We shut them off any time they do not conform to current beliefs about the nature of the self, or about reality in general. The deepest meanings of probabilities lie, however, precisely in their psychological import.
We have become so hypnotized by a one-level kind of thought that anything else seems impractical. We concentrate upon those decisions that we make, and disregard the processes involved. This has been carried to an extreme. Often we are so disconnected from those inner workings that our own decisions then appear to come from someplace else. We may be convinced that events happen to us, and are beyond our control, simply because we are so out of touch with oneself that we never catch the moments of our own decisions.
Then we feel as if we are the pawns of fate, and the idea of probable actions seems like the sheerest nonsense. Each event seems inevitable. If this attitude is carried to excessive lengths, then it even appears that we have no hand at all in the making of our own reality. We will always feel oneself a victim.
The unknown reality is our psychic, spiritual and psychological one, and from it our physical experience springs.
That inner, all-pervasive existence become known to the extent that we grow more responsive to our own inner environment. This does not mean that we become entirely self-centered, blind to the rest of the world. It does not mean that we must meditate for hours, or study our own thought processes with such vigor that we ignore other activities. It simply means that we are aware of our own life as clearly as possible–in touch with our thought processes, aware of them but without overdue concern or over analysis. They are as much a part of our inner environment as trees are of our exterior world. There are different species of selves in the same fashion. There are different species of worlds.
When we identify with only one particular level of our thought processes, however, the others–when we senses them–appear alien. We begin to feel threatened, determined to uphold our old ideas of selfhood. Plants grow many leaves. One leaf does not threaten the existence of others, and the plant is not jealous of its own foliage. So there is no need to protect our own individuality because it may send out other shoots into probable realities. This simply the self growing in different directions, spreading its seeds.
It is obvious that when we move from one place to another we make alteration in space–but we alter time as well, and we set into motion a certain psychological impetus that reaches out to affect everyone we know. When a house is vacant all of the people in the neighborhood send out their own messages. To a certain extent any given inhabited area forms its own “entity.” This applies to the smallest neighborhood and to the greatest nation. Such messages are often encountered in the dream state. Empty houses are psychic vacancies that yearn to be filled. When we move, we move into other portions of our own selfhood.