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First Principles
‘In every systematic inquiry (methodos) where there are first principles, or causes, or elements, knowledge and science result from acquiring knowledge of these… It is clear, then, that in the science of nature as elsewhere, we should try first to determine questions about the first principles.’
Aristotle
There are usually only a few basic principles which create our experience of anything in life. When you really understand what those principles are, you’ve got the key to unlocking the mystery of whatever it is. And once you’ve unlocked those mysteries, they cease to be mysteries – they open doors that never become closed to you again.
One of the fundamental principles in geometry is what’s called the ‘point-line-plane postulate.’ There’s no such thing in nature as a point, but if you accept the idea of a point as a first principle, you can then put an infinite sequence of points together and get a line. And if you envision a series of lines going in every direction in a single dimension (like an endless piece of paper), you get a plane.
By asserting these three fundamental building blocks and then building on them, everything else in geometry and design becomes possible, from creating shapes to designing buildings.
Or think about another kind of plane – the kind that flies over our head all day long. Until about 100 years ago, flight seemed impossible to most scientists, even though it was happening all around them in nature. Then a couple of brothers who ran a bike shop figured out a way to take some fundamental principles – like gravity, lift, thrust, and drag – and combine them in a new way to enable something which seemed heavy to behave as if it were lighter than air.
So the word ‘principle,’ as I’ll be using it in our conversation together, refers to the basic or essential quality or element of something that determines its intrinsic nature or characteristic behavior.
In the field of chemistry, 117 distinct elements have been discovered that in various compounds form the substance of every ‘thing’ on the planet. In art, the three primary colors make up every other color in the spectrum.
When Syd Banks began talking about his insights into the human experience, he articulated their essence in the form of three universal principles, which he called Mind, Consciousness and Thought. While those words mean different things to different people, the principles they point to have been observed and studied in science, philosophy, and religion throughout the ages. I have come to think of them as the basic facts of life – formless, foundational elements which can be observed only through their effects:
1. There is an energy and intelligence behind life. This is ever present but is not ‘in control’ – it has no inherent morality or apparent point of view. It simply ensures that but for the interference of external circumstance, acorns become oak trees, cuts heal, and life begets life. (The Principle of Mind)
2. The capacity to be aware and experience life is innate in human beings. It is a universal phenomenon. Our level of awareness in any given moment determines the quality of our experience. (The Principle of Consciousness)
3. We create our individual experience of reality via the vehicle of thought. Thought is the missing link between the formless world of pure potentiality and the created world of form. (The Principle of Thought)
Let’s take a deeper look at each of these principles in turn…
The God Principle: Mind
‘You know the Eastern philosophers say: “Big Mind, little mind.” And here’s the paradox: the little mind is the ego mind, that’s the self-centred “me” the big hotshot – the only thing in the world worth looking at in the mirror is me.
The big Mind is the Divine Mind – the Universal Mind, which is the intelligence of literally all things in this world or any other world. That’s the Mind you should be looking for. That’s the Mind that has the power to guide you through life.’
Syd Banks
This always sounds like the set-up to a joke, even to me, but I once had a conversation about the principle of Mind with a Catholic, a Jehovah’s Witness, and an atheist. They were each sharing their view of God, and not unexpectedly the conversation became somewhat heated.
The atheist turned to me and said, ‘What do you think, Michael?’ no doubt counting on my rational mind to come to his aid in the argument.
I reflected for a moment, and said, ‘I know two things for sure: I seem to be part of a larger whole, and I’m not in charge of how things unfold. If you want to call that larger whole or great unfolding “life” or “the universe” or “spirit,” I’m okay with that. If you want to call it “God,” I’m okay with that too.’
To my slight surprise, all three of them were comfortable with that explanation, but as I reflected on it some more, I realized that it wasn’t so surprising. After all, however we explain it, most of us realize that we’re not running the show.
In mystical circles, this energy behind life is often referred to as the ‘Ground of Being’; in physics, it’s sometimes referred to as the ‘quantum field’; in religion, it’s God, or more specifically the Godhead. While to equate these things may seem heretical in some traditions (including atheism), I mean no offense by it – I’m simply pointing to the fact that nearly all traditions and fields of study point to something that is beyond our personal human-sized view of life.
I like to think of it as infinite creative potential – the potential for any form to arise (including thought-forms) and for any experience to be experienced.
In The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins quotes Albert Einstein:
‘To sense that behind anything that can be experienced there is a something that our mind cannot grasp and whose beauty and sublimity reaches us only indirectly and as a feeble reflection, this is religiousness. In this sense, I am religious.’
Dawkins then goes on to say that in this sense he too is religious. And in this sense I think anyone who has ever contemplated the miracle of life would call themselves religious, no matter what their view on a supernatural deity.
In my experience, when you begin to look beyond your personal mind to the impersonal ‘big Mind,’ you find something profound is waiting for you there. But I was still quite coy about speaking openly about this gateway to spirit until I attended a talk given by the brilliant Principles-based psychiatrist William Pettit. He was asked about how he introduced the idea of a divine Mind to the soldiers he was treating in Iraq and the Middle East for post-traumatic stress disorder. His answer stuck with me, as I suspect it will with you:
‘I’ve never met a man who has held another man’s head in the scope of his rifle who hasn’t already spent a great deal of time contemplating what life is and where it comes from.’
In fact I’ve yet to meet anyone who hasn’t at least some awareness of a part of themselves that exists beyond whatever personal trials and tribulations we all face. And the more time we spend connected with that part of ourselves, the more beautiful our life, and the impact of that life, becomes.
The Awareness Principle: Consciousness
‘Consciousness gives us the ability to realize the existence of life. Consciousness has an infinite number of levels; you will never come to the end of Consciousness. It is literally impossible, because Consciousness is infinite – there is no end to it. And that’s a beautiful thing to know, because it means to say there is no end of you finding beauty, love and understanding in this world.’
Syd Banks
Consciousness is like a kind of developing fluid for mental photographs, bringing whatever passes through its field to life. It’s the light that illuminates a film strip – the special-effects department that takes the illusion and makes it seem real. It informs our senses and brings whatever we’re thinking to life.
While pure Consciousness is a formless potential, as individuals we all experience life at different levels. It’s like being in a glass elevator – the world looks different depending on what floor you’re on. And the elevator of our personal consciousness goes up and down all day long. When your level changes, your view changes right along with it: the higher your level, the clearer your view.
What I find so hopeful in this metaphor is that it’s possible for any one of us to make a ‘vertical leap’ in consciousness at any time. Each new insight we have into the nature of the human condition opens up a higher perspective, a deeper understanding, and a clearer view of what’s really going on. It’s like making the move from an elevator that runs between the fifth and fifteenth floor of a building to one that will take us up to the twentieth floor. While we will most assuredly continue to experience the ups and downs of life, our access to common sense, wisdom, and well-being grows exponentially with each leap.
The simplest way to gauge your current level of consciousness is to tune in to your feelings. When you’re feeling low (angry, frustrated, stressed out, uncomfortable, unwell, etc.), chances are that your level of consciousness has dipped and your view of yourself, your life, and the world is relatively limited. When your mood is higher and you’re feeling peaceful, loving, and content, chances are that the elevator of consciousness has begun to climb, and from these higher levels you’ll naturally be able to respond more insightfully to whatever is happening around you.
Now this isn’t to say that if you’re feeling happy and peaceful today you’re automatically in the same state of consciousness as the Buddha. But the more you look in the direction of what’s creating experience and away from the content of that experience, the easier it is to hear the quiet wisdom that can lead to a quantum leap in consciousness.
The Creative Principle: Thought
‘Remember – and this is very important – you’re only one thought away from happiness, you’re only one thought away from sadness. The secret lies in Thought. It’s the missing link that everybody in this world is looking for… It’s a gift that we were given to have the freedom to walk through life and see what we want to see. How much better than that can you get? That you have the freedom to walk through life and see as a free thinker, that is the greatest gift ever, to be a free thinker.’
Syd Banks
When I first heard practitioners of the Three Principles talk about the principle of Thought in semi-rapturous tones, I thought that at best they were a bit simple and at worst a bit brainwashed. After all, I already knew that people thought. It hardly seemed worth mentioning, let alone waxing rhapsodic about.
But then one of my mentors pointed out the nature of what he called ‘ordinary miracles’ – those things that on the one hand are truly extraordinary and on the other happen so consistently that we take them completely for granted. Things like the sun appearing in the sky and not only lighting our days but also warming and nourishing life on our planet. Or gravity keeping us fixed to the Earth when every other law of physics would have us hurtling out into space.
Thought is all around us, which in some ways makes it largely invisible to us. Without thought, there would be no delineation in our world – no perception, no distinction, and no variety of experience. It is both creator and substance of our beliefs and values; it’s the raw material of our hopes and dreams.
While most of us are aware of Thought at the level of what we think about life, we tend to be unaware of how much of life itself is created and maintained by Thought. Much of what appears to be solid and real is actually part of the illusion of our personal thinking.
To better understand this idea, consider an iceberg. Icebergs appear solid, but they are actually made up of the water that surrounds them. In the world of form, this means that a tiny degree of fluctuation in temperature can completely eliminate icebergs that have been in place for hundreds of years and create new ones seemingly out of nowhere. In the inner world of the formless, it means that no matter how solid the foundations of your reality may seem, it only takes a slight shift in consciousness for your entire world to change.
To me, this is one of the most exciting things about Thought. It’s at the heart of everything we experience, from monsters to angels and from problems to possibilities. And since we have an infinite potential for new thought, we’re only ever one new thought away from a completely different experience of being alive.
Putting It All Together
I’ll let Syd Banks finish this section with a summary of how these principles fit together:
‘What are Mind, Consciousness and Thought?
Mind is the intelligence of all things; Consciousness makes you aware; and Thought is like the rudder of a ship. It guides you through life, and if you learn to use that rudder properly, you can guide your way through life far better than you ever imagined. You can go from one reality to another. You can find your happiness and when illusionary sadness comes from memories, you don’t try to figure it out. Please don’t try to do that – you’ll get yourself in trouble. All you have to do is realize that it’s Thought.
The second you realize that it’s Thought, you are touching the very essence of psychological experience. You’re back to the “now”, you’re back to happiness. So don’t get caught up on a lot of details…
When you’re ready, you will find what you’re looking for. I don’t care who you are. I don’t care where you are. If you’re in the middle of the Sahara Desert … and it’s time for you to find the answer, the right person will appear in the middle of the desert and let you know. He will say something to you that will trigger something inside you.
And that’s where that life comes from: inside out. It’s spiritual knowledge. It’s there, everybody has it and people don’t realize that. There’s no human being more spiritual than you – everybody is equal.
And you know what the equality is?
That we all derive from Mind, Consciousness and Thought.
That’s the equalizer. And while you have that equalizer you’re as good as anybody on this Earth, you’re as holy as anybody else on this Earth. You always have been, always will be; the only thing is you don’t see it because of your thoughts.’
