Number 28 – 4
August 2005
Copyright 2005
Meru Foundation
Edited by Levanah
Tenen
NEWS
Meru Foundation's Book
Many readers have written to ask about the
book-in-progress on Meru Foundation's
work. We have, after much thought, decided
to pull back and re-frame this book --
because we now have a much better idea as
to what it ought to be about.
Originally, we intended to write a popular
presentation of the basic ideas underlying
our research, and how it developed.
Instead, we have decided to present our
work "in action" -- by examining some of
the most basic texts of Kabbalah in the
light of the geometric metaphor, and
producing a new translations and
commentaries on these works.
We changed our focus because we examined
the market, and found ourselves asking,
"Who really benefits from our research?"
Bookstores, and the Internet, are glutted
with popular works that are promoted as
teaching about our inner and outer world.
The ideas in these books range from
legitimate through fanciful to downright
absurd (and sometimes actively damaging)*.
Often, the focus of these popular books is
on the people who originate these ideas,
and how they arrived at their theories.
While this approach makes for an easy
read, and may even be inspiring (assuming
of course that the subjects are people of
worth), sadly, the ideas these people
wanted to teach often get buried by their
story.
Another example: On quick examination, the
only way a reader looking for legitimate
but readable information on physics can
tell the difference between two books --
for instance, one by Columbia University
physicist Brian Greene, and another which,
bluntly put, is only new-age noise -- is
by examining the author's credentials.
Now, not everyone with credentials can
write a readable book; and not everyone
lacking academic credentials is writing
nonsense. But in the current
pseudo-information glut, for any popular
work to rise above the noise, it must come
with a pedigree -- some way the naive
reader can trust that s/he is getting
information that is reasonable and
reliable.
As those of you following our work are
aware, Meru research falls outside of most
academic disciplines. In fact, part of our
strength is our use of "outside the box"
thinking, followed by a disciplined
examination of our ideas to see which of
them actually makes sense. While this
trans-disciplinary approach is a strength
for Meru's work, it is a handicap in
finding scholars to evaluate it. Some
specialists, seeing our cross-disciplinary
approach, are prudent, and legitimately
feel they do not have an appropriate
background to contribute to our research
or comment on it.
So, we have re-focused our efforts. Some
of the oldest and most obscure Kabbalistic
works are lucid, elegant, and make sense,
when examined in the light of Meru's
findings on geometric metaphor and the
meaning of the letters of the Hebrew
alphabet. Though it appears this approach
may have been known as recently as 200
years ago, it has been lost today. In our
new translations and commentaries, we will
demonstrate our findings in the most
compelling way -- by using them. This new
focus will reach an audience whose primary
interest is in understanding these
important and puzzling Kabbalistic texts,
and how we explain them.
This approach allows us, in a legitimate
scholarly context, to demonstrate one of
our basic theses (rather than just
"talking about it"): There is a functional
science of consciousness preserved in the
Western sacred texts; this science was
known, in some form, until relatively
recently; and once we learn to recognize
it in traditional texts, these texts
become clear and sensible (rather than
opaque and obscure).
All of us working on this project -- Stan,
I, and several local scholars familiar
with the works we are studying -- are
excited by what we are uncovering, and
gratified that this approach allows us to
write a book presenting Meru Foundation's
research to a serious and discriminating
audience.
*For more on our "take"
on the general new-age market, it might be
appropriate to revisit Stan's essay
"Damning by Faint Praise," first presented
in the Meru eTORUS in November 2003, and
on our website now at
http://www.meru.org/DamnbyFaintPraise.html
.
Meru Foundation Videos and DVD's.
As I mentioned in the last note to eTORUS
subscribers, Stan Tenen's three half-hour
interviews for Dr. Jeffrey Mishlove's
acclaimed television series, "Thinking
Allowed", are now available on DVD
exclusively from Meru Foundation on
www.meetingtent.com. (See
http://www.meetingtent.com/DVD-ThinkAllowed.html
for details.)
Meru Foundation also offers a live-lecture
videotape series, covering ten critical
years of Meru Foundation research. (DVD
versions should be available by the end of
this year.) This is a deliberately "warts
and all", "open kitchen" record that
presents our basic ideas as they matured
over time. They fill the same niche as a
popular book, with the added benefit of
being able to view the physical models
that demonstrate our basic concepts. Those
who haven't yet seen our video
presentations, but who would like to
understand how this work has developed,
should consider them a working complement
to our printed and Internet-posted work.
For more information on our video
presentations, go to
http://www.meetingtent.com/videotape.html
.
TWO ESSAYS BY STAN
TENEN
In this issue, we offer two different
"takes" on the issue of the relationship
between our internal will, the part of us
that chooses, and the physical world we
find ourselves living in. These pieces
were written a bit over ten years apart --
the first in 1992, and the second, in
2003. Just as our video series shows how
our work developed and grew over time,
these two essays offer an opportunity to
see a deepening philosophical
understanding.
In the early 1980's, and again from 1992
through 1995, Meru Foundation published a
hardcopy-only journal which we called
TORUS. "One Will -- Two Hands" is an essay
from 1992, published as TORUS Vol. 2 #1.
At that time, we had just discovered that
the specially shaped vortex model we were
researching was actually a model human
hand -- and we had yet to understand many
of the implications of that finding. In
"updating" this essay for the eTORUS, I
have substituted color versions for some
of the graphics. However, I have changed
very little of its wording. It is an
authentic picture of our thinking at the
time.
From "One Will -- Two Hands", (c)1992 Stan
Tenen
(see
http://www.meru.org/Archives/OneWill-TwoHands.Updated.pdf
for complete essay)
"Although we have but
one will, we have two hands. How and why
is this so?
"Our consciousness
resides in our minds, in a space where we
can think about not only their position
but their motion. . . . When a
3-dimensional form is moving, it can be
said to be in hyperdimensional (usually
3-dimensional) state, because it keeps
track of 3-D forms moving in time.
Evolution, or movement in time, is one way
to understand the 4th dimension.
"So our conscious wills
exist in a 4-dimensional world. When we
project our INNER 4-dimensional conscious
wills OUTSIDE onto the 3-dimensional
physical world we have a problem: Four
dimensions don't fit into three
dimensions. . ."
****************
The piece from 2003 is a short discussion
of the classic problem of free will vs.
determinism: "If God knows everything that
is, was, and will be, including all our
choices, then how are we to be held
responsible for our decisions?"
From "Determinism vs. Free Will", (c)2003
Stan Tenen:
(see
http://www.meru.org/Determinism-FreeWill.html
for complete essay)
"With regard to the
classic question of determinism vs. free
will, there are two basic problems.
"1) The paradox -- how
can we have real free will, while Hashem
obviously knows "in advance" (being out of
time) all of the choices of all of the
beings who have lived over all history?
And
"2) How can a loving
and fair God hold us responsible for
making mistakes that God knows "in
advance" are pre-determined?
"The nature of
"infinity", as in "the Infinity of God,"
and quantum mechanics, offer some clues .
. ."
******************************************************************
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If you have comments or questions, please
send an email to Levanah Tenen at <
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Thank you for your interest in the work of
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******************************************************************
The Meru Foundation eTORUS(tm) Newsletter
is copyright 2004 Meru Foundation. All
rights reserved.
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Meru Foundation research offices:
Research Director: Stan Tenen
Secretary-Treasurer: Levanah (Cynthia)
Tenen
524 San Anselmo Ave, Suite 214
San Anselmo, CA 94960 USA
Voice: 415-223-1174 eFax: 253-663-9273
Email: <
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To order by phone:
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Email Ron Engert in Germany at <
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German readers may also visit Ron Engert's
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http://www.meru-info.de>