Revision as of 14:59, 4 June 2008

Bare Minimum BIP as recovered from an ancient manuscript in the archives of SSOOKN.

1. What you think of as REALITY is a collection of ideas and beliefs about REALITY. Many of the ideas you have about REALITY come from the culture in which you were raised and have accumulated haphazardly over time.

2. This, in itself, is not a problem. The problem is in forgetting point number 1. When you forget point 1, you mistake your ideas about reality for being REALITY itself. Of this, it has been said ‘the menu is not the meal’. Please refrain from eating the menu.

3. People who ‘eat the menu’ frequently become confused and annoyed when other people insist on seeing REALITY in a different way. All that truly differs are their ideas and beliefs about REALITY.

4. Beliefs are just thoughts you keep having.

5. No living being is capable of perceiving all of REALITY, as all senses of perception are limited. Humans can only see, hear, smell, taste and feel within certain parameters. Information entering our senses undergoes compression, filtration, and distortion, before interpretation. Interpretation is what happens when information meets your ‘beliefs’.

6. For no good reason, we call this composite of Belief & Biological Limits THE BLACK IRON PRISON and is a metaphor about existence. It means that there is very little you can do about biology; however, you can choose what becomes part of your beliefs. (Always keeping point 1 in mind).

7. Each person exists within their own, unique BIP ‘cell’. The cell is composed of:

a) Biological limits – these are largely unchangeable. b) Belief systems – these are highly changeable.

Because of (a) the BIP cell cannot be escaped. Because of (b) your life experience, your ‘cell’, can be altered drastically. This is what we try to call ‘reconstruction’.

8. A life long commitment to continual reconstruction is known, ironically, as ‘The Jail Break’. Reconstruction is HARD WORK.

9. The collection of beliefs, thoughts, notions etc that form your cell are all equally VALID, though none are TRUE in the sense that they “are” REALITY. However, some beliefs and ideas are more useful than others in specific situations. It is up to the individual to decide which beliefs and ideas they should employ in a given situation.

10. Some people believe that the term BLACK IRON PRISON is dark, bleak, depressing and even frightening. If you prefer, use the term GOLDEN SPHERE of POSSIBILITY (GSP) instead. It means exactly the same thing as BIP and all points still apply.

11. BIP (or GSP) can be philosophical antidote to dogmatism.

You are cordially invited to a Jail Break.

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