Did You Know the Sun Used to Orbit the Earth?

This is part 4/4 in a series about the hidden determinants of human behavior. If you haven’t read the first post in the series, you’ll definitely want to start there. :)

Ok, the sun never actually orbited the Earth. But that didn’t stop a huge number of our ancestors from believing it was reality.

Nicolaus Copernicus is credited with first recognizing the sun-centered truth of our solar system. During his lifetime it was widely believed that the Earth was the center of everything in the universe, and people were very resistant to changing that belief. The common thinking of the time went something like this: “Ok… we’re all here on this planet and apparently god put us here… and it feels like we’re really special, so that must mean that this is the most important place that exists and we’re the center of everything. Alright, sounds good to me! Moving on!”

Just like today, the people back then were doing their best to make sense of what they were seeing, but what they saw wasn’t the whole picture. Copernicus discovered something huge, but he knew that his discovery was going to really shake up the prevailing authority of the time (The Church). It was simply a new and accurate truth, but Copernicus waited until just before his death to publish his work revealing what he discovered.

Was he paranoid? Could the discovery of something that's so basic to us now really have been that big of a deal? Well, fifty-seven years after Copernicus’ death, a Dominican monk named Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake for merely defending Copernicus’ discoveries.

Burned at the stake. For defending someone's observation. What was Bruno’s "crime”? He was charged with heresy.

People can be remarkably fearful of change. Even when presented with evidence that shows something we believe is inaccurate, many will still cling to their cherished illusions because they’re familiar and shared by others that they identify with.

It’s kind of funny talking to people about the things I’ve written about in these posts. The most common reaction I get is dismissal, or people looking at me like I said I believe in faeries and consult with them before making any big decisions in my life. This is particularly confounding to me because this sort of information isn’t fringe or speculation from “pseudo-scientists,” it’s just different than what the person in question already knows and believes.

As an example of how “not fringe” these realities are becoming, Richard Conn Henry, who is a professor of physics and astronomy at Johns Hopkins University, said, “Get over it, and accept the inarguable conclusion. The universe is immaterial—mental and spiritual.” And then there’s what Niels Bohr, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics, had to say: “If quantum mechanics hasn’t profoundly shocked you, you haven’t understood it yet. Everything we call real is made of things that cannot be regarded as real.”

But still, so many people are resistant to changing how they’re thinking about things. Can you imagine if nature behaved like so many humans do?

Personally, I think the information highlighted in these four posts make Copernicus’ realization look like humanity’s first adorable little baby-steps out of the existential nursery. And, I believe that the work being done in consciousness research is producing some of the most important discoveries in the history of our species. I mean, how would things change if presidential debates and elections were no longer games of chance and guessing? What would happen to the world overnight if millions of people realized that we’re able to measure the energetic quality of a politician’s motivations, intentions, and promises?

And that’s just with politics. What about business? What about advertising? What about religion?

In the beginning of Hawkins’ book Truth vs. Falsehood, he gives a bit of a warning to the reader. He says, “readers are forewarned that some of the material may be disturbing and confrontational to some cherished illusions.” I love that phrase: “cherished illusions.” I think it perfectly sums up the issue that humanity has always grappled with—a belief system is not the same as Reality, but people are so attached to what they believe they’re frequently willing to die (or kill) for it.

It wasn't that long ago that our ancestors were afraid of the weather and believed it was punishment from gods they had angered. And as a species, we’re still not free of these sorts of misperceptions—they’re just a lot more complicated now (and dangerous, considering our technological advances). But we don’t have to be controlled by misperceptions and inaccurate beliefs anymore. We have the ability now to identify and correct the errors in our operating, and to correct course.

What we do today shapes what we experience tomorrow

The things we do today sets the stage for what people have to deal with tomorrow. Humans have been passing down and inheriting the errors of their ancestors for millennia, and I believe that the most sane thing we can do is dismantle our illusions (even the cherished ones), identify what’s true and actual, and, through pioneering a radical new direction, change our future.

Is peace on Earth possible? At this point a lot of people seem to believe it’s an absurd fairytale. After all, we’ve spent thousands of years trying to solve problems and answer questions, but endless debates, wars, cruelty, and genocide keep coming out of our efforts.

“What does this all mean? What is our role in it? Who’s driving this thing?!… Is any of this even real?"

Dr. Hawkins was very aware of all of this; it was perhaps the primary motivation behind his work. He said “humanity has been like a sailor at sea without a compass by which to discern truth from falsehood,” and “the cost in terms of suffering has been enormous.” That’s very true. But how do we change the world?

Well, we don’t. We change ourselves. The only person who can change me is me, and the only person who can change you is you. If we succeed in changing ourselves and others follow our example, eventually the whole world changes.

In my mind, world peace isn’t just a patchouli-scented fantasy, and it’s also not something that’s going to just happen. The only way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time.

Forging a new path

Eric Burlingame is a consciousness researcher who is at the forefront of Coherence Verification. He’s spent the past 15 years studying human behavior and the universe, and the things he’s discovered are remarkable. Right now he is finalizing several books about his discoveries, and is building a movement to bring Coherence Verification into the public’s awareness.

Are you skeptical about any of this? Cool, be skeptical. The whole point of all of this is that no one need take another’s word for the reality of anything anymore—not what I’m saying, not what Hawkins said, and not anything Eric says. You can learn the testing and verify for yourself whether something is true or false. And we hope you do.

While the examples in this series have involved dissecting some less-than-awesome things, that’s just one use of this tool. In fact, when you begin looking at the nature of Reality, what becomes apparent is that all the “bad” stuff is like a tiny little speck of dust in the universe. The insanity of humans is rooted in misused imagination, and it’s fueled by fear and force that will ultimately fail. Consciousness, however, is a field of infinite power, and it’s what everything that actually exists in the universe is made of (“actually exists” being essentially different from all of our fearful imaginings).

Here are a few more statements that Eric verified for Hug the Universe using Coherence Verification:

All humans have inherent value: Yes
The inherent value of every human is equal: Yes
Every human life is an entirely unique expression of consciousness: Yes
The experience that we call “death” is not an end, it’s just a transition: Yes
The part of me that is not my body is eternal: Yes
Life is a test: Not yes

This website and my work is all about the pursuit of excellence and intentional personal evolution through an alignment with Truth. In addition to creating engaging stories and delightful experiences, I intend to show how the testing can be of immeasurable value to the world when used in practical ways every day (and also the implications it lends to some crazy amazing theoretical and philosophical uses).

If you’d like to further explore Hawkins’ work, I highly recommend starting with his first book, Power vs. Force. And if you’d like to be notified when new Hug the Universe content is released (and when Eric releases his books), sign up for the Hug the Universe mailing list.

Lastly, if this information has been valuable to you, please share it. This work is important, and it’s a group effort. Also, the thought of Donald Trump winning the election is really scary.

I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to Sheila Ashdown (my amazing editor) and to Eric Burlingame for their invaluable contributions to this series. We thank you for reading. :)

Until next time,

In Loving Memory of Eric W. Burlingame

July 4, 1969 – November 12, 2017

My dear friend Eric died very unexpectedly in 2017. I wrote a piece for the relaunch of this website that talks about how massive of an influence he was on me personally, and how he impacted my understanding of David R. Hawkins’ work and consciousness research as a whole. You can read about that here.

Question for You…

What in this series of posts did you find the most fascinating or surprising? Did anything not make sense? I’d love to hear your thoughts in a comment below. 👇🏻

Power vs. Force by David R. Hawkins: Part 4