Container Theory
 

Welcome to the Container.

The container is everything in present moment conscious awareness, it is the observation and the observer. The container is consciousness creating through conscious choice everything in awareness. When you sit in a room and observe the surroundings (including you in the room) that is the container. Everything inside the container (including you) exists and everyting outside the container does not exist. So you (your physical body) is inside the container and is exactly the same as everything else inside the container. There is no difference between your physical body and a chair, a tree, a frog or the sky.

The container can change and bring things into it, like new surroundings, different people, bad weather and other things like money, health, emotion and thought. The container holds all that the container places inside it, but anything outside of it, does not exist. The container is perfection, filling itself with all sorts of different things to experience imperfection.

Everything is created and exists inside the container as required to maintain the experience observed via the container, thought, emotion, love, hate, physical renderings like trees, human bodies, cars, sky etc, but if it's not inside the container, it doesn't exist.

The observer is the point of observation to observe the container and emote to it's renderings, but it is not creative. It's sole purpose is to observe the container and observation created by the container. If you are standing on a beach and can see, feel, smell and sense air, waves, sand, sun, sky, people, laughter and importantly your own physical body then all of that is inside the container, everything is inside of it in present moment awareness.

The physical body is the same as everything inside the container just as much as everything it observes, it is dense in physical form and created from the same material. Nothing is 'out there' everything is 'inside here' there is no space, or stars, or time or planet, unless they are brought into the container.

Advantages of the container
Nothing outside of it matters, nothing outside of it can hurt you or affect you unless you bring it into the container. Because you are the central observation point as well as the container, you get to directly enjoy everything inside the container and importantly, be fully responsible for everything inside the container which means you have all the creative power, but you do not create through anything inside the container, remember you are the container, just as you are creating it. Everything is happening right here, right now inside the container and that keeps your focus on what's truly important. The container (you) can place anything inside the container at anytime, you do it instantly and there are no limits. The container sets rules, but they can be bent and broken.

Disadvantages of the container
With great power comes great responsibilty. As the container, you create everything that goes inside including your own observation point (the physical body you use to observe) but because the container is perfect and timeless, it creates everything inside to be imperfect on different levels to have a full experience, so the container can experience growth. In truth there are no real disadvantages, because the container is perfect, but just creating imperfection to know thyself, to know perfection.

Container Q&A

Is the container God?
No, God is a word to describe a power outside of physical humanity and more inline with religious beliefs.

Is the container consciousness?
Yes, but the word consciousness always seems to imply something like God, a source that is 'out there' somewhere, or at least everywhere, where as the word container implies a more stable present moment awareness, a more definable inside here right now type of thing.

Is the container SR?
SR is a belief system where consciousness is the primary source of creation and everything is consciousness, the problem here (again) is it seems to imply something outside somewhere and again the word container keeps everything inside where it really is. So while we could say SR is the same as the container, the word container implies a more defined central place to reference everything from. We could say that SR is the belief system and the container is all of the output of that belief system.

Why is the word container a good description for existance?
Because it lets you see everything that is important, it centralizes creative source and power and helps you focus on the moment. As past and future are outside the container, they don't exist, so you don't have to worry or consider them. It shifts the focus away from out there, where all sorts of things could be happening (they're not because they don't exist) and those things could affect you if you think there is an out there.

So I'm the container and everything I put in it?
Yes, including your mind/body, all the other bodies and everything else in the container.

Isn't the word container just another word for reality?
No, reality (like everything created to go inside the container) is inside the container and nowhere outside, remember there is no outside.

Who is the observer in the container?
You are, it's your container and if you notice, you're the only one who is ever inside of it 24/7, everyone else comes and goes (yes even loved one's) but you always remain inside, constant, stable and created.

Does the observer create?
No, the container creates itself and everything inside it, including the observer (your physical mind/body) the observer is made up of the same material everything inside the container is made up of.

How do I create things inside the container?
Choose them to be so and they will be. Choose for them to be inside the container and they will be.

What about IM and LoA?
There are creations, words to describe (poorly) the creative process, they do not create anything except a belief system that covers up (for growth reasons) true creative power, which is choice.

Who am I?
You are the container, everything you are aware of and nothing you're not.

Aren't you just trying to add another label to already existing ideas and concepts?
Yes, but in a way to clarify and aid improvement and to assist in the better creation inside the container.

Who are other people?
They are creations just like the observers physical mind/body.

There's billions of people on earth, how many containers are there?
One.

How can thinking like this help me?
When you consider that existance is inside a central point of reference, rather than everywhere else, it makes everything in awareness important, the people, environment, everything that is experienced inside the container is wonderful and significant. It also helps you focus on the important things that you've placed inside the container and it means you can place anything you want inside the container for the observer to experience. it focuses creative power and source and takes away the need to be concerned about anything outside. Nothing exists outside until you bring it inside.

What is the creative source in the container?
Choice is the only thing that creates, everything else is creation and therefore does not create.

Isn't choice, thougth?
No, thought and emotion are validators of choice

Wouldn't it be better just to call it consciousness?
I find that word to mean something that is everything, everywhere and that doesn't seem right. It would mean that consciousness is everything outside of awareness and that also doesn't feel right.

If my partner who I love very much leaves the container, does he/she cease to exist?
This is very hard to fathom, but yes that is correct. Existance can only be defined as what is observed by the observer inside the container. The container can't and doesn't maintain creation outside of itself, it doesn't need to do that, but it can and does move things in and out of the container at will, including people. If you miss someone for long enough what usually happens?? You bring them back into the container to enjoy.

Explain the people part better, it's freaking me out?
When someone enters the container or is brought into it by you, that is important, because you created it. Some people like random strangers you don't interact with are there for continuity purposes, but people we like and love are inside the container for us to see created different parts of the container (parts of ourselves) on the people level. The people we care about most are created parts of the container improving the overall state of the container.

Why do you believe this true?
It helps me understand what I am, why I'm the only person who's with me 24/7, what other people are and what is the system of the seemingly stable environment I am housed in.

This is the dumbest premise I've ever heard are your crazy and deluded?
All of that could be true, I'm trying to understand how things work. It's not enough that I can see them working, I want to know why and in doing that I help myself hence the term 'self help' I see my existance as inside the container, but being the container as well, creator and created. The first thing I created inside the container was an observation point and all day everyday I create things to observe. By labelling it a container, it creates a place/space to place things in, to observe in and to improve. It's imperfect, hence the need to create it in the first place.

Welcome to the container

:D :p :rolleyes: :cool: :eek:

MAX, MAX, MAX! That was pretty darn good!

I like it
 

because I've recently been pondering some of these points, such as do the billions of people who are said to populate this planet, but who I never see, really exist? Max Power, you just took the idea and ran with it! Thanks!

Think I'll call it "my room" instead of "a container." My room sounds cozier and more comfy:)

I find it helps me keep things I don't want outside and therefore they don't come inside :rolleyes: and of course to have better creative control. I really struggle with the word consciousness, it always seem to me to imply things that I'm not aware of and seems to place consciousness somewhere else outside of me :rolleyes:

Max

When we think of how big things are supposed to be, huge planet, 6 billion people, enormous universe, it's all so daunting, it's unmanagable. If we can describe and understand it in a more managable format, it gives us more control over the output.

You can all it 'Your Room' if you like, just make sure it's big enough to fit everything you want in it :D The only problem I have with the word room is that it seems like it could be of limited size, it's a heck of a big room when you're at the football game and there's 100,000 people in there with a stadium and all the continuity, that's why I thought container was a good one, another one could be 'The Construct' like from the Matrix, but that implies something before you get into the Matrix, so it's a little confusing
Max

Good Job Max. You basically said what I was thinking but better :D

That was really really good, I really enjoyed reading it. It made sense as well:eek:

Great post, Max! :cool:

BTW: I wonder whether you also have read the posts in this forum before you became a member (April)?
There are several other SR theories proposed there (some of the authors don't seem to post here anymore).

Max,
I like the way you think...

Thank you Max
 

for putting it in a more easily understanding format.:)
I like the word "Container".
I have noticed lately that the people around me, including my family, seem to be other extentions of me. It is hard to explain but, everything I am interested in, but not very good at, is manifested in small ways, in them. And vise versa.
It's almost like if you take everyone that is in my container, and put them all together...that is the whole.
I have worked for the same person for about 15 years. He used to drive me crazy and I couldn't seem to get away from him. I liked him ok, but he really drove me crazy. I would change a job and he would show up. He would change a job and call me in. I came to the conclusion that for some reason he was in my life and not going to go away, so I gave up.
Now we still work together and so many times I know what he is going to say before he says it. And I sense that he is on the same road as us all. Trying to find explanations/answers of why things happen, what is his role in this world.
It is the same for others in my life. This really is what gives me a sense that what you so eloquently wrote in the above post, strikes true in me.
It just seems right, ye kin?
Sometimes I shift and somehow seem to watch or observe myself, as from a distance. I see my body but I'm not my body...and at that time all those things that are important to the body don't seem so important anymore.
Weird stuff, eh?
Especially for 6:30 in the morning!

Great post, Max.
I'm still a bit fuzzy about a few things. Say, for example, I am reading a book, then my attention is drawn towards the TV. Does the book vanish from the container because my awareness is no longer on it? If I am partly aware of the book and the TV at the same time, are they both still in the container? Also, what about half-formed ideas, impressions, memories, vague feelings, which come and go, of which I am only partially aware - do they just drift in and out of the container?

AL, FR, LiC and BT, it's good you can see it makes some sense to you all, not much point, droning on with big posts unless they are useful :rolleyes: from personal application I know that container theory, while just a way to look at it all, can add much needed clarity and value to the creative source and us as creators.

Cantando,

If I think about the statue of liberty and see it in my mind, that is inside the container but it doesn't exist inside the container until I choose to render it completely in the physical reality that is inside the container. Being inside the container and existing inside the physical reality inside the container are different things, but everything is inside, there is and can never be anything outside.

You are the container.

Max

Container theory makes perfect sense but I dont see any difference
 

Max,

First of all, I admire your search for the truth and investigating things from a perspective that makes COMPLETE sense...though our mind denies it:D

Now I am not trying to pick on you and I hope you dont get the impression that I am being a jerk:p.....................but this is exactly what Steve explained as Subjective Reality (Advaita) in the podcast. You replaced consciousness with the word container. When you say consciousness to someone they think its something outside somewhere else and this is because there are no objects defined in English language to understand consciousness. In SR terms consciousness is all that exists in the present moment including the physical body.

Container seems easier for people to understand because English language has a definition and so Container makes it easier for them to visualize. Just as you have mentioned that you are the container (including the body), SR says you are consciousness (including the body)....infact books on Advaita says that the body is an illusion and is not real....well I dont want to go there now.

I dont see any difference. Am I missing something??

Thanks, AB, all I'm looking for is the truth and a way to understand it so I (and maybe others) can integrate it easier into our lives :rolleyes:

That has been my problem all along. I'm a believer in SR (but you don't have to be to let CT help you :D ) but the SR concept is based on consciousness being the primary source, but where is it?

The difference is huge (for me) so back to my question, if I'm consciousness and everything is consciousness and people are not consious and the creative force is consciousness, that's great!!

But where the *bleep* is it????

I found it not very helpful to consider I as consciousness was this creative force in my universe seemingly floating and/or being everywhere, it seemed unmanagable, so I simplified it down into a label (that's all these words like SR, consciousness, are) The Container.

Now I'm not trying to steal anyones ideas (Steve uses the word container in his SR series) or become a guru (me no smart enough for that :rolleyes: ) or sell anything (you'll never see a link on any of my posts for anything PD related) I'm just trying to make it easier for me to grasp.

SR is a complex belief system (for me) and I need a way to integrate it better, hence the container label and theory. When I post a reply or start a thread, it's always with the intention to help myself and maybe someone else, so mostly I write to explain it to myself first and if someone else gets it and it helps, very good.

You may say why make another uneeded lable? But I need this label to help me grasp it better and it is working for me, so I have to have it.

I hope that answers your questions :D

Max
"Everything is inside, there is no outside"

I gotcha!!!:D

Oh hey, I fully get it now. How cool.
I kinda take issue with perfection and imperfection concept. I see what you call imperfection as 'the rub' like the sand in the oyster shell that rubs at the pearl until it expels a perfect gem. The sand (what you call imperfection) is as perfect as the pearl.
Lally

Oh.. reminds me of a song.
'Without it we're nothing, together we're one.
Ok I'll settle down now.
Lally

LM, yes it's very cool :rolleyes: Because it centralises self and creative force, instead of being off somewhere, mentally concerned about things that don't even exist and/or can't effect you, you don't have to be concerned about anything until you place it inside the container. It also aids in focusing on what's important, which is you, your life, you immediate reality and the ever present moment.

Let's recap :D ...........

Imperfection is everything created inside the container, nothing is ever created ouside, because there is no outside. As the container itself is perfection it creates everything inside to experience imperfection including an observation point to observe imperfection, that observation point is you. The container can expand itself and contract to accommodate scope and size, wether it's a small room or the grand canyon as long as the observer is there to observe it, that's the container.

It can place anything inside, people, building, trees, cars, love, thought, emotion, money, hate, pain, sky, time, growth, anything it needs to maintain imperfection. Imperfection may sound like a bad word, but it allows perfection to experience itself, hence the opposite.

Nothing exists outside the container.

The container can hold physical reality and things no so well defined as physical reality like thought and emotion. Choice, the creative force creates everything inside the container, so it is.......

Container->Choice->Everything Inside

So if you are the observer you are actually the container and everything you create inside of it, including yourself, but nothing outside.

Max your a freaking genius.

Max, let's say I'm just sitting on a bench in a beautiful neighborhood observing an empty spot where an extra house could be...I begin to visualize a home in detail there just for me. Is this me putting a new home in my container?

The home may not physically appear before my eyes, but if i just let go and allow, will the home appear there one day? Is that how it works?

Thanks AL, I always knew I was something :rolleyes:

KS, It's your container, you can put whatever you like in there, but remember it's never empty and to fit stuff in, sometimes you have to through stuff out.

By considering it is a container and everything is in there including you (as observer) there are no limits to what you can create inside, just remember that thought and emotion are not creative, but they are created in there also to often just get in the way. You've done it this way to maintain the illusion of imperfection that is physical reality.

Wow! This container is awesome!

Max,
I get what you're saying and it clarifies the concept but it feels too restrictive for me.
Doesn't everything exist within the moment? There is no past, future, in the linear sense, everything is now. The concept of 'now' allows me to understand how I am able to percieve what appear to be past and future events now because they are all happening simulataneously. Because of the time constraints of our human perception we track life in linear fashion. Our lives appear to travel along a continuum that allows us to track ourselves and events. Tolle's 'Now' theory expands the mind beyond the constraints of our physicality where as the 'Container' theory appears to restrict it.

Lally

Lally, the problem I have with expanding the mind and the term consciousness is the idea of these seem to send us as spiritual beings all over the place, to consider we're everything (true) but because we all so spiritual and free we seem to be everywhere and that makes me consider that we're no where as well.

To create in physical reality we have to be present there, but to also align ourselves with creative power. I can't accept that my power is out there somewhere, while I'm in here observing. I need to be localised to create better. Also when we consider that we are everywhere, where is that? Is that creating the vast universe and still creating us sitting in our lounge rooms? Seems a stretch to function effectively.

Container Theory doesn't imprison consiousness, it allows it to be focused in the moment, creating everything required and nothing unrequired. It's a good thing to want to free the mind, but we still have to be the observer, we still have to exist in the create reality.

Container Theory is for aiding purpose, for fine tuning consciousness to make it more helpful.

It's just an idea, a concept, if you find it too restrictive, then reject it, it has to be helpful otherwise it isn't :rolleyes:

Max

Max;
I believe it is vital to be fully present here. We're not much use to anyone floating out in the ethers and many access the spiritual realms to avoid their physicality as a natural drug. I also believe that human kind is evolving to point where we can reside fully conscious in our physicality. Conscious of being energy/physical beings in one without experiencing those states in separation or duality. This is one of the greatest excitements of our age.
I'm not dishing your theory at all, just attempting to expand on the possibilities that exist beyond it.
Lally

Lally, well said, I'm not trying to invent something that isn't there, I'm trying to get to a point where I can create better in this physical reality. All the spirituality in the world is useless unless it helps us live better practical physical lives. Most of us know we are more than physical.

We want to be closer to the fundamental core (consciousness, god, spirit, whatever) but at the same time we want to enjoy our physical creations. We shouldn't have to compromise.

This thread is about container theory, it's just a theory, like SR and christainity :rolleyes: but I find when I wake up in the morning it helps me understand my place in the physical world and see my constant connection to consciousness. It's like I can have both, I don't have to see them as seperate. I never liked the idea of seperation, that consciousness was something everywhere while I (the physical me) was stuck in downtown traffic :rolleyes: when I sense they are one, in places me right there in the moment where simple choice creates.

Max;
It's a step by step process. Container theory says that we not only have awareness of the immediate physical state but we also have awareness of ourselves as the observer, observing the container. To be able to do it, we have to have some awareness of ourselves other than in the immediate (duality). Is it possible? How do we actually do it? Most people who have had OBE’s will say yes we can and do, do it.

Ok so say I’m now able to watch/observe myself and everything in the container while still being fully present inside the container, aware of myself in dual states. That's a big first step.

You're a juggler and you now have two balls in the air. Initially all of your attention is on those two balls. If you shift your attention or get distracted oops you've dropped them and have to start again. But with practice you can easily juggle two balls, then three and more. It becomes second nature. You can have a conversation and juggle the balls without dropping them. You haven’t lost your mind in the process. You’ve gained access to more of it. So what's happening?
You've expanded your senses/awareness to include the balls moving through the air.

Once you've mastered the art of being the observer and the observed (detachment) and it's become second nature, the next step is to become aware of the environment of the observer.

You said, ‘All the spirituality in the world is useless unless it helps us live better practical physical lives.’ With ‘Container Theory’ you are presenting exactly the idea that begins to make sense of OBE’s. An OBE give us the ability to observe ourselves. They are one and the same.

Lally

I can't comment on OBE, I don't search for it. I see my existance as a container, everything inside physical (body, environment) and everything else inside (thought, emotion, consciousness) as the one thing. My purpose is to get a better connection to better create.

I want to discard anything that seems to get in the way, things like LoA and IM, for me they are barriers.

Nice post.

How exactly did the container go about creating itself?

it is my understanding that there can be no choice outside of duality/separation.

every possible possibility already exists, the container (beit) lies within Source (aleph) and contains all that is or ever could be - this is the Body of consciousness from which all manifests - the "Image" or reflection of Source/Supreme. I AM. Consciousness creates in the image of its creator.

Choice lies within MIND which is a creation of Consciousness, part of duality and separation. Duality is necessary for choice. Physical matter or experience is projected from Consciousness into the physical realm through both, but already exist in consciousness.

What we call "Creating" is a choosing of experience to observe. This choice exists only on the level of mind or duality.