I've been thinking for a month now about "level 3" and it's finally
beginning to make some sense. I had it defined orginally as sort of a
"rise above the contradictions" and "embrace the duality" thingy, but I
see now that it's bigger than that. Level 3 is nothing short of the
ultimate application of our /consciousness/ to the very ideas that make
life meaningful (bring order, meaning, etc.)
And that's why I'm going to start with the Christian Orginal Sin. Adam
and Eve (actually Eve and Adam, right?) ate of the fruit of the Tree of
Knowledge of Good and Evil, and thus ushered us into the modern era,
complete with evil men and death. And like Tim said, one interpretation
of the Orginal Sin is that mankind therein gained /consciousness/,
knowledge of himself and what he is capable of. Evil exists, and /I/ am
capable of it.
Our consciousness is what makes us human. It is what seperates us from
the beasts. A dog is not "guilty" of anything because we cannot say
that the dog was "aware that it's acts were /wrong/" Since the dog
didn't know that killing the cat was wrong, it is impossible to hold it
guilty of a crime in the sense that a human would be guilty.
Similarily, if you can show in court that you were incapable at the time
of realizing the "evilness" of your actions, or that you were simply
unaware of the law which you broke, your sentence will be reduced, if
not eliminated. In that way, it is our awareness of our own evil
(consciousness) that makes us guilty, and this is what the orginal sin
points to.
Now, this all links to level 3 in a nifty way. Level 3 can be seen as
the application of consciousness to alleviate the burden that
consciousness has placed on us. By being continually aware of the
responsibility that consciousness has given us, we can avoid the evil.
After all, it was knowledge of /good/ and evil. It's just a matter of
consciously doing good instead of acting on the bad. Thus level 3 is
about using the "curse" of consciousness to remove itself.
Like Jesus said, a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand. Divide
consciousness, and it shall not stand.
Level 3. Understand that evil only exists because good does. Embrace
the duality, and learn to see that only through /conscious/ action can
we avoid evil. Be aware of yourself and how you see the world.
Understand that you wear "glasses" that may be preventing you from
seeing the evil in yourself. Remove them by transending your
world-view.
ERiC