The Power of Noticing: How to Interrupt Mechanical Life

Conscious intervention is required for psychological growth.

What is Neville On Fire?

Neville Goddard (1905-1972) offered a compelling explanation of the human condition and an intriguing and empowering path of self-discovery. Join your host Ed to explore from the ground up this most essential mystery: the human imagination.

This is S2E17 The Power of Noticing how to Interrupt Mechanical Life. This is a somewhat shorter episode to discuss in a little more detail something that we covered back in season one, which is the power to create oneself.

We saw in the last post that conscious intervention is required for psychological growth. That was the discussion of the Sedona Method. Conscious development can only proceed consciously. Now, this thread runs through the advice given in similar terms by three authors. So Neville, for example, insists upon the awakened imagination, which is directed, as opposed to the unawakened imagination, which is something that drags you after it. Rolf Alexander makes the attainment of objective consciousness the life ghoul. It is the central tenet in his program of subconscious retraining. And Maurice Nicoll says, if there is buried in us, a sense of the truth, we must admit that there is a great deal superficial to it that fights against it. So there we see three different perspectives, all aiming really towards the same idea, which is that the power of consciously noticing is the key to interrupting mechanical life.

Now, here's an illustrative story that I gave back in season one. A caregiver was describing to me her experience with one of her clients. This client is suffering from some sort of neurological disorder causing in her, a chaotic and disrupted existence. She has no capacity to filter or relax and see the wider picture. Everything has to undergo a literal interpretation. So every event, moment to moment, receives the same tortured, intense scrutiny. So unfortunately, this person cannot properly perceive life as it's going on around her, nor empathize with others.

This story of the care patient reminded me of British neurologist Maurice Nicoll’s description of what he called the release phenomenon. This is not the release technique of the Sedona method. This is a different use of the word. An individual's neural system is structured, consisting of layers, each having a discrete function. If a higher layer is somehow damaged or not utilized, then the person is released, that is sort of abandoned, into the lower function, where experience becomes chaotic and disrupted, just as I've described.

So while we might feel pity for that client, it's actually a kind of projection because we ourselves are experiencing a release that is parallel to hers. It's only a question of degree. That was Nicoll's insight. The normal waking state is a release state. It's an inferior mode of functioning characterized by brief periods of focused attention or mesmeric fascination, amidst a generally hectic and fragmented backdrop.

Nicoll goes on to explain that in conventional medicine, which is materialist and Darwinian, there's no concept of possible higher mental levels. So that's one reason why he left CG Jung, to study instead an esoteric teaching that would show him the latent conscious function in Man. To escape from the chaotic “released” condition, we must strive to invoke, to reinvigorate, self remembering. And in that sense we are self creating beings.

This is counterintuitive in the sense that when we take on a new study, when we look at new material, it is natural to think that we are accumulating knowledge or skill. And certainly we're not wasting our time in studying the foundational principles of Neville Goddard. But the project of higher consciousness, the practice of it, has to do rather with dissociating from clutter to allow something that is already inherent to arise in the present moment.

So let's go through a few examples to show how this plays out, and then give a few reflections on what we've accomplished.

I might wake up in the morning with an underlying vague feeling of depression. Even if the volume of this, so to speak, is turned down very low, it's still there in the background. If I don't notice it, then I've been negatively released in nickel sense into this negative aspect of the psyche and it's going to affect my attitude throughout the entire day. On the other hand, if I do notice it and I use the Sedona technique to let the feeling go as we discussed in the previous episode, then I am self creating.

If later on I read, a news headline that contradicts my wishes, then I can be easily disappointed. But what has happened at that precise moment? I have forgotten that life, as Nicol advises, is not resolvable in terms of itself. I've forgotten that according to Neville, it is an exercise or a training ground for image making. But if I do catch myself, then I can use the discipline of mind that we talked about back in episode five (that is, disciplined denial) to affect conscious self creation.

Let's continue my example. I might experience confusion through illness or some other outside factor. I might convince myself that I'm tired, that I'm exhausted, or that I've had enough. And what has happened when I'm carried away by these feelings? I'm reverting back into a former worldview which says that I am at the mercy of an external world, which has me in its grip. It's impinging all of its effects upon me.

Now, this is all scarcely realized. It's a state of mind that has me in its power. It's a background attitude that is colouring and affecting everything else that's going on in my mind. But as I become more practiced with this technique, and as my determination gets stronger, and my understanding gets better, I'm going to catch myself and shift my attitude.

Now, in all this, we're appealing to grace - some higher influence to come in and help us out. That's consistent with our worldview that we get from Neville Goddard. But we have to make the effort ourselves. It makes a great deal of sense to say that the only way to achieve consciousness is consciously.

Now, let's consider results. Is all this an artificial mind game, or are we striving for something that is real? The mental discipline will only make sense, first of all, as an experiment, whose results only you can assess for yourself. Second, it will only make sense as the natural adjunct to your worldview, to your life task - what you think is worthwhile pursuing.

At times, I feel almost violently pulled back into ego; into the agendas that I want to pursue and solve. And yet I'm aware that nothing in the ego has really increased or changed. As I disengage from it, it is presenting itself in all its aspects in a much more forceful way.

Each person will have to evaluate: to enact the self creative discipline, am I then more vitally oriented to life? Am I more aware of myself? Do I feel lighter and more empowered?

We get easily swept away and, submerged in the vents of ordinary life. But if we are true to our principles, we want to leave off reacting continually to the seeming external world and create from within.

Now, one benefit is you will tend to gravitate away from certain things that don't serve you anymore or that are harmful. You may no longer be amused by certain things that might have entertained you in the past. At the same time, you may increase your sense of humor and enjoyment of things that you hadn't suspected.

In conclusion, we will be able to judge for ourselves whether we're moving towards a more vivid, more satisfying, and finally, a more peaceful and blessed experience of life. That will be a sure sign. That's the whole point of noticing what's going on in the mind, in order to invoke a conscious interruption, and self create.