Suppression

Suppressing memory

Category: Actions

Type

Involuntary and voluntary

Introduction and description

One of the biggest blocks to spiritual experience is our Memory and what we have learnt [Learnt functions] or remembered as so called ‘facts’ [Database of facts]. What we have in Memory is shown in simplified form below. Thus Suppressing memory helps with spiritual experience.

There is no need to forget executable learnt functions. Executable functions are those we can use directly to do things. They include speaking and writing, for example, or driving a car. Executable functions rarely get in the way of spiritual experience and occasionally help. If you decide to ride a bike whilst chanting mantras, for example, you may find it rather difficult, but it won't stop you having an experience and the executable learnt function is needed to enable us to ride the bike!

But everything else has an impact, and particularly Belief systems and 'Predictive models'. A predictive model is a model of how we think the world or the universe works. Both can be severely detrimental to spiritual experience, so we need to really march in with a will and slash and burn our way around!

Background

There are a number of reasons why stilling the Memory is important, not just the more obvious one related to the effect on the Will.

Spiritual experiences are symbolic

The spiritual world is unlike anything we will have come across before and it is based on symbolic associations. Whenever you undertake a spiritual experience and it is genuine, it will contain a vast amount of symbolism. During the experience you should write but never analyse. Analysis should only be done afterwards, not during the experience. In fact, if you attempt to make any analysis during the experience you will simply lose the experience – the vision will fade.

Nothing in visions or dreams is as it seems. Composers love puns and use words as simple tags, and images as indicators, that do not have the literal meaning we may decide to put on them, so in all experiences you have to forget the Database of facts you have learnt and thus deny your Reasoning function of anything on which it can try to interpret what it is seeing, before the experience is complete.

Accessing perceptions

The only way we will ever be able to access our Perceptions is by suppressing the Memory. Perceptions are clear and accurate. The colours and images in the Perception log far surpass anything you will get from Memory. And the Perceptions log is, of course, entirely accurate.

If you want to see what happened to you all those years ago – which over time has been so muddied by the reliving and rewriting that takes place by the Learning function and Memory, that it no longer bears any relation to the truth, - you have to suppress Memory. If you think you were an abused child, if you can’t remember what happened to you but it is important, the only way you will be able to go back and get at the truth is by suppressing Memory and the Database of so called facts – which often are not facts.

Real knowledge

We have the opportunity during a spiritual experience to learn about the systems of the universe directly. But if our heuristic and predictive models in memory remain uppermost in our minds, they may block out any knowledge being imparted.

With spiritual experience, we have the chance to learn about these systems directly, not just by limited observation of the physical. Furthermore, we will not be limited by what we are physically able to observe, there is the chance to learn about systems we would be totally unable to observe physically.

Inspiration

In order to get any form of Inspiration – images, songs, poems, lyrics, - you have to forget your own database – you have to let go. It is possible to get information on images, sounds, poems, ideas and so on from the spiritual world at large if you have a spiritual experience.

Instead of agonising for hours on a new invention, you can get inspiration by asking the spirit world for help. The invention will still be yours, but the spirit world may be able to provide you with just that little bit of help to enable you to solve a problem. Remember that the Composer and Higher spirit are you – so you are getting help from yourself!

Dangers of suppressing memory

At no point in this description have I said or implied that you need to suppress behavioural learnt function that is there to counter Emotions.

If we are so silly as to suppress the behavioural functions, there is nothing to temper our emotional response during a spiritual experience, raw emotion will get through. And sometimes that raw emotion can be utterly overwhelming to someone used to behaviourally controlling their responses. We may cry, wail, wring our hands, laugh uncontrollably, pout in frustration, shout in rage or kill maim and axe our best friends – for more information see The danger of suppressing behavioural function.

Method

I have provided a number of activities that help in preventing you adding to the memories that might get in the way of spiritual experience, the main ones are:

DON’T HURT
Reducing opportunities – which if you remember them will simply nag away
Suppressing obligations– which if you remember them will also simply nag away
Reducing threats - which might be remembered
Reducing and controlling emotions – which if you remember them will simply nag away

It may be worth adding that any of the techniques that help to reduce the Ego also give you a less troubled memory.

But the following set of techniques is there to help you remove damaging stuff that is already there – so cure - perhaps through no fault of your own or maybe it was your fault. Either way these techniques should help. Thus what follows are a number of essential techniques that can be used to help clear the memory of so called ‘facts’ and learnt function that will only get in the way.

You don’t do this as part of spiritual experience, you do it on an ongoing basis to rid yourself gradually of everything that simply stops you during any direct attempt. Here are the suggestions:

Asking for forgiveness - If our Memories are full of hurts done, they constantly resurface to activate the Will into activity and by doing so, by constantly dwelling on these hurts the Composer never gets the chance to help or ‘come in.’ So this technique helps you to rid yourself of the memory of hurts you have done others. There are some sub-steps within this approach
Expunging demons - ‘demons’ are learnt functions that are deeply destructive to us and others. Viruses. Our objective in this process is thus to ‘discover the demons!’ and, via a mixture of spiritual experience and direct acts in a conscious state, we aim to eliminate these functions. By eliminating them we remove a truly major block to both progress along the Spiritual path and any form of positive spiritual experience.
Forgetting - there may still be memories left that haunt you, not hurt from others, not hurt you have done, not destructive learnt function – just bad memories.
Things that frightened you, perhaps as a child, things that you saw or were involved in – car accidents, someone being robbed or beaten, something that happened at school that shocked you. An illness perhaps that caused you pain. Something nasty or vicious on TV or in a film. This technique is geared towards helping you come to terms with and forgetting this stuff
Forgiveness - according to most dictionary definitions is “ the renunciation or cessation of resentment, indignation or anger as a result of a perceived offense, disagreement, or mistake, or ceasing to demand punishment or restitution” Why? Because the memories of this hurt prevent spiritual experience, along with the emotions it results in - the resentment, anger and indignation. By forgiving we get rid of the Memory of the hurt done.
Being comforted –which is used to help in reducing Emotions, also helps a lot in removing bad memories or at least making them manageable
Telling the truth – you’ll need to read the description here! No clues given
Tolerance - this technique is an interesting first step before you tackle the next step–it requires the person to stop judging others, to stop criticising others for their beliefs or who they are. All it requires is that the person holds their tongue and listens as opposed to passing judgement the whole time and that they do not believe what they hear.
Questioning and doubting all existing beliefs– this technique is key, absolutely key, and must be attempted with considerable fervour and perseverance. Why?
If you take a look at – Memory – the types of model in memory and Memory and systems you will see how many systems we attempt to learn. I have also provided a very simple explanation of how we use the database of facts – Memory – traversing the database of facts. I also go into a little detail about how we form memory – one major factor being the extraordinary impact emotion seems to play in forming memories - in Memory and emotion. As an extension of this I also have a look at all the subliminal models we may have in memory that we don’t even realise we have – Memory and subliminal models.
What I hope should come out of all this is that we know nothing and all this junk gets in the way of spiritual experience.

For more essential background information I urge you to read the section on Belief systems.

St John of the Cross
This emptying of the memory, ......because it delivers souls from much sorrow, grief and sadness, besides imperfections and sins, is in reality a great good.

How it works

You may find it helpful to have the Model of the Mind open and to have read the generic description of How spiritual experience works.

From the Model you can see that Memory provides direct input for the Reason function, the function of the Will and also directly to the Emotions.

So to still the Will and to still the function of Reason and to still the Emotions we have to still the Memory. By removing bad Memories we help to still the chattering mind. By stilling the chattering mind we help to still the Will, by stilling the Will, we let in the Composer.

Advantages

Hugely, hugely effective – the road to nirvana
No more nightmares
Better health
More friends
And a much better chance of having a positive spiritual experience
Free
Legal
A fascinating trip – this produced some wonderful surprises for me
Provides peace
Removes all feelings of isolation and ‘separateness’

Disadvantages

This can be hard – very hard for some
There is one side-effect of using ritual and ceremony ‘exorcism’ in the expunging of demons worth mentioning and that is occasionally people vomit. Often this is simply a by-product of the substances they have taken, but vomiting can occasionally happen when no substances have been taken and the approach is benign. Vomiting seems to be an involuntary stomach reflex action when ‘expunging demons’ – which may be connected to the solar plexus – that goes with it. On the whole people seem to feel better after this, but to the onlooker it can appear most alarming, as it is violent. I have seen the phrase ‘projectile vomiting’ being used.
This one step has been the biggest cause of failure for many people

Observations

One very good example of a man who practised this the whole of his life was Michael Faraday. It worked for Jesus, it worked for Buddha and it worked in the I Ching.

It worked for Lewis Carroll, it worked for Aleister Crowley, it worked for Milton Erickson, it worked for Rudolf Steiner, it worked for Goethe, it worked for Nietzsche it worked for whoever wrote the Cloud of Unknowing, and it worked for Socrates whose teachings were all based on this idea, and it worked for a host of others, but if you would like to read examples see below.

Related observations

Socrates - Plato Phaedo - The Dying Philosopher 013693

WHAT AND WHERE IS HEAVEN?

VISIONS AND HALLUCINATIONS

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Suppression

Suppressing memory

Type

Introduction and description