Outside Looking In

by Daniel Gilliland

I’ve been moving away from the subjective realms lately, and trying instead to look at the outsides of things. I’m less interested in the content of channeled messages than the outward forms they take, and the actual worldly effects they have. Example: forget for a moment what (or who) you think Elias is, what he’s all about, or what he’s saying. Instead, what about the phenomenon that is the E forum? Look instead at the actions and interactions of the members themselves. How do we approach life, and what is being experienced and accomplished in a very mundane sense? This is the outside-looking-in approach.

For a long time I’ve looked at religions that way. You know, forget what they actually say. What do they do? And I’m not talking about the sort of… naïve, knee-jerk response of “Oh, well they’re a bunch of hypocrites, blah blah.” No, I mean beyond that, even. As if you were an alien from another dimension entirely, with no preconceptions or opinions or value judgements about what you see. It’s very interesting from that neutral standpoint. And so I’ve been considering channeled messages in that light lately.

I don’t think either particular view — internal or external — is better or worse. I guess a lot of this has been inspired by looking into Ken Wilber’s integral theory lately. It’s the idea that, you’re not getting a complete picture of anything until you’re looking at it from multiple, often contradictory angles. We’re all well-versed in the internal viewpoints of Seth-like philosophies. “Why/How did I create this?” we ask ourselves. But what happens when we — without abandoning or renouncing what we’ve learned from our inner-Self-centric pursuits — step back and look on the whole YCYOR¹ scene with fresh eyes?

So instead of reading into the meaning of Seth or Elias or Kris’s words, one steps back and looks at how actual individuals and groups implement those words and teachings in the real world. Look at it from the point of view of somebody who doesn’t believe this stuff — a sociologist or historian, perhaps. What is the effect of these channelings on the human race and individuals? What kinds of results are they having in the world? How has the New Age / YCYOR movement evolved and affected society at large in the last, say, 30-40 years? Put simply, what is The Shift from the outside looking in, instead of the inside looking out?

I realize I’m asking a lot of questions here, and not answering them. I myself am only beginning to look at it from this perspective. The idea is that this is a cognitive “flip” you can perform — shifting from the interior, subjective experience (where you as a person are attempting to apply these ideas, and thinking in terms of success/failure/improvement), toward an external perception of the phenomenon in terms of the very concrete, physical and social effects it’s having. It can be applied in the observation of groups (including online forums) or individuals (yourself, as seen objectively from the eyes of someone else who is not experiencing your inner world — just outward behavior and activities)

Recently I doubted it was possible for my own viewpoint to shift beyond a certain plateau I’ve been stuck in, but these kinds of mental antics seem to be a genuine move beyond what I’ve been capable of prior. Suddenly I’m less enamored with anything channeled or remotely smacking of self-improvement, while moving more toward scientific/objective material. But somehow this process is altering my understanding of what Spirituality is and could be, to something more refined — and practical.

Perhaps it’d be better described as a redefinition, for me, of what “spiritual” means: spurred by increasing doubt and boredom with direct metaphysical readings, I’m attempting to clear the table and look at it all with a fresh, more objective perspective. But instead of discarding everything I’ve encountered and believed prior, it seems to be improving my grasp of the sheer depth of physical experience and my appreciation for the invisible structures and laws which it has to rely on, in order to maintain this consistency and focus for us.

I’m also starting to recover a sense of ability (even pride?) in using my intellectual, cognitive capacities, which I had perhaps brushed aside too readily in the past after having decided that they alone weren’t sufficient to probe into the mysteries of existence. The outside world is taking on a new relevance, and I’m realizing to what extent I was pushing it away, playing a game of peek-a-boo. In expanding my definitions of Reality, I’m accounting for some real-world facts that I was (semi-consciously) hoping would go away if I stopped looking at them long enough!

Note:

1 YCYOR, or “You Create Your Own Reality”