The Three Intentional Living Activities (Energy Processing)
- Intentional Creative Construction
- Intentional Co-creative Construction (The Art of Agreement)
- Intentional Communative Completion
- Intentional Cosmic Contemplation
- How The Three Intentional Living Activities Interact With Each Other
The 3.5 Intentional Living Activities
Operational Definitions:
Here are the three categories of INTENTIONAL behavior/activity. They can also be viewed as the directing, observing, or interacting with energy:
Intentional Creative Construction: The intentional act of consciously, voluntarily associating any particular stimulus with any particular response, and the corresponding degree of pain or pleasure sensation used to unite this combination. The intentional accumulating of energies for the purpose of experiencing that unique combination of energies, and the continual maintenance of that energy pattern (belief).
Creative construction is the intentional manufacturing of beliefs, which then act as goals to pursue, character traits to act out, projections to place upon the lives of others, limitations within which to live. A creation is a belief, and each one, in differing degrees, was originally created intentionally, even with the limited understanding level of a child. As adults, the creation process can take on a new perspective, once the association between stimulus and response is understood. Then creation becomes an aware, controlled combining of stimuli and responses, producing a new and hopefully temporary and more “useful” Belief System for the creator. Both primary simple beliefs and secondary complex beliefs can be volitionally created. Creation is a detailed pattern of associated thoughts and feelings, chosen by the creator to experience for educational (learning) purposes.
Here is an example and experiential exercise for Creative Construction:
Phase #1 of “Things To Do Today!!”
I sit down at look at my “Things To Do Today” list. There are several items already on the list. I am going to cook a meal, wash the truck, clean the house, and complete a chapter of my book. Hmmm, which one to work on first?
1.) I think I will take a few moments to work on the chapter. Now I need to decide how to do that.
I will make a specific statement. This is what I want to have, to do, or to be: I want to complete the Activities chapter of my book. I will probably repeat this specific phrase, both out loud, and silently, like a mantra, as I work on the project.
2.) Now I need to define the details of exactly how to construct this creation. I ask myself a series of questions, to come up with those details.
“Why do I want to do this?” Well, I started the book, so I might as well finish it. Also, this idea has been on my mind for years, and I now have more time in my daily schedule to work on it.
“Is this project a ‘want to’ or a ‘have to’?” I want to do the writing, I like to do the writing. But some belief or feeling deep down inside of me has told me for years that I ‘have’ to complete this project, or I will likely regret never having finished it.
“Am I ‘moving toward’ or ‘moving away from’ something by doing this project?” Both, in a sense. I am moving toward getting all the chapters completed. Yes, I am moving away from the guilt of not finishing the book, and later sharing it with others.
“What is my timetable for action with this project?” I want to complete this one chapter today, and have the whole book’s rough first draft completed by the end of the week. That is do-able.
‘What are my other choices or options?” I can go do all the other things on my to-do list, I can watch TV, or take the dog for a walk. But I would probably be thinking about this chapter all the time I was doing those other things.
“What are a few of the positive, pleasure-based reasons for completing this goal?” I can say that I finally finished a long term project. I can see if the book is “sell-able.” Even if not, I can put it in print on my internet site, just for myself and a few close friends to share.
“What are a few of the negative pain-based reasons concerning this goal?” What if nobody likes what I spent all this time on? Have I wasted too much time on this? Is the story’s message really that important to anyone else but myself?
“What physical actions are required to complete today’s goal?” Turn on the laptop computer. Open the appropriate software. Open the chapter file. Have a cup of coffee nearby. Have some quiet music in the background to help mask any other noises. Think, type, think, type, contemplate, type, and repeat.
3.) Now I get to experience the creative construction of this goal.
While I am typing, I am repeating my initial mantra of completing the typing of this particular chapter. Occasionally, I rest, take another sip of coffee, and smile while re-reading what I just wrote. I don’t worry about a perfect edit just yet. I just seek to get through the first draft version. I will edit later tonight.
I remember the expression “Fake it until you make it.” What does it NOW feel like to be actively working on this creation? I feel myself very relaxed having completed several hours of creative writing. I can visualize the pages already in print, using my favorite font. I am holding the final hard-back covered book in my hand, and giving a copy to a family member. Someone wants to interview me about the book’s radical contents. I hear and see them in the interview space.
4.) Now I make a positive pleasure-based declaration. This activity reinforces the energy that I am directing toward the eventual completion of this writing project.
“I am now in possession of a completed copy of the chapter I wrote today, and I know it because I see the pages in my hand, and feel more relaxed in my body. I have now creatively constructed a new chapter of my book. Tomorrow, I will complete the last chapter. It’s all good!”
Intentional Co-Creative Construction: The intentional act of two or more people creating a correspondingly similar S & R, or series of S & R’s, together. This is the art of “Agreement.” It is combined energy creating.
Co-creative construction is how we relate to everyone else every day!! When two or more people are together, it is their intention (hopefully) to “get along”, to agree to something, to trade some kind of information or energy or relationship. They do this by deliberately creating similar belief, or series of beliefs, together. As the fine, but often delicate, art of “Agreement,” we begin to provide means of communication, production, and association.
A single person could co-create by themselves, but mainly in the area of exploring their own beliefs, and doing some combining of those beliefs. This would be like a thought game, “figuring things out.”
Otherwise, the most common examples of co-creative construction are found whenever and wherever people get together: businesses, schools, churches, family units, social contacts in person or online, sets of laws and regulations, world explorations, the arts and the sciences, … the list is endless. “Wherever two or more are gathered…” … in the directing of personal energies for collective purposes, there will be the co-creative construction of beliefs occurring.
Here is an example and experiential exercise for Co-creative Construction:
Phase #2 of “Things To Do Today!!”
For me to fully complete this project, I am going to need some outside creative assistance. This kind of writing project usually requires quite a bit of co-creative energies. I need to find people who can complement my own creative processes, while fleshing out those aspects of this project that I don’t know so much about.
1.) I call a family member, and they give me some ideas and instruction on how to set up a WordPress blogging site.
2.) I email an old friend in the publishing business, to discuss her ideas on how to go about getting my competed manuscript into print. We discuss agents, and editors. We discuss which direction to focus on for marketing. We discuss typical timetables for getting a book from submission to print.
3.) I look up my bank account, to see what shape my finances are in. That information will help me decide which is the most practical way to “get into print.” There are lots of methods now for this. So I utilize the creative input from web sites and discussion forums.
4.) I look up other books similar to my own, and gather material from a wide variety of those sources. Their previous creations will assist me in directing my own creative energies.
Intentional Communative Completion: The intentional act of fully re-experiencing any previously-created association between S & R, sometimes at its most behavioral primary level, sometimes on a more secondary “cognitive” level. Fully Aware attentive observing of one’s previously created energy patterns (beliefs). Objective observation of all three parts of the belief unit leads to the completion and elimination of that belief unit (no longer automatically associated S & R). Complete Energy processing.
Communative completion is the objective observation of both parts of the belief unit (both the nature of the Stimulus and the nature of the Response previously connected to it) leading to the completion and elimination of that belief unit (no longer automatically associated S & R). Communative Completion is an aware, controlled perception of the individual components of those previously created beliefs, usually for the intention of disassembling that structure. Awareness’s primary focus is on the “&” part of the “S & R = B”. This process works both on the primary and secondary levels of the Belief System. Therefore, one does not need to complete absolutely every single primary unit of a belief in order to free oneself of the effects of that belief. This process can be done in “clumps”, or groups of similar beliefs that all share some common aspect, either a common stimulus, or a common response, or a common association between the two (“&”). Communative Completion is the intentional act of fully experiencing a previously created belief, with the unintentional result being the cessation of that belief. This process of focused experience tends to reduce one’s level of thinking, and increase one’s ability to feel with greater awareness..
Here is an example and experiential exercise for Communative Completion:
Phase #3 of “Things To Do Today!!”
I have now finished the creative construction work behind the production of my book. It is “out there” in the published world. What do I do now? Worry a lot? Keep trying to perfect the things I have already sent into the universe?
1.) I detect that my energetic connection to the book is very strong, and it is difficult for me to just “let it go.” Sometimes I am such a perfectionist that I get in my own way. This is a problem belief for me. So I crystallize that problem into a statement: “Something is bothering, or affecting, or limiting me. It is this: I will never create a writing product that is so perfect that I will believe that it is totally completed.”
2.) I now try to define the problem even more by using belief statements, such a:
“I have chosen to create the belief that: my work is never good enough for me”
“The proof I have for this is that there are always people out there who will never read my message.”
“I have NOT chosen to create the opposite belief that my work is perfectly fine for me, for now, for others.”
“This is what it feels like to FULLY EXPERIENCE my created belief:”
3.) With that last statement, I intend only to fully experience any internal discomfort connected to the the expression and maintaining of that belief. I begin to do my internal breathing exercise in which I seek only to observe any sense of discomfort in the physical body itself. I do not try to get rid of any discomfort. I do not try to analyze the discomfort, or to associate it with other beliefs or feelings. I seek only to fully feel the sensations in the physical body which arise when I trigger those sensations due to my upsetting belief. As I progress though a total body scan breathing exercise, I notice certain areas of tightness or other discomfort. I simply continue to breathe into those spots, allowing them to feel how they feel , and to be where they are.
4.) After a few minutes of this exercise, taking as long as I need to take, I begin to detach from the belief with this phrase: “This present sensation is only an act, a temporary illusory belief that I have chosen to create. It is now completed and finished, like a role in a play. It is a thing separate from me. I can now consciously decide whether or not to spend my energy further maintaining it in its present form. I can now choose to keep it, to change it, or to let it go. I am, and always was, the creative constructor of this pain-associated belief form. I now choose to release it, and let it take its natural energetic course. I have now communed deeply with this belief, and it is completed. Its energy is released.”
Intentional Cosmic Contemplation: The intentional act of objective perception of external and internal stimuli, or no stimuli at all (the not-too-common human experience of pure awareness.) The Observer simply observes, with no intention other than to fully “be” with the Observed, whatever it is.
Cosmic Contemplation is the simple awareness experience, with no intention toward or away from a belief unit or structure. It is the intentional act of observing, without activating previously created beliefs into action. It is the act of being aware of sensory input, to a finer, more sensitive, degree. A person does not contemplate a thought, or a thing. They focus only on the immediate personal experience of whatever the stimulating environment provides. Some recent practitioners of this exercise have called this “mindfulness.” More accurately, it should be called “mind-less-ness.”
Here is an example and experiential exercise for Cosmic Contemplation:
Phase #4 of “Things To Do Today!!”
I am now just sitting by the fireplace. It is a chilly day outside, but a warm comfortable day inside. My chapter-completion project is done, and I am currently spending no more energy on that one. My choices now are:
- to have no choices at all, to just sit here by the fire, hearing it, seeing it, feeling it, smelling it, breathing it in deeply, and tasting a cup of hot chocolate beside it.
- to nibble on some pretzels. There is always time for pretzels.
- to have a small piece of notepaper nearby, to jot down ideas for tomorrow’s creative construction projects, and then forget about those notes.
- to do some more deep breathing, without any particular internal sensation in mind. Just perform the internal body scan, find what I find, fill each body section with energizing breath, and move on.
- to combine the deep breathing with some spontaneous body movement, exercise, stretching … making up the movements as time progresses.
- to work on a previously chosen alternative creation.
- to take a nap.
- Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…
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How these three Intentional Living Activities (Energy Processing) form the Complete Cycle of Intentional Living, and how they relate to each other:
Once a person has used the PTP tools to understand the building, battling, and breaking down of the ever-controlling Belief System, these three processes, then, comprise all of the future activity of the freshly-enlightened human. Creative Construction activities will deal with the development of future needs and desires, the new programming of more efficient and pleasurable beliefs. Communative Completion activities will begin to address the past collection of negative and conflicting beliefs, to eliminate as necessary, to free up stored energy and make room for more useful creations. Cosmic Contemplation activities will bring the human into “real” Time, the only Time that ever really existed, the moment Now. There emerges within the individual a heightened sensory awareness of the immediate surroundings, without the colored filters of judgmental beliefs clouding that vision. With Creative Construction shaping the Future, Communative Completion shaping the Past, and Cosmic Contemplation focusing on the Present, every aspect of human activity now begins to come under the increasing INTENTIONAL control of the Awareness System.
The Activities Cycle of Intentional Living
The balanced, intentional life consists of a person’s participation in the three processes of Creating new beliefs, Completing old beliefs, and Contemplating every non-belief of the moment called Now. In order to maintain an Aware perspective on life, and not get caught back in the middle of a controlling Belief System, each of the three processes should be conducted as often as possible. Rather than living on automatic-pilot, we should intentionally choose what kind of creations we would like to explore, what kind of beliefs we need to complete that limit our experience of those new creations, and how long we should rest in a belief-free zone of contemplation. This series of processes helps us to maintain our new perspective, and when practiced regularly, begins to expand that perspective to levels not even imagined before. Remember, every belief comes with a limit imposed by the boundaries of that belief. What occurs when you eliminate those boundaries? You find yourself in a more expansive space, a more global perspective, a freer environment in which to create, or just watch the world.
The process steps are usually conducted in the following order: 1.) Create a belief “game” to play, 2.) Complete that belief game, consciously and intentionally, and 3.) Contemplate and rest for a while, and eventually decide what belief game to intentionally play next.
During our early years, we begin to create many roles, games, attitudes – beliefs about our lives. Because these usually include the belief-strengthening conditions of assistance and resistance, we don’t complete these creations. So we carry around with us an immense load of these beliefs, each one requiring a small part of our limited energy resources to maintain. We get “stuck” in the playing out of these creations, and we don’t allow ourselves to fully experience them, to move on to other new things, by using the completion process. Therefore, we create, create, and create some more. We do very little completing, and then usually never get around to the resting, relaxing process of aware contemplation. The cycle gets stuck between the first two stages.
With the Breaking of the Belief Barrier comes an adjustment in the way that the organism functions. The crack in the structure, through which Awareness System can now re-communicate with the Sensory System, provides an inlet of new and valuable information. When old patterns are broken, new ones seek to take their place. Or maybe they don’t. Maybe they just choose to lie there broken, dis-assembled, never to re-build or regain their previous influence over the human being.
When the Sensory System is more fully and efficiently reconnected with the Awareness System, Awareness is more able to evaluate the condition of the factors previously controlling that Sensory System. It can look around the organism, assess the controlling beliefs, and choose whether or not to do something about those controlling beliefs. It begins to regain a control of its own, based on its focusing skills, its sense of attention that can be paid to all facets of the Belief and Sensory Systems.
Since Awareness recognizes itself as the original Creator of beliefs, it can regain this ability, to re-structure the make-up of the Belief System. This is similar to the slightly more limited programming processes used by behaviorists, neuro-linguistic programmers, and hypno-therapists.
It also can begin to find ways to complete and eliminate harmful or conflicting beliefs, by using techniques similar to psychoanalysis’s abreaction process, or “warm, positive regard.”
Focus of Attention Time-Line
“Awareness vs. The Belief System”
Notice, on the Time-Line, even though it appears that the Belief System is the dominant influence in our daily lives after just a few short years of that life, we may still experience extremely heightened sensory moments when the balance of attention is switched, but it is usually fleeting. Only the full-time use of the Awareness System can help someone permanently regain their “lost innocence.”
After the Creative Construction and Communative Completion stages have occurred more frequently, the third process that Awareness will experience more often, is pure, simple Cosmic Contemplation! In this practice, somewhat similar to some Gestalt, transpersonal, and eastern therapies, the Awareness System directs the organism to focus on nothing at all, to shut down the noisy and busy “monkey mind chatter” that had previously been omni-present within the human. Moments of pure quiet provide a “rest stop” for the active brain. They provide an environment for the development of the skill of objective evaluation: the entity begins to see a greater difference between what is “real” and what is truly illusory. We can thus more deeply assess the illusory nature of the Belief System, and begin to further explore those beliefs that we may wish to alter, maintain, or eliminate from the system.
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Once you actively participate in this life-long series of intentional processes, you will find that your whole focus in life has moved from its previous state of Reactor to that of Creator by allowing yourself the perspective of seeing (“C-ing”) life from outside your old boundaries. Life will become much simpler than it was.
Moving from Reactor to Creator of your life (“C” the difference??)
Now that you have almost completed your reading of this text, I encourage you to take these exercise suggestions to heart. Practice with them a bit. Experience the freeing release of your Awareness System re-awakened, and begin to play with the life you want to play.