Review of the ‘Ecosystem’ Chapter

Feedback Request: Video

The One Thing

Explain the high-level ecosystem in the intro. Explain the three main contributors in the three subsections. (Right now, that info is mixed together.)

• There is high-level info about the ecosystem that’s currently sitting in the “Reference System” subsection. Bring it up, and compress the subsection to only include what’s necessary for your reader to know right now about the reference system.
• Use the “Heart” subsection as a model for the other two. It flows the best and is the most concise. It has the right level of nuance and detail, and it’s clear how it relates to the ecosystem.

Feedback

• Here’s one point that you’re treating as a given, but it’d help if you made it explicit (not in these words): “There are parts of your consciousness that are outside of your awareness.”
• (There are parts of your consciousness that you are aware of, like the thoughts running through your brain, but there are other parts that you are unaware of that contribute to your conscious experience. It’s all part of one ecosystem.)
• The definition of the ecosystem and its contributors could me much simpler. This chapter is still too complex for a fresh reader to feel like they are following along and learning the whole way through.
• What are the essential contributors of the ecosystem that your reader needs to know right now? (Think of someone who, all thew way up to the moment of reading this chapter, has believed that their consciousness is merely a brain.)
• What is the simplest way to describe the relationship between those contributors?
• The most confusing part is the consciousness reference system subsection. It raises questions like:
• So there is an entire system that is just one part of the ecosystem?
• How is the consciousness different than the consciousness reference system?
• What is the system referencing? Patterns? Past experiences? All of the above?
• What does the reference system create? Does it create patterns or responses to patterns or something else?
• Is the reference system by nature unconscious, or is there a way to bring conscious awareness to the reference system moment to moment? Can you only recognize your patterns in retrospect?
• This short example is really effective — great idea to add this in. The more you can use concrete imagery to ground these concepts, the better:

Think about two people on the edge of the ocean who see a massive wave. One person may feel excited to surf it and the other may be scared shitless. What’s different? They’re simply processing it with a different set of patterns created by their past.

• Open questions I have after reading the revised chapter, and some confusing sentences:
• Is there a reason not to call it simply the “reference system,” rather than the “consciousness’s reference system” or the “consciousness reference system”? Again, having the word consciousness in one of the contributors is confusing when you also use consciousness in this sense, within the same chapter:

For this process to function efficiently, your consciousness creates patterns. As stated earlier, these patterns are intended to help you move through the world safely and efficiently.

1. Are your patterns not created by the reference system? What does it mean for my consciousness to create patterns?
• For the reference system subsection, I suggest opening with the idea of the ego and its need for survival. That, I think people will get right away without a struggle. Start with the reason the reference system exists. Then, take it deeper, adding detail and nuance to the definition.
• This paragraph could be a great opening to the section:

Throughout my life the word “ego” was usually used to mean pride or over-confidence. When I dove into spirituality, the ego was often portrayed like some entity living inside of me that I needed to get rid of. But both of these ideas miss the big picture. The ego is a survival mechanism innate to all humans. Its goal is to help you avoid harm at all costs. One of the ways it does this is by creating patterns that prioritize your survival. These patterns are fundamental to how you process the outside world.

• And facts like this are details: “Your consciousness reference system begins developing while you are in the womb. It’s like the storehouse for everything you’ve ever experienced, as well as the underlying patterns these experiences create.”
• This is a very important idea. Consider moving it up to the introduction of the chapter (out of the first subsection), because it helps explain why consciousness is not just a brain:

We think that our thoughts, emotions, and compulsions are who we are instead of an awareness that experiences them all.

• Decide on a single word for the parts of the ecosystem: contributors, inputs, components? Which one feels more accurate and helpful to you. My vote would be components or elements of the system.
• This is great — well done connecting the abstract to the concrete:

Like recognizing a musical artist's voice on the radio, I began to be able to discern what information from my true Self felt like compared to information from my patterns. For me, it always came through as an emergent inner knowing or audible voice. The difference was in its texture which was always clear, without emotional charge, and encouraging.

• This is an encouraging way to close the chapter. It will have your reader inspired/motivated to give this a try on their own:

Even though my outer world didn’t look very different, the way I was related to it shifted dramatically. I no longer wondered whether I needed to abandon my current existence to pursue my conscious evolution seriously. Everyday life was the perfect arena to move closer to the freedom and union I was searching for. I still wasn’t sure where this would all take me, but the door had been opened and as I’d soon learn, there was no way of going back.