The Other You

Without researching the subject but thinking about human consciousness, I have concluded we have two of us. One is the conscious awareness and the other a sub-conscious running in the background. The former runs for about 16 hours a day, the other 24. They don't seem to communicate with each other either. One  makes decisions based on our reasoning, the other on maintaining and protecting us.

A classic example is found in yo-yo dieting. When a person makes a decision to diet, then stops, and starts again, the conscious side knows what's happening. You are trying to lose weight. The sub-conscious side doesn't get that message and thinks that survival could be at stake with such an unreliable food supply. It goes into action and stores supplies in the form of fat to preserve us. It doesn't ask what's going on, it simply takes what it feels is the safest course.

That is frustrating, but without the sub-conscious side, we couldn't live. For 24 hours a day it operates quietly in the background, making sure the body is functioning well, organising our immune system, supplying nutrients and removing wastes, repairing and restoring all without a conscious thought needed. At night it beavers away doing essential chores. It also seems to organise dreaming.

Have you ever had a dream where what happens isn't to your liking, but you cannot stop it? If it's your dream, why can't you write the script? Your conscious side would, but remember the sub-conscious side doesn't work that way. It does what you need, not what you want.

Without those two sides to our consciousness, we could not survive. Our Creator has thought of everything to enable us to function and enjoy it. Imagine having to do everything through our conscious side. We wouldn't be able to cope, having to control every function with our thoughts. The 'other you' t frees us up to get on with the world around us, while it keeps us healthy and strong. We are certainly wonderfully made!

Nelson, NZ Waterfront

View from Tahunanui beach toward the Southern Alps

Again from Tahunanui beach toward Tasman Bay

Memorial to the first European settlers along the waterfront

The Other Realm

Our ancestors were tribal originally and in that time were aware of another realm. It became part of their worship and culture. They were helped by that connection, but also had to pay a price in return. This usually involved rites that appeased their contacts through inhuman cruelty. They often were led to believe they were dealing with dead ancestors, who went from nice people to demanding and wicked. That doesn't make anysense.

Today we are surrounded by a modern world of things that instead means we rely on a technological system to survive. Watch Bear Grylls to see how much we need mollycoddling. The spirit realm is largely ignored except for a few. My step-grandmother could predict the future with unerring accuracy. My mother asked to be trained to also do it, but was told do not try. The power that she tapped into frightened her, she was scared of it.

Why would such a force be like that when all it gave her was foreknowledge? Is it possible it was the same spiritual realm that our ancestors found to be on the one hand helpful but on the other so sadistic and cruel? The answer doesn't come from me but from a book that was written at the time ancient people had to deal with such matter more openly.

Deuteronomy 18:10-12 reads (NIV): 9 When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. 10 Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, 11 or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. 12 Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord; because of these same detestable practices the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you. 13 You must be blameless before the Lord your God.

The reason is because such behaviour brings us into contact with evil, sadistic spirits, even if they try to appear helpful and benevolent. So how should we contact the other realm? There are numerous references in the Bible that show it is through humble, sincere prayer. That way we speak to our Creator, our Heavenly Father, not the wicked rebels that also inhabit that unseen world. In that way we please our father for taking the right side of the divide.

What a wonderful world we were given by our loving heavenly Father

Marlborough Scenery : Part 2

Overlooking the town of Blenheim, Marlborough.

The Super Cynic

It has been said that a cynic is a man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. I think of a cynic or the act of being cynical as doubting something and being cautious about believing. I see three divisions of people in this.

The non-cynic: Those who are quick to accept and trust. Ideal candidates for Paradise, a place we could be trusting everyone. In this world such people are taken advantage of because it is anything but a Paradise morally.

The balanced cynic: They don't just believe - but can be convinced - and will change when something is reasonably proven. They do not need total proof to show some faith.

The super cynic: This is one who has turned a necessary quality into a weakness by being excessively cynical. To give an example, when my mother was young, a relative told my grandfather that at a certain place and time an apparition would appear. He said that was rubbish and that he would prove it. He went and stationed himself at the location and time described.

The next morning my young mum ran to her dad to find out what happened. He said the apparition appeared and he tried to investigate what it was, but couldn't explain it. My mum asked what he thought, and as the super cynic he was, said that were things we could not explain.

This is why the super cynic fails. My granddad found out something that blew his cynicism out of the water, then dismissed it with a glib response. Did he investigate any further? Did he change his beliefs in anyway? No, he remained with the same beliefs all his life. The super cynic has turned doubt into a state where they are in a mental rut. I recall explaining to a man why I believed in God and he couldn't argue with the reasoning, but finished off with a "We'll find out when we die".

Super cynics are forever doubting and are comfortable there. It's easy and requires nothing of them. They are either too proud or too lazy to accept a new idea and run with it. I have a necessary dose of cynicism to protect me. However, I don't want so much of it so that I refuse to act when clearly there is good reason to do so. Surely none of us wants to be a super cynic. It could stop us finding truth.

Marlborough Scenery : Part 1

Some scenery at the top of the South Is, New Zealand.

Facebook In Real Life Works!

For those (such as myself) who do not really comprehend why Facebook exists I have tried an experiment. I am trying to make friends outside of Facebook while applying the same principles. Every day I go down on the street and tell the passers-by what I have eaten, how I feel, what I have done the night before and what I will do tomorrow night. Then I give them pictures of my family, my dog and me gardening and spending time in my pool. I also listen to their conversations and I tell them I love them.


And it works. I already have 3 persons following me: 2 police officers and a psychiatrist.

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