The Individual's Conscious or Unconscious Creation of Experiential Reality

All experience is the product of a relation in which the Individual that is apprehending the experience is involved. All experience, in its wantedness or unwantedness, is a reflection of the Individual's mode of being as allowing or resistant, a reflection of whether the Individual is choosing to flow with or against their more fundamental Individuality or Self as that Individual is involved in the relation that is creating the particular experience it is, in that moment, apprehending.

That having been said, there are two ways an Individual can create experience: consciously or unconsciously, or put another way, deliberately or reflexively.

The Individual, through its relations to Itself, through its relations to the rest of Existence, creates what it then apprehends as experience. Experience is the product of the relations of Existence to Itself. However, once experience has been created and apprehended by an Individual, it then may seem to the Individual that they can be in relation to experience itself, and create further experience that way. However this is an illusion. An Individual can no more be in relation to an experience than they can be in relation to a reflection in a mirror. One can see a reflection and think that it is what's actually there and so try to be in relation to the reflection, but in the end what one is really being in relation to is the mirror, because the mirror is what's actually there.

Likewise, it may seem that experience is what's actually there, it may seem that experience is Experiencer independent, but this is an illusion. What's actually and directly there where experience seems to be is Existence, albeit Existence being in relation to Itself. Experience is the reflection that rests in the mirror of Existence. And so it may seem that one can be in relation to experience, and it may seem that one can create experience by being in relation to experience, but what the Individual is always being in relation to is what's actually there, which is Existence. Therefore, regardless of what may seem to be the case, every experience is created as the product of some relation of Existence to Itself, and not as the product of some relation of Existence to an experience, or as a relation of an experience to an experience.

However, because it seems that experience is Experiencer dependent, because it seems that experience is what's actually there, because it seems that experience exists as it is experienced to exist regardless of whether or not it is being experienced by an Individual, it then seems to us that we can create experience through our relation to other experiences, and so that is what we try to do, and that is the way most people most of the time try to create experience, which is by trying to control experiential reality, by trying to control that which has already been created as an experience, which is quite analogous to trying to shut the barn door once all the cows have run out.

Most people do not understand that what they experience, and especially the wanted and unwanted quality of what they experience, is always the product of a relation of their Individual Existence to what I call their more fundamental Individuality or Self. (Many would call this the Soul or Inner Self or God.) Most people do not understand that all experience is Experiencer dependent and has no existence whatsoever outside the context of their involvement in the relation that creates what they apprehend as experience. Most people think that what they experience exists as it is experienced to exist regardless of their experience of it as such. most people think that experiences just sit out there already existing just waiting for us to happen across them.

And because most people have this erroneous or illusory idea regarding the nature of experience as being Experiencer independent, they think that wantedness and unwantedness are properties the inhere in the experiences themselves, rather than something that is created along with the rest of the experience according to a factor over which they have complete and total control, which factor is how they are choosing in that moment to be in relation to their more fundamental Individuality or Self.

And because most people have this erroneous or illusory idea that wantedness and unwantedness are properties the inhere in the experiences themselves, they try to control how they feel, they try to control the emotional experience they create, i.e., they try to create wanted emotional experiences or avoid unwanted emotional experiences, by trying to arrange external reality in a way that will appear wanted so that when they look at it they will reflexively allow it rather than resist it and so will reflexively and unconsciously place themselves in a relation of alignment rather than opposition to their Self and so will create a wanted rather than unwanted emotional experience as a product of that relation.

However, they do not know that this is what they are doing. As far as they know they are just doing what is necessary to try and feel good, to try and create a more wanted emotional experience. It may seem that the thing or person that makes you feel good or bad is making you feel good or bad, is the cause of your wanted or unwanted emotional experience, but that is only an illusion. The thing or person that seems to make you feel good or bad is just the experience you are either reflexively allowing or resisting, respectively, which reflexive allowing or resistance, unbeknownst to you, places you in a relation of alignment or opposition to your Self, and it is that relation and that relation alone and always that creates your wanted or unwanted emotional experience.

But when we are unaware of this relation and how it produces our emotional experience, it then must seem that the thing or person we are reflexively allowing or resisting is responsible for how we feel. And so we blame others and the world for any negative emotion we feel. As a result we try and minimize those negative emotions and maximize wanted emotions by trying to control the world around us and the behavior of others in a way that we will be able to reflexively allow rather than resist. Or conversely, we attribute our good feeling to some thing or person and so we cling to that thing or person, not knowing it is our own allowing of them and its resultant Self-alignment that is really responsible for the wanted emotion we feel.

The problem with this method of experiential creation i.e., reflexive and unconscious experiential creation, is two-fold. First, in trying to create an emotional experience according to the arrangement of physical or mental reality, we are trying to create experience backwards, in an order and arrangement that is the opposite of the way it is actually created. Experience is created progressively, as the result of progressive Existential relations, from the emotional, to the mental, and then the physical. It is the quality of the emotional experience created as wanted or unwanted that dictates the quality of the mental experience that arises from that emotional relation, and it is the quality of the mental experience created that dictates the quality of the physical experience that arises from that mental relation.

And because of this, in order to control external reality and other people so that we can reflexively feel good, we often have to push and push, and so place ourselves in relations of self-opposition and create unwanted emotion while we are trying to arrange external reality in order to feel good. And the more we create unwanted emotion the mare likely we are to end up creating unwanted thought and unwanted physical experience with that emotion as its basis. And so we can work and work and work and suffer and suffer and suffer to get things just as we like them and so for a moment feel some relief, for a moment cease to resist and reflexively allow, and so for a moment create a wanted emotion, but in the next moment or the next something will come along to change that arrangement, and we will have to get back at it, pushing and pushing to control things that are really, for the most part, out of our control.

Which brings us to the second problem with this method of experiential creation, i.e., reflexive and unconscious experiential creation, which is that in trying to control external circumstances we are, for the most part, trying to control things that are not really within our ability to control, as those circumstances usually, if not always, involve other Individuals and the way they are choosing to exercise their own free will.

And so in trying to create wanted emotion reflexively, by controlling external circumstances, we are really going about trying to create a wanted emotional experience the hard way, in a way that goes against the grain, in a way that is based upon an illusion regarding the nature of experience, rather than in a way that takes into account the actual nature of experience and especially the actual nature of emotional experience, as something that is always created as a product of the aligned or oppositional relation of the Individual to their more fundamental Individuality or Self.

So if trying to create a wanted emotion, or avoid unwanted emotion, by arranging external reality so that we can reflexively allow or not resist and so reflexively place ourselves in a relation of alignment or non-opposition with respect to our Self, is what is meant by unconscious experiential creation, creating experience without being conscious of the real relation that is responsible for what you are experiencing, then the opposite is non-reflexive or deliberate experiential creation, experiential creation where the Individual is conscious that it is a choice they themselves are making that determines the wanted or unwanted quality of what they apprehend as experience.

Experiential reality is always the product of Existential relations, it is not their cause. Existential relations are the cause of experiential reality. The relation comes first then the experience. And then comes another relation and another experience, and another relation and another experience and on and on and on…. Experience is therefore not the cause of experience. Experience is never the cause of experience, although it may seem to be when experience is thought of as Experiencer independent. The cause of experience is always some relation of Existence to Itself, because it's Existence that's actually there where experience seems to be. The cause of experience is always some relation of Existence to Itself, and the cause of wanted and unwanted experience is always the aligned and oppositional flow, respectively, of the Individual relative to their more fundamental Individuality.

Once one understands that the wanted and unwanted character of experience is the product of this fundamental and truly unavoidable relation, i.e., the relation of the Individual to their more fundamental Individuality or Self, one may then focus upon their involvement in this fundamental relation rather than the arrangement of external reality, and in so doing one may learn to control their involvement in this relation regardless of the arrangement of external reality, in which case external reality will begin to arrange itself according to one's conscious and deliberate involvement in that relation, rather than according to one's unconscious and reflexive involvement in that relation. It is the difference between driving with your eyes open or your eyes shut. Ether way you are going down the road, the question is, how much are you going to enjoy the trip?

Whether you know it or not what you experience, especially in its wanted and unwanted character, is the product of this fundamental and unavoidable relation, and so you can either drive through life with your eyes open or your eyes shut. But the thing is, unless and until one recognizes the nature of experience as Experiencer dependent, as a product of one's own involvement in relations with the rest of Existence, there does not seem to be a choice. That is, the very idea of consciously controlling what one creates as experience can only appear as a valid option in the context of a notion of experience as being ultimately Experiencer dependent, as something in which the Individual has a say or central role in creating.

Regardless of what is going on externally, or even mentally or emotionally, you have the ability to choose in each moment a relation of Self-alignment rather than Self-opposition, regardless of the choice you made in the prior moment. That is free will, that is the ability that inheres in every point of Existence, in every Individual, regardless of scale. You do not have to make that choice reflexively, according to whether you are in that moment looking at something wanted or unwanted. Rather you have the ability to make that choice consciously and deliberately, to choose Self-alignment rather than Self-opposition, and so consciously and deliberately choose to feel good, to create a wanted emotion, regardless of external circumstance. It may not always be easy, but it is possible.

The thing that indicates, in each moment, whether you are in that moment choosing consciously or unconsciously, deliberately or reflexively, to be in a relation of Self-alignment or Self-opposition, is how you are feeling in this moment, i.e., the quality of the emotional experience you are creating in this moment, in this Now. Because experience is progressive, the mental and physical experiences can have some lag time, and so are not as reliable in determining your in the moment relation to your more fundamental Individuality or Self. However, emotional experience is the direct and immediate reflection or product of that relation, which is why emotional experience has nothing other than a wanted or unwanted character.

This is why if you are to create experience consciously rather than unconsciously, deliberately rather than reflexively, you must become aware of what you are feeling, you must become aware of the emotional experience you are creating in the moment, and then you will be able to steer yourself toward a better feeling emotion according to what you are feeling, rather than according to some presupposed notion of what external arrangement will reflexively "make" you feel good or better.

Why take the time and effort to arrange external reality so you can reflexively feel better for a moment or two when you can cut out the illusory middle man and just feel better directly by choosing consciously to be in a relation of Self-alignment, in which case you feel better and at the same time lay the experiential and relational foundation for creating more wanted mental and physical experiences, rather than doing the opposite, i.e., being unconsciously in a relation of Self resistance as you try to arrange external reality to your reflexive liking, in which case you lay the experiential and relational foundation for creating more unwanted mental and physical experiences?

Knowledge is power. Knowing that you are the creator of what you experience, especially in its wanted and unwanted character, gives you the power to consciously choose to create wanted rather than unwanted experiences. Not knowing that you are the creator of what you experience leaves you thinking that you are either the benefactor or victim of circumstance, rather than the creator of your own experiential reality.

Attitude is more important than thought, and thought is more important than action, as it is the attitude of allowing or resistance that will determine the character of the emotion and it is the character of the emotion that will determine the character of the thought that flows from that emotion, and it is the character of the thought that will determine the character of the physical experience that flows from that thought.