Enteric Nervous System

We hear a lot about the word consciousness these days.  It wasn’t a common word 50 years ago or even 10 years ago.  So, what does consciousness mean?

Dictionary definitions

…the awareness or perception of something by a person:” her acute consciousness of Mike’s presence”

…the fact of awareness by the mind of itself and the world: “consciousness emerges from the operations of the brain.”

…an awareness of yourself and the world. Research on consciousness has focused on understanding the neuroscience behind our conscious experiences.

These definitions don’t fit my experience of the journey into greater consciousness not only of what is ‘me’ but also of what is the ‘Self’ that came here to earth to be, to do and to have.  It is not a straightforward awareness of my mind nor is it a straightforward awareness of the greater dimensions that interact with humanity.

First let’s look at our brains – the head brain, the Gut Brain and the heart.

Up until the 1980s, the medical profession only recognized the head brain.  They thought that it was unchangeable…that nothing could be done for people who were either born with defects or had injured their head brain.  Two paths of inquiry changed that picture: Neuroplasticity and the Gut Brain.  Research into what we now call neuroplasticity has proved that the head brain is the most malleable organ in the body. Different parts of the head brain can be used for different functions.  Now the medical world is discovering all the myriad ways that the brain can change so that birth defects, accidents, stroke are no longer jail sentences but are instead opportunities to rewire the brain and for the individual to move into being differently and being more.  Other research discovered the second brain/gut brain which has almost the same white and gray matter as the head brain and most of the neurotransmitters.   The microbiome of the gut brain informs us 24/7 what is occurring within us and outside of us.

Then what is the mind?

It’s the functioning of the three brains – the enteric nervous system/gut brain, the heart and the head brain all connected by the Vagus Nerve and our Spirit.  We think of it as our intellect or maybe everything we experienced in the past thru thinking, willing etc. Our brains hold all of the information, ideas, beliefs that we have been fed by our larger society, our family, our religion.  These beliefs/truths are stored in pathways in all our brains.  So, when we ‘think’ our mind is ‘thinking’ we are mostly simply reordering what we learned earlier in life.  We are not actually thinking something new, instead we are repeating the old statements that were given to us as the truth about the world.

How do we change if we are simply repeating what we have been told?

We can’t think newly if we never explore ourselves outside of the box that has been provided us.  Dipping your mind into the wider arena of discovery starts the process of consciousness.

What are ways that we can expand our thinking?

There are tools for the individual to use in this journey of ‘opening up to’ different perspectives, different information.  The Newfield Network suggests that you step outside your normal thinking and investigate new perspectives.  Like the five blindmen who disagree what an elephant is…. when they ‘opened up to’ the idea that the other blindman might have a different experience of the elephant…they could change their position around the elephant and thus gain another perspective.  Eventually the ‘all’ of what an Elephant is would be clear to them.  The same process happens with each of us when we ‘open up to’ others’ perspectives, others’ wonderings, others’ hopes.  Our comprehension of what more there is to the world, to life expands; our neural networks in our three brains gain more pathways; we have more choices in our thinking; and our levels of reactions lessen as these additional choice points makes responding easier instead of reacting to input.

What are the ways that you can search out different perspectives?

I use conversation with others who listen fully with their minds, their bodies, their hearts and their spirit.  They want to open up to others’ perspectives.   They are looking to create a future that takes care of everyone on earth including nature, the land and the waters. Conversations with these people opens me up to others ideas and information, their wonderings, and their hopes.  We use language to explore these ideas.  Our language is expanded thru these conversations and then become anchored as words with larger meanings in our brains. Those meanings carry cognitive and sentient information which makes the new neural pathways part of the our whole system, body, mind and spirit.

In order to language my inner consciousness journey, I use the Templates of the Language of Creation to give myself a connection to Creation and to access the deeper wisdom of my Spirit and Creation.  It is in the regular writing of my Creation Exercises that I deepen my own consciousness of who I have been (my historic self) and of my Self…whom I deeply am, whom I came to earth to be, to do and to have.  I experience these two processes…the observing of what is occurring and the craving of something new in my life.  This interaction of Observing and Craving is integral to my consciousness. They cannot be separated out as just one or the other.  We must reflect on where we are in order to take our next step to creating the life that we crave.

If we are to create a more viable and sustainable future for coming generations, we must come to the world, to ourselves differently.  That means learning to identify our historic patterns and habits and lessen those that are not life-generating.  That means changing how we be with others in our families, in our communities.  We must look to creating a world, a society that works for everyone. Our present economic system does not do that. Our present healthcare system does not do that. Our present educational and judicial systems do not do that.  These needed changes have to mean that we will return to honoring and respecting not just all people but also nature, the land and the waters.  Without this whole system response to the earth home and its inhabitants, we won’t be creating a sustainable future for our grandchildren and coming generations,

To learn more about the Templates of the Language of Creation, I suggest that you visit the website of the Language of Consciousness Institute.  Go to our products and investigate what supports we can give you in this inner and outer journey of deepening your consciousness. (www.loc-institute.com/store/)  If you want to be in conversation with others, join us in several conversations we are presently offering.  (www.loc-institute.com/courses-events/)

What is most critical is that you place yourself in a supportive field with others.  It is in the common journey of discovery and ‘opening up to’ that we find that we are most able for what has been hard for many of us.  The LOC Institute offers free mentoring when you first start writing your Creation Exercises and paid mentoring whenever a need for support is felt.  Go to our website to see what is being offered. (www.loc-institute.com/mentoring/)