Guest writer for Wake Up World
Many people (myself included) talk sometimes about “resonating” with something or not when determining the “truth” of a particular writing, teaching or information. It’s that non-verbal intuitive “knowing”. However, there can also be “false resonating” (positively or negatively) when it is mistaken for wishful thinking or based on (unconscious) projections or triggers. Sometimes, the false part within us based on conditioning, programming, and wounding resonates with something which we mistake for our true self, resulting in false resonance, or we reject the truth of something because it challenges deep ingrained belief systems we are identified with and hence “don’t resonate with it” because it brings up uncomfortable feelings… which also ties into cognitive dissonance.
While there is validity to the idea of “resonating” with a certain teaching or source, it can easily be misapplied if the “reading instrument”, the Self, is not “tuned” correctly. For example “feel good” messages are not necessarily proof of truth and can also be very emotional manipulative (especially when ego feeds off of it)… just like information that brings up fear is not necessarily false either nor is it “fear mongering”.
In order to find the true resonance one needs to separate the false self (with its assumptions, conditioning, expectations, wishful thinking, wounding, buffers, bias, emotional hooks and ego desires) from the true self connected to the Divine, that small non-verbal voice inside that can always separate a lie from truth, using intuition and critical thinking alike, even if the truth is not very “pleasant” and challenging to one’s world view and especially to one’s self-image.
In other words, honest sincere self-work is needed in order to detect the lies we tell ourselves and all the rationalizations and denial that come with it so we can get more and more in tune with our soul resonance/knowing. From an esoteric perspective, lies to the self are the most harmful and hardest to detect, way harder than detecting the lies “out there” via an intellectual thought process. Essentially, one’s level of Being (soul embodiment) also determines how much (higher) Knowledge one can access via direct experience (Gnosis) that goes ways beyond a mental approach of “thinking” or just intellectually dissecting/processing information.
“False resonance” is the reason why many well-meaning people spread disinformation and corrupted/pop-spiritual (New Age) teachings. I don’t take myself out of the equation for I have done that as well, especially in my New Age days when I was not very discerning but mistook my own wishful thinking and emotional projections for “resonating”. But “critical thinking” (while it is very much needed and has its place) is not enough. If there is no emotional Intelligence and embodiment (soul integration) combined with shadow work to raise one’s level of Being, one will get stuck on an intellectual level and can appear very “smart” without progressing any further… esoterically speaking, from the perspective of soul evolution.
False resonance is also what COINTELPRO (Counter Intelligence Programs) targets and forms the basics of Matrix Mind Control. Good disinformation is most often lies mixed with truth. Enough truth to use as a bait to get the seeker’s attention/resonance or hook his/her ego and then put him/her on a false lead, because she/she swallow the lie as well, keeping him/her asleep while he/she believes to awaken.
Finding “True Resonance”
Finding “true resonance” is related to the triad of Knowledge – Being – Understanding:
“Knowledge is one thing, understanding is another thing. People often confuse these concepts and do not clearly grasp what is the difference between them. Knowledge by itself does not give understanding. Nor is understanding increased by an increase of knowledge alone. Understanding depends upon the relation of knowledge to being. Understanding is the resultant of knowledge and being. And knowledge and being must not diverge too far, otherwise understanding will prove to be far removed from either.
At the same time the relation of knowledge to being does not change with a mere growth of knowledge. It changes only when being grows simultaneously with knowledge. In other words, understanding grows only with the growth of being. In ordinary thinking, people do not distinguish understanding from knowledge. They think that greater understanding depends on greater knowledge. Therefore they accumulate knowledge, or that which they call knowledge, but they do not know how to accumulate understanding and do not bother about it.”
~ G.I. Gurdjieff, In Search of the Miraculous
It also relates to the fallacy or “misapplication” of the idea that “truth must be simple”:
“It is generally accepted that nobody can go on to secondary school without having completed an elementary education. Exactly the same is true in the esoteric Tradition.
However, in our modern world, we encounter a curious phenomenon. For example: we would not seek to discuss Newton’s binomial theorem without having studied algebra, for without this, every opinion we expressed on the subject would be worthless.
Yet, in the esoteric field, we find a host of “experts” who declare their opinions on esotericism without having ever learned even the rudiments of this knowledge.
At the same time, some of them demand “simplicity” from esoteric teachings on the generally accepted principle that Truth itself must be simple. They conclude from this that access to Truth ought to likewise be simple. Then they assert that the methods to access Truth must be easily assimilable.
This argument would be perfectly correct if human beings and the problems they face were simple and just. However, that is not the case. There is a long road to travel from our state of distorted inner disorder to any “original simplicity.”
In practice, the doctrine of “simplicity” – if regarded as an axiom – turns the student aside from the strait gate and the narrow way that leads to Life. Impelled by this counter-truth, he believes he stands before this door, when he is in reality – although undoubtedly in perfectly good faith – walking the wide path that leads to perdition, ad majorem Diaboli gloriam, of course.
The Doctrine of Simplicity, correct in itself, but wrongly interpreted, becomes a snare for hearts and minds that are already too corrupt; a danger which should be recognized and avoided.
Some people complain that the subject of the fundamentals of esotericism is not simple. Others have said that it leads to great clarity. This apparent contradiction is explained by the fact that esotericism is addressed to readers who are predisposed to esoteric culture by their nature, formation or personal experience.
It is difficult, if not impossible, for an esoterically unevolved person to discern false prophets spontaneously. He will recognize them more easily by their “fruits,” by the observable results of their works, which serve as signs.”
~ Boris Mouravieff, Gnosis
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