% of people who get diabetes get Type 2.
Type 2 is a much different dis-ease. It has a totally different genesis, treatment protocol, prognosis.
Over 30 million people in the U.S alone have diabetes.
More than that are diagnosed with pre-diabetes.
The costs on our health care system are enormous.
It is a very misunderstood disease.
This video clip may enlighten you bit…
When he says that his working assumption is based on science, not opinion, Bucky is referring to the discovery and current understanding of Quantum Physics.
An assumption based on science and not opinion does not mean it is fact.
It means that the assumption is based on the discoveries and conclusions made through a scientific approach
An approach of discovery.
Science seeks to find how and why something “works.”
Science is great at describing but not so good at explaining.
The question of WHY is key to the healing path.
Critical Path was published in 1981. I was a freshman in college.
Bucky’s working assumption is based on the discoveries science had made up until that time.
Think about what has been discovered since 1981!!
We are evolving. And we “seem” to be picking up speed.
Some discoveries are universal.
Universal Truths have always existed and will always exist.
Buckminster Fuller challenged the assumption that the strong survive at the expense of the weak.
He challenged the perspective of Darwinian “evolution” as a false perception of “MAN’S” relationship to The Natural Universe.
Time to stop and make an assessment.
I’m constantly having to stop and test my blood glucose level.
I have to stop and fill my insulin pump.
I have to stop and change my infusion site and care for the wound the old port left behind.
I have to stop and count my carbohydrate intake.
Life is a course in correction.
The Kabbalists call it “Tikune.”
Everybody’s got one (EGO).
When we find the healing path we are in better alignment to awaken, to explore, to ponder, to become illuminated, to share, or not.
The Spiritual Work is about learning how to move faster along the circle.
It’s acquiring the knowledge, skills and optimal attitude in order to transform, change, correct.
If you hold the belief that spirituality is easy and simple you are right, partially.
Because we live in a world “with a fundamental complementarity of disparate individual phenomena” spiritual work is also, by definition, difficult and complex.
Here is a good interview of Bucky.
It’s 30 minutes long.
Consciousness is the Final Effect of “Universe”, therefore, Consciousness is The First Cause.
By consciously restricting belief and disbelief you are essentially establishing the thinking mind as a binary code program/process; 0,1,0,1,0,1,0,1,0,1,0,1,0; on, off, on, off, on, off…………….
The “Middle Path” is experienced when you can see both “sides” of the the “equation” at the same time.
It is not easy.
Can you see the two faces facing each other? Can you see the Goblet? Can you see both at the same time?
Balance, in this universe, is an effect of the subtle yet “causal” relationship between belief and disbelief.
At least, that is one way to look at it.
As you will discover in The Yellow Brick Road there are multiple ways to look at the same thing.
The “thing” doesn’t change.
The perspective does.
There are higher perspectives.
We need to keep moving.
This movement is not just around a two dimensional circle.
It is a movement vertically.
Upward and Onward.
No longer was valid the “building block” of the Universe. It was discovered that unity was plural and at a minimum sixfold. All the intercomplementations are essential to the successful accomplishment of eternally regenerative Universe. Science’s discovery of fundamental complementarity has frequently occasioned individual scientists’ realization that the word negative used as the opposite of the word positive is at best carelessly and mis-informedly employed.
Time to introduce the map of Kabbalah.
For a moment, let’s imagine that life is a game of hide and seek.
A lot of you are going to need to suspend the beliefs and the disbeliefs here.
If there is resistance, it is just your shadow side, or more accurately, the dark side.
Yep, he exists. Yikes! Really?
Perhaps a little Bob Marley first?
He was, for sure, on the front lines against the legions of the demons.
The spiritual realm is different than the physical.
For example, time and space do not exist in the spiritual realm.
Time and space do appear to exist in our Physical Universe.
I am not asking you to accept or believe that what I am saying here is true or a fact.
You may know it in a different way.
What I am asking, what is required in order to reap benefit from The Yellow Brick Road Process, is the willingness and the ability to suspend; to restrict; to resist the normal reactions of receiving a perspective or information that does not happen to jive with your current held beliefs and disbeliefs.
There are many paths.
Most of the information out there about Kabbalah is simply wrong.
It is not a religion. It is not Jewish Mysticism. It is not a cult, although, there are Kabbalah groups like The Kabbalah Center which have multiple locations all over the world.
It is absolutely not a new fad metaphysical “take” that appeals to celebrities like Madonna.
Because we live in a world of duality more Light equals more darkness.
And vice versa. . . .
The more darkness the more potential for Light.
The origin of the word DIABETES comes from the Spanish word DIABLO.
DIABLO is the DEVIL.
Often times in a yoga class, especially a yin class, but also in some of the more aggressive classes we go into a pose called Shavasana.
Shavasana is Corpse Pose; Dead Body Pose. It’s when you lay on your back and surrender to the mat. It’s a movement into stillness.
Gravity becomes “Guru.’
Some teachers will tell you, as they are guiding you through the class, that Shavasana is the hardest pose of all.
Most beginning students will tell you it is the easiest.
Who is right?
As we are beginning to see, perhaps, both are “right.”
It is a “matter” of perspective.
And, of course, vice vesra….
It is a perspective of matter.
This does not mean Truth is relative.
Perspective is relative.
Truth is absolute.
Remember, the map is not the territory.
You don’t need all the maps.
You just need a few of the best ones in order to begin to explore The Territory.
But you have to desire it. You have to want it.
There is no coercion in spirituality.
Truth does not desire to be believed in or worshipped or prayed to or submitted to.
Truth is Truth whether you like it or not.
Introducing Kabbalah is very challenging.
In the past I have experienced several “short circuits” when sharing Kabbalah.
Most people who initially show interest seem to quickly become disinterested.
Some think it is blasphemous to inquire into other spiritual perspectives that don’t line up with the “faith” or “belief system” they have chosen to adopt.
Kabbalah has nothing to do with belief or dogma, worship or even devotion. These are moment to moment individual choices.
The word KABBALAH means TO RECEIVE.
There is only one working assumption in Kabbalah.
Again, words are limiting and this is how I would describe it – –
The only ‘thing’ that really exists is Light. Light is complete and total fulfillment. Everything Else is a creation; a manifestation; an emanation.
Kabbalah is Technology of The Spiritual Realm.
The first Kabbalist was ADAM.
ADAM (Atom) represents all the souls of humanity united in one “body.”
Resistance to any new information, technology and perspective arises mostly because of the assumption that what we see, hear, taste, feel, smell, touch, think is real.
I am not saying that what we can sense and comprehend through the five senses and the thinking mind is not real.
What I am suggesting is that it is not the whole story.
There is a bigger picture.
A much bigger picture.
The Kabbalists describe our Physical Universe as the 1 percent and the Non Physical Universe as the 99 percent.
This is where the quantum physics thing comes into play.
Quantum physics reveals that, in fact, 99% of the universe is empty space; non physical.
It also suggests that when we observe something we define it, we create form; it manifests in the physical universe.
I am not a Kabbalah teacher.
I am a student.
When I am teaching a yoga class I don’t consider my role to be that of teacher or guru.
I see myself more as a guide.
I have been blessed with the time, space and merit to be introduced to Kabbalah and Vipassana and Yoga and Ken Wilber and my healer Nedra and other maps and people.
In this Series of blogs, my intention is to share.
This 8 minute video is an excellent introduction to Kabbalah.
What a profound and dynamic “map of the territory.”
Kabbalah is like a software program that enables us to connect to (link up to) and reveal The Light of The Creator. Don’t believe me, please.
Our soul essence is ……..
The Desire To Receive For The Sake of Bestowing onto Others.
That is WHY we are here.
Simple? Yes.
Complex. Yes.
This is not based on opinion, but rather, science.
This presentation seeks to introduce.
If Kabbalah does not resonate with you then Ken Wilber’s Integral Theory may be more appealing.
If your main concern is the physical body because you are dealing with pain, dis-ease, chronic illness, depression, anxiety, addiction or you are out of shape then yoga, walking, acupuncture, crania-sacral therapy, massage, bio-feedback, light therapy, Chinese herbs and supplements might be the focus, at this time.
Each person is different and has different needs, wants and expectations.
The Yellow Brick Road is what it is.
The road doesn’t change.
Each person experiences it differently.
The “added value” of the training is that it is tailored to each individual.
As you will see later in Bucky’s writing, it comes down to each individual discovering and expressing his/her authentic self with integrity in order to achieve unity.
The Paradox of the Paradox is that the Paradox is a Paradox.
We are not going to get there through government programs, welfare, entitlements, social justice or collective agenda driven activism.
It’s just not how the Universe is structured.
Unity is achieved when each individual unit is doing his/her work.
