Simply put, that we don't value what is cheap or free, look, for example, at the environment, the state of our lakes, rivers, the ocean, the air...
Anything that is free is paradoxically worthless - no matter how necessary it is to our survival. Put a price on it, however, and it suddenly acquires a rarity and value worth preserving.
Some examples - Ayahuasca ceremonies, during which the participants retch and shit and discharge their bodily functions all over the mud hut, this, in addition to the tourism fee, is the price, the experience is valued that much more highly than similar or even greater experiences on Mushrooms and LSD are devalued due the fact that they seldom "cost" us as dearly. LSD, DMT, Mushrooms, available at a fraction of the price - are devalued - despite their comparatively mild side effects - and most people that I know claim no sorts of transformative experiences, the "experience" was cheapened by the fact that it was both: A - acquired cheaply & taken out of context B - lacked ceremony, preparation and focus, and C - The mild side effects.
We value what costs us greatly - and the retching, the sickness, this is the part where we're in a sense "Paying" for it, we are more invested in the experience, cognitive bias kicks in and tells us that it was - of necessity - more profound than any other experience we might have had.
It is woven into our language, into our culture, that we pay the price of our career with our family, with our personal relations, that success always comes at a price...
Hence the Faustian bargain and the many legends of people who acquired extraordinary skill or wealth through dealings with the devil.
But note that it wasn't always this way. This is very much The Churches interpretation of the situation.
While wizards formerly were wont to summon the devil to do their bidding, no exchange of souls was necessary. As Cavendish notes,
"The grimoires pay little attention to the Pact with the Devil. Their rituals are intended to subject evil spirits to the magician's control, and when in need of supernatural assistance they seek it from God. From their point of view, to barter away one's soul in a pact is the desperate resort of the second-rate sorcerer."
A curious idea.
**Note - 2 ideas here, related but not entirely. May need to revisit this and rethink it.
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I mean, everything unto hoarding, but there seem to be a few things in particular. Anything that measures - scientific instruments, telescopes, microscopes, rulers, x-ray, optics, etc. This is a broad interest. Religious iconography, kitsch, juju, Roman Catholic, Buddhist, Etc, quack medicine, clothes - too many, and I've purged these a hundred times, neckties, - easily 1000 (I sorted them today. It took a while...). Cufflinks, Watches, men's accessories, like handkerchiefs, cigarette cases, Stationary, pens, art supplies (oh-man-oh-man-oh-man), rocks, rocks, rocks, sticks, antlers, books, books books, old: lamps, statues, paintings, anything that jogs the imagination or curiosity. Old instruments. I could go on. Collections? Watches. Cufflinks. Neck Ties. Candlesticks. Those are the four major ones. Purge these and I'll be halfway there. Well, no, because these 4 collections take up a very little space comparatively, but those are the ones of interest, the ones I've really gone overboard on, I wonder what - psychologically - that says? Never mind. By the time I figure that one out they'll be gone...
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And, reading, noticing that while Heaven, frequently, is referred to as being "one with the infinite", Hell, on the other hand, is quite the opposite. Generally I'm talking a more well thought out version of Hell than most Christians suggest when they talk about meeting Jesus on a Golf course.
Hell is concerned with reason and measurement. The Devil is in the details, as they say...
Wherever you go Hell always seems to be a slightly worse version of earth. There's money - for the ferryman, Hell Money for the ancestors, there's The Weighing of Souls and the bookkeepers and accountants and the trivial reasoning of minute details that always seem to accompany science and measurement. The idea of limiting - namely God, Spirit, denying that portion of your infinite growth, that you've somehow measured yourself, and in measuring restricted and bound yourself to earthly things, therefore your hell will be an extended, rational measuring of your soul...
There is also the OCD aspects of Vampires and Witches; Scatter the millet or mustard seeds and they will have to stop and count them, giving you time to escape, or the cock to crow - this is curious as well - measurement, counting...
Heaven, then, seems to argue for an emotional and intuitive understanding of the world, whereas Hell a rational and measured one...
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The idea of a Cognitive Filter is that we all - consciously but more usually unconsciously, view and experience the world through our own unique perceptual framework which often reinforces our established points of views. We are all guilty of it.
The best way to imagine a Cognitive Filter is a 2X4 jutting out of our forehead, from which we hang countless prejudices, prisms, bits of colored glass, polarizing filters, ornaments, whatever prior experiences we have had in life. Not only do we hang things, but for a great part of our lives - think childhood, think politics, news, education, friends and family - we allow other people to hang things there as well. Very often this 2X4 becomes so cluttered with "filters" that our vision is obscured unto blindness.
The funny thing about Cognitive Filters is that while none of us can see our own, or very often even the world past our own, we for some reason think we are able to see others. For example, we all recognize bigots, racists, homophobia, we can all look at our friends and say "this is your problem...", and our advice very often is good - we can see their problem, we've swung our own 2X4 far enough out of the way to take a clear look at theirs. Not always, and never as well as we think, but often enough. And often we can see a filter on their 2X4 - the same one we've hung on our own - and out of embarrassment refuse to observe it - Alcoholics, for example, generally out of politeness or a matter of form won't acknowledge that another person is an alcoholic - it's easier to ignore that filter and instead put their problems down to one of a thousand other filters hanging down from the 2X4, or we might recognize a filter on another and realizing we have the same one on ourselves flatter or congratulate the wearer - think of religion, politics, nationality, any number of clubs or organizations.
The point of all this meditation - "All This" so far rarely adds up to 30 minutes a day and never even a minute of true mind(ful)(less)ness - is to see past the cognitive filters and get back to an unencumbered view of the world.
...Or maybe I'm understanding it wrong...
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