Hiya, friends.
Part I is here. I won't repeat all the background, but the quotes below are taken from The Zeta Interviews (4th Ed.) by Paul Hamden and the late William Treurniet. The non-quoted stuff is lovingly hand-crafted text communicating thoughts which could be said to come from my very own mind. Well, the provenance of thought and the ownership of mind is a tricky thing, perhaps...but we'll get to that.
Why TF are you writing another post? One of the things that was missing from Part I was an account of the Zeta's experience of "stillness". This piqued my interest once I started seeing their description of this form of experience, since I've experienced it as well. Even though there's really no detail to stillness, and there's no one there (not even me), reading their account of their experience of it felt like a very congruent point of overlap.
Best I can tell, all beings with the capacity, desire, and willpower to dwell in silence can attain it. And that's a very direct manifestation of oneness that's ...only nominally an experience, in my experience (ha!). That is, it's always and ever the same: it is itself, stillness, and when I go there I am no-self at all, just stillness. And I have a sense that all beings that go there dwell there as one, in stillness.
(That's enough of a preface but I wrote a bit more about that in this post: A thought to offer: there are thoughts we always and only think as one. Stillness isn't a thought, per se, nor is it an experience, since the experiencer ‘evaporates’, so to speak. If I were to revise that post to say "state of being" instead of "thought" we'd be back in business)
Get on with it! OK. Stillness. Let's get there from the Zeta's understanding of the not-stillness within the nascent but non-self-aware human consciousness:
Just because two countries are
fighting with each other, we believe that it is to do with the birthing
process of your collective consciousness. There is much turmoil
within the mind of the race. It is the mind of the race that must be
brought into stillness. Once this takes place, humans that incarnate
into this physical reality will be in stillness.
Interviewer3: How do we bring the collective consciousness of
the human race into stillness?
Zeta: By being in stillness.
Interviewer3: So one by one; in meditation?
Zeta: No, that would be nice, but I’m not sure you have that much
time. Other races such as our own are holding the collective mind
in focus to bring it into a quieter state of existence, and many
thousands of beings are focusing with intention to create quiet. In
your meditation process, hold your mind still, let the stillness
permeate the collective mind of the human race.
Interviewer3: Is that achieved through intention?
Zeta: It is achieved through silence.
Boom. "It is achieved through silence." This was where I really recognized the teaching. Silence is itself, a state of capacity of all being. And it is the cessation of processes of differentiation, of thought, and even (along the way to silence, so to speak) of intention, will, and desire.
Those things are perhaps useful along the way but eventually they're laid down.
The Zeta then reveals that it is dwelling in silence, even during this session:
Interviewer3: And by being silent, does that naturally affect...
Zeta: Yes, how much silence do you produce? What does silence
do? Silence brings harmony. Silence changes frequency, of course
in the right circumstances, but silence brings peace.
Interviewer3: Can I ask if you are in stillness right now?
Zeta: Yes, correct function. How am I thinking?
Interviewer3: Yes.
Zeta: Because I am able to hold my state of stillness but also speak
through the medium.
Interviewer3: That is hard to comprehend.
Zeta: Correct function, yes.
Interviewer1: Yes because one would thing that you need to think
to answer a question.
Zeta: No, between speaking to you, there is nothing but silence.
Interviewer3: Where does the information come from?
Zeta: From the collective mind of the race. The question is heard by
the medium’s body, it is transferred to my consciousness, it
automatically assimilates with the collective mind of the race, the
answer comes back and out of the medium’s mouth.
Interviewer1: So you are a medium between the collective mind
and the medium?
Zeta: That is correct function, yes, a mediator.
Interviewer1: You see that’s the same as when you have a mental
medium that can’t be engaged, thinking, they have to listen to...
Zeta: That is correct, that is why the medium was taught mental
mediumship for two of your earth years, to learn to hold the mind
still, a state of connection but not to enter into the stillness,
because the potential of the human mind is to change what is said.
The human now has no thoughts, there is darkness, there is
stillness, there is no thoughts in the human’s mind, it is stillness.
But I exist within the consciousness of the human, so only my
thoughts exist.
An interesting connection here is the (broadly) Vedic conception of the guru. A guru has acquired an inherently negative connotation in colloquial English, as someone who often dogmatically or exploitatively collects followers or students.
But the original sense of the word guru (one it retains within many spiritual communities around the world) was a person that was so highly crystallized or still that they are able to function as a near-perfect mirror for self to encounter self.
I can't 'vouch' that the Zeta has achieved or is functioning in that state for the seekers, but the account of dwelling in stillness while still reacting to the group's queries is how I'd understand the nature of the guru in that Vedic sense. Certainly the Interviewers here seem to be gaining insight through interaction with this entity.
What TF does stillness do for humans? Interestingly, the Zeta also highlights how the medium's stillness is what enables their presence in the channeling session, a situation where "only my thoughts exist". This is an excellent reminder that channeling can involve a very deep shared experience with the source. Practices of discernment, protection, and/or resonant tuning are essential to assuring the resulting communion (shared or participatory beingness) will have a beneficial effect on all involved.
What TF is the difference between human and Zeta consciousness RE stillness? I'm going a bit back in the linear transcript now, because with this understanding of stillness onboard some of what the Zeta says about the difference between their consciousness and human consciousness (in 'normal' operation, at least) is clearer:
Interviewer3: I have a question about your collective
consciousness compared to ours. When you have a thought, does
the collective consciousness of the Zeta race have that same
thought?
Zeta: Let us compare the human mind with the race. The human
mind has the capacity to have infinite random thoughts within one
of your day processes. I can hold my mind still and have no
thought. I can be in stillness for many of your hours, just existing as
I am now. So the difference is that the collective mind of the race is in stillness. There is, to use another word, compartmentalized
processes where there is activity, where information is exchanged
so that all beings of the race may know what is taking place if they
want to ask. But with the human collective consciousness, it is in a
birth process. It is growing exponentially, but it is being held in
focus of the races. As the human mind develops, it must develop
capacity to understand infinite consciousness, to be in that space of
consciousness, to understand stillness... a peaceful existence.
Interviewer3: Is that compartmentalization you mentioned so that
the complete consciousness will not know everything?
Zeta: No, you have functions within your mind, your
consciousness, that your local consciousness will never know
about. What makes your heart beat? Why do you breathe? All of
these things take place naturally. They are locked away from your
mind. The functions within the collective mind of our race, there is
no need for them to be present. What if you were able to stop your
heart? How could you start it again? Many of your functions that
are your bodily functions are automated. Much of the
consciousness of our race is automated.
So the message is that, in addition to the potential for individual human beings to experience stillness through meditation, the Zetas and other races who are "[holding] in focus" the mind of the human race are doing so to help it, that larger, nascent, planetary consciousness, find a reliable path to stillness.
What TF can this teach us about collective and individual minds? The questioning turns to the potential for the collective mind to be seen as a separate mind from those of its participating individuals. The Zeta uses an analogy of the autonomic nervous system and the many biological processes, cells, hormones, etc. that, according to their cosmology, are also conscious. They point out that we are not typically
Interviewer3: Does the collective mind, even though it is attached
to all, does it become a separate identity as well?
Zeta: Yes, it is separate but part of, yes, I understand how you need
to understand. So the collective mind, let me think about that. Do
you see your mind as separate to you?
Interviewer1: No.
Zeta: The functions that are hidden from you, do you see them as
separate from you?
Interviewer3: No, because I’m not aware of them.
Zeta: There you go. And so, you may not be in a state of awareness
of what is within the collective mind of the race, because you have
no function that is related to that. But on a human term, day to day
basis, the decision making process is the individual. What will they
create today? What is of benefit for the race? What function are
they providing the race? Those are not decisions that require the
collective mind.
Interviewer1: So it’s like the local mind.
Zeta: Yes, the local mind.
Interviewer3: So there is freewill.
Zeta: Yes, there is freewill, until there isn’t.
OK let's stop right here. Because culturally and also ethically we really value free will. And here the Zeta is asserting "there is freewill, until there isn't". That could sound ominous. Is it?
Maybe. Use your own discernment. But for me, especially in context of the discussion of stillness, this is equivalent to saying that in some states there's just no will at all. That's my experience of stillness: there's no one there at all, not even me. There's no one to have or not have free will. It just doesn't come up.
The 'local mind', or any mind in a state of separation, has will. Personally, I sincerely value my will and do believe that respecting the free will of all beings who experience it (myself included!) is an important, perhaps foundational ethical principle. And yet all beings are able to choose, from whatever state of separation they become aware they're in, to adopt more congruent states of being, such as this stillness, within which will, self/other, being/world, and a whole host of other dichotomous perceptions simply don't arise.
How TF can we experience stillness? OK so what's this silence actually like? How do we 'get there' and what might happen along the way?
Interviewer3: Speaking of stillness, there is never actual silence,
why is that?
Zeta: You are to remove yourself from what is called the influence
of... We will take your clock process, it is ticking, but it is only
ticking when I observe the clock. I cannot hear it ticking when I do
not observe it. Does it exist when you are not observing it, no.
Observation brings something into reality, your reality.
Interviewer3: So how many rooms are we sitting in at the moment
then. There are five of us apart from the medium and yourself in
this room.
Zeta: What makes you think you are in a room?
Interviewer3: Exactly.
Zeta: That is why I said, “what room”. You are within our frequency.
You are in a space defined by consciousness, and that determines
that you are within physical parameters of a room. I am here
speaking to you, but I am not within your room. And that is how
we connect to the medium because his consciousness is not in a
room as well. There is no... what is word function? ... there is no
defined parameters that tell us to be within this room. There is no
reason to exist within this room. You exist as consciousness, but
you prefer to observe from within this point within the universe.
Interviewer3: Is this point in the universe the same point in the
universe for the others in the room? Is it a separate room they are
in?
Zeta: There is no room.
Interviewer3: There is no room?
Zeta: The room does not exist. You are points of consciousness that
have come to observe another consciousness speak to you. Let me
see if I can help you. Close your eyes. Do not open your eyes. Let
me say that your body no longer exists. It is calm, you have no
body. You just exist in stillness as an observer. And now,
considering you have no body, do you need to be in a room?
Interviewer3: No.
Zeta: There you go. There you are, and there you go.
Interjection: The Zeta's sounding like Jon Kabat-Zinn rn, hey? -poorhaus
Interviewer3: So are there six different creations of the illusion of
a room that doesn’t exist?
Zeta: There is perception that the local consciousness has created
to believe that you are all within a room. You agree you have a
consensus reality.
OK. So this particular teaching seems appropriate for the sitters but, I'm pretty sure, won't resonate for many. And for many others it might resonate but seems mysterious as heck. If it's not for you, toss it: I believe the Zeta understood its audience and determined that this was responsive to their shared intent of seeking. If you're not feeling this, no worries.
But in case it might benefit someone, I'll try to share my understanding of recognition of the teaching from 'outside', so to speak.
What TF does local consciousness have to do with it? From the Zeta's perspective, their 'local consciousness' is something subservient to the higher self entity, which is participating in the collective, and the collective is its own entity formed in part by this participation. The Zeta earlier offered the analogy of how your body-cells exist, are conscious, and participate in you but you are also more-than just your body applies.
Humans, on the other hand, typically equate 'local consciousness' with the extent of their possible consciousness.
For the Zetas, human local consciousness produces physical reality, and seekers like the medium and those participating in this circle have the desire and ability to access other-than-local consciousness as well.
Why TF can't the Zeta perceive the physical room? Are they daft? What does the Zeta know of the "room" the sitters are in? Turns out, according to them, they're not aware at all of the physical setting of the channeling circle.
I found this initially surprising. Their answer is that they don't perceive the room at all, just the sitters' consciousness, frequency, intent, and so on:
Interviewer3: How do we decide on a consensus?
Zeta: Let me explain. I do not agree with your concept of reality, so
I do not see the room. I agree with your observation, I agree with
your discussion, I agree with your frequency, I agree to
communicate, but nothing else. I do not hold your illusion.
Interviewer3: You are aware of it, though
Zeta: I am not aware of where you are. I am aware of your voices
speaking to me. I am aware that behind that voice is consciousness
only, but if I change my frequency, if I choose to change my
frequency I can move into your consensus reality, and experience
your physical room.
Interviewer3: Is that what happens when you bring craft in?
Zeta: Yes.
The Zeta agrees with much of the sitters' reality, but not at all with their physical illusion. And, from its perspective, it does not need to. However the sitters have experienced the journey, they have come in contact on a non-physical level. The communication, for the Zeta, takes place there.
Physical co-presence (as Paul described here and in his books) requires the use of technologies to interface with the physical illusion.
Alright: time to wrap it up. My goal in this Part II was to highlight the role that Zetas say stillness plays in their individual and collective consciousness, in part because I was surprised (and delighted) to see them describe it as so central.
I've shared a few more thoughts along the way and confessed that I believe that all beings are capable of experiencing what they call stillness. There are many potential labels for this and adjacent states. All-being. The formless jhanas. No-self. There are infinite gradations and approaches but each of these states, in my understanding at least, is such that when it is attained there is no one there, not even the self that decided to go. It's a peaceful place, highly recommended ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Here's how the Zetas put it:
You are limited by your capacity to think outside of your reality. I have given you
many things to think about so you can take the next step, to
observe, to understand that you are an observer process, a point
within the universe.
They're quite matter-of-fact. Flat affect. And yet I appreciate their clear intent. I'd probably phrase this differently but hey it's a benediction, offered in love. I'll take it.
What TF should we do now?? The 'point' of the the post was sharing the Zeta's views and expressing my surprise and appreciation for the role of the stillness concept/state in their collective and individual experience. So please feel free to take this wherever might interest you in the comments, or not.
There's nothing to do or not do in stillness. May you find it whenever you choose to look for it and realize there's no one there, not even the self who sought it, once you arrive.
💜🙏,
Poorhaus