Thaddeus Golas
Encyclopedia
Thaddeus Golas is generally known for having written The Lazy Man's Guide to Enlightenment
, which has become known as a classic book on human consciousness
and spirituality
. The book was first published in 1972 by J.E. Casey of San Francisco. The Guide, as it is affectionately called by those who have read it, is thought by many to be one of the very best descriptions of, as well as a trigger for, the transcendental experience. It has been described many times as "The last book you'll ever need to read on Spirituality".
. He was the youngest of five children. Both his parents were of Polish descent and met in the United States. His father died when Thaddeus was four, and his mother later remarried when he was ten, but his stepfather later died of Tuberculosis
.
, New York City
, San Francisco, Hollywood and Redway, California
, and Sarasota, Florida
-- his last stop.
. He shipped off to Cardiff
, Wales
, was stationed in England
until August 1944, then in France
and Belgium
, where he served until December 1944, briefly saw hostilities in the days preceding the Battle of the Bulge
. He returned to the United States
after being discharged honorably because of health concerns, and attended New York
's Columbia University
where he studied under such illustrious professors as Jacques Barzun
, and earned a B.A. Degree (Class of '48). He first worked as a proofreader for Betty Ballantine
, and later became an editor for Redbook
Magazine and later worked at Harper & Row as a book representative. He held several publishing related jobs in the Midwest, and finally moved to San Francisco, experimented with LSD
, and self published his book, The Lazy Man's Guide to Enlightenment
.
is Thaddeus Golas' most widely known and first book. it was first self-published and handed out as a pamphlet edition but was quickly picked up by a San Francisco based Joe E. Casey, then, following a conflict with Casey, was salvaged by the Center, a back room of Palo Alto's Plowshare Bookstore, and eventually wound up at Bantam Books
in 1979, where it remained in publication until 1993.
Thaddeus Golas is also the author of the books and Pain, Cosmic Airdrome, and his own biography: Lazy man's Life.
These later publications were recently released, posthumously, by a newly reformed version of Seed Center, in California.
Perhaps Golas' most famous piece of writing went utterly uncredited: In the 1950s, Thaddeus Golas wrote the first funny personal ad, as the Village Voice began publishing what was meant to be serious listings, thus starting a trend that continues to this day. The anonymous ad was quoted for years in many travel guides to the East Village
, especially by John Wilcock
in his hard-cover anthology.
Golas, originally a poet, published a literary piece in Columbia University
's The Columbia Review, which he titled "Ugly Ugly vs Pure Pure" in the spring of 1947. He also published a couple of cultural reviews under assumed names in the San Francisco Chronicle
the 1970s.
A handful of articles and interviews first published in the German language
by Sphinx, a magazine based in Basel
, Switzerland
, later appeared in American monthlies ( 80's and 90's ) such as "Blotter", "Spirit Magazine," and "Sun (magazine)".
Later in his life, Thaddeus Golas resolved that all the theorizing which led to writing "the Guide" needed to be followed by practical observations about our more “local” reality, as a means of dealing with the many “bugs” which continued to crop up in his paradigm
- post-enlightenment, so to speak… He worked on a study of love
as a mere exercise in agreement with reality
and the ensuing pain
of maintaining structural integrity in the face of too much pleasurable vibrational agreement. A new model of practical ideas for human living emerged…voluntarily less poetic, harder to digest, but which he deemed "hard information one could rely on."
…Publishing these ideas proved impossible for two decades, and outright contempt
from his publishers over his later manuscripts led to the end of his contract at Bantam.
in a language that any reader of English
could hope to understand; the simplicity of the book was clearly behind its success. The little “Guide” has a simple thesis: “Enlightenment doesn’t care how you get there.”
On a more subtle level, The book's title alludes to the idea that getting to Paradise
should not require so much as lifting a finger; indeed, advising an approach of "no resistance", the author suggests that many spiritual practices are a denial of what is already manifest, and few among the posturing "wise and serious" have any "real intension on dissolving their attachment to structures and going on to another plane of existence."
"The trouble with Evil
," suggests Golas, "is that it seduces us into trying to eliminate it."
At the core of the book is this axiom: “We are equal beings, and the universe is our relations with each other.” However, behind the apparent casual language, Golas introduced powerful and complex ideas…
Thaddeus Golas' work is original, and amounts to a sort of metaphysical
String Theory
.
It is unique in that it identifies a credible bridge between Science
and Spirituality
. His philosophy operates like a piece of software that unifies all beliefs, religious systems, scientific models, and can even integrate or at least help to grasp how nihilistic
views can cohabit with exalted spiritual insights.
Golas favored a spirituality inspired by Quantum Physics, General Relativity
, and later Chaos Theory
.
His chief interest was in mapping the mechanisms of Space
, Energy
, and Mass
, and how they relate to the human
experience
of consciousness
, through a process of expansion to space, or contraction from space through energy into mass.
Thaddeus Golas equated Space with Consciousness:
"Basic entities are conscious space when expanded, unconscious mass when
contracted, and alternating between these states as energy," he noted.
"Space is to Energy as Energy is to Mass" is the formula at the core of Golas' ideas. "Space pushes away Energy and Mass," he said. "Space Consciousness has no interest in controlling mass interactions."
He described the entire universe as composed of an infinite number of equal entities all equipped with a simple, binary choice of options - to expand or to contract. This simple mechanism, according to him, quickly builds into a very complex system, from subatomic particles all the way to what we can experience as "a being."
He described: "There are two states of being: expanded and contracted. (It might be more precise to say standing momentum outward, and standing momentum inward, but those are awkward phrases to repeat often.) An entity must be in one state or the other at any given instant. It may sustain either state at will.
Expanding consciousness is not a process of expanding like a balloon, it is a
process of PROLONGING your conscious state. You must be either conscious or unconscious in any given instant".
"Energy is the rapid alternation between space and mass", he explained, "the devil
, the delinquent, the messenger who delivers only half the message, the marker of time." He coined the notion that: Space propels energy, and energy compels matter -- this process which is mostly described in studies of Electromagnetism
and Gravity also relates, according to Golas, to the mechanism by which consciousness becomes entangled in the physical realm.
Golas saw Enlightenment
not as a benign form of therapy, but merely the way out of this reality
.
Golas was not fond of the New Age
movement nor of the propensity of its parishioners for wanting to attain control of physical reality.
"The New Age is a Tower of Babel
", he said. "Trying to use Energy to get to Heaven -- it can't be done! You get to heaven by ceasing to be Energy. If you stay conscious continuously, you will push away the material world, all of it. Other than prolonging your consciousness, there is no idea or action on earth that makes the slightest bit of difference to your spiritual future."
The New Age did not like him much either, in fact - he was banished by it. In his later life, he was attacked by detractors who criticized him for being “negative” in his vision of earthly life. Many rejected his notions that "God cannot do anything about our predicament" and that ours is a “lunatic local reality” in which consciousness has fallen, in favor of more playful views of the “purposeful” nature of human life. He countered that the New Age was chiefly interested in bending philosophy to suit the commercial thirst and hopes our era to the detriment of a straight view of things “as they are, by opposition to how we would prefer for them to be.”
He felt that many seekers
in the Spirituality
movement were about “channeling
spirits, hugging trees, good vibes, pyramids, crystals, astrology
, banal optimistic messages, and manifesting more reality into one’s life.” He said:
"I punctured the New Age fantasy of controlling physical reality with your thoughts. This takes the status and snobbery out of being spiritual."
"The New Age considers this 'negative' thinking, because they do not want to look at where we are."
"We only exist in the context of our equals, and Space Consciousness pushes away any state more contracted and less permeable than itself. It is a mistake to think of Higher Consciousness as a storehouse of infinite Earthly data, and it is equally false to assume that Higher Consciousness wishes to manipulate and control energy's actions. Energy and Matter are simply the same 'Higher Consciousness
' functioning differently; we exist in perfectly ordered relationships of behavior, not of ideas."
Golas also said, "It isn't as though our movement in this life is horizontal through time, since in a state of Space Consciousness, the time is always now; when we attain a state of Space, we merely wake up where we have been sleeping".
Thaddeus Golas mostly cared about finding a “way out” of this reality – he did not espouse to glorify it. “The Turning Away from the World preached by Saints and Church Figures in past history is a message few wanted to hear,” he said, “I find a lot more comfort in knowing how it really works and knowing I don’t have to fix the chaos
– the movie is always running and you must decide whether or not to participate; vote with your feet.”
Though many wish to remember catch phrases such as : "Love it the way it is", or "What happens is not as important as how you react to what happens", Thaddeus Golas favored one notion above all else:
"No matter what happens, I am conscious all the time."
The Lazy Man's Guide to Enlightenment
The Lazy Man’s Guide To Enlightenment, is a philosophical essay by Paterson, New Jersey-born American author Thaddeus Golas Originally started as a letter for friends, the book began as a mimeographed pamphlet which Golas handed out on the streets of San Francisco in 1971. It was officially...
, which has become known as a classic book on human consciousness
Consciousness
Consciousness is a term that refers to the relationship between the mind and the world with which it interacts. It has been defined as: subjectivity, awareness, the ability to experience or to feel, wakefulness, having a sense of selfhood, and the executive control system of the mind...
and spirituality
Spirituality
Spirituality can refer to an ultimate or an alleged immaterial reality; an inner path enabling a person to discover the essence of his/her being; or the “deepest values and meanings by which people live.” Spiritual practices, including meditation, prayer and contemplation, are intended to develop...
. The book was first published in 1972 by J.E. Casey of San Francisco. The Guide, as it is affectionately called by those who have read it, is thought by many to be one of the very best descriptions of, as well as a trigger for, the transcendental experience. It has been described many times as "The last book you'll ever need to read on Spirituality".
Early life
Thaddeus Stanley Golas was born on June 15, 1924 in Paterson, New JerseyPaterson, New Jersey
Paterson is a city serving as the county seat of Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, its population was 146,199, rendering it New Jersey's third largest city and one of the largest cities in the New York City Metropolitan Area, despite a decrease of 3,023...
. He was the youngest of five children. Both his parents were of Polish descent and met in the United States. His father died when Thaddeus was four, and his mother later remarried when he was ten, but his stepfather later died of Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
.
Later life
He married 3 times, lived in Paterson, New JerseyPaterson, New Jersey
Paterson is a city serving as the county seat of Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, its population was 146,199, rendering it New Jersey's third largest city and one of the largest cities in the New York City Metropolitan Area, despite a decrease of 3,023...
, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, San Francisco, Hollywood and Redway, California
Redway, California
Redway is a census-designated place in Humboldt County, California, United States. Redway is located northwest of Garberville, at an elevation of 538 feet...
, and Sarasota, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
-- his last stop.
Education and career
Thaddeus volunteered for military service in late 1942 and was made Corporal of the 604th Engineer Camouflage Battalion billeted at Camp Campbell in KentuckyKentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
. He shipped off to Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
, Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
, was stationed in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
until August 1944, then in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
, where he served until December 1944, briefly saw hostilities in the days preceding the Battle of the Bulge
Battle of the Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge was a major German offensive , launched toward the end of World War II through the densely forested Ardennes mountain region of Wallonia in Belgium, hence its French name , and France and...
. He returned to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
after being discharged honorably because of health concerns, and attended New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
's Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
where he studied under such illustrious professors as Jacques Barzun
Jacques Barzun
Jacques Martin Barzun is a French-born American historian of ideas and culture. He has written on a wide range of topics, but is perhaps best known as a philosopher of education, his Teacher in America being a strong influence on post-WWII training of schoolteachers in the United...
, and earned a B.A. Degree (Class of '48). He first worked as a proofreader for Betty Ballantine
Betty Ballantine
Betty Ballantine is a publisher who, with her husband Ian Ballantine, formed Bantam Books in 1945 and Ballantine Books in 1952. They became freelance publishers in the 1970s. Their son Richard is an author and journalist specialising in cycling topics.Ballantine received a Special Committee Award...
, and later became an editor for Redbook
Redbook
Redbook is an American women's magazine published by the Hearst Corporation. It is one of the "Seven Sisters", a group of women's service magazines.-History:...
Magazine and later worked at Harper & Row as a book representative. He held several publishing related jobs in the Midwest, and finally moved to San Francisco, experimented with LSD
LSD
Lysergic acid diethylamide, abbreviated LSD or LSD-25, also known as lysergide and colloquially as acid, is a semisynthetic psychedelic drug of the ergoline family, well known for its psychological effects which can include altered thinking processes, closed and open eye visuals, synaesthesia, an...
, and self published his book, The Lazy Man's Guide to Enlightenment
The Lazy Man's Guide to Enlightenment
The Lazy Man’s Guide To Enlightenment, is a philosophical essay by Paterson, New Jersey-born American author Thaddeus Golas Originally started as a letter for friends, the book began as a mimeographed pamphlet which Golas handed out on the streets of San Francisco in 1971. It was officially...
.
Published works
The Lazy Man's Guide to EnlightenmentThe Lazy Man's Guide to Enlightenment
The Lazy Man’s Guide To Enlightenment, is a philosophical essay by Paterson, New Jersey-born American author Thaddeus Golas Originally started as a letter for friends, the book began as a mimeographed pamphlet which Golas handed out on the streets of San Francisco in 1971. It was officially...
is Thaddeus Golas' most widely known and first book. it was first self-published and handed out as a pamphlet edition but was quickly picked up by a San Francisco based Joe E. Casey, then, following a conflict with Casey, was salvaged by the Center, a back room of Palo Alto's Plowshare Bookstore, and eventually wound up at Bantam Books
Bantam Books
Bantam Books is an American publishing house owned entirely by Random House, the German media corporation subsidiary of Bertelsmann; it is an imprint of the Random House Publishing Group. It was formed in 1945 by Walter B. Pitkin, Jr., Sidney B. Kramer, and Ian and Betty Ballantine...
in 1979, where it remained in publication until 1993.
Thaddeus Golas is also the author of the books and Pain, Cosmic Airdrome, and his own biography: Lazy man's Life.
These later publications were recently released, posthumously, by a newly reformed version of Seed Center, in California.
Perhaps Golas' most famous piece of writing went utterly uncredited: In the 1950s, Thaddeus Golas wrote the first funny personal ad, as the Village Voice began publishing what was meant to be serious listings, thus starting a trend that continues to this day. The anonymous ad was quoted for years in many travel guides to the East Village
East Village, Manhattan
The East Village is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, lying east of Greenwich Village, south of Gramercy and Stuyvesant Town, and north of the Lower East Side...
, especially by John Wilcock
John Wilcock
John Wilcock is a British journalist known for his work in the underground press, as well as his travel guide books....
in his hard-cover anthology.
Golas, originally a poet, published a literary piece in Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
's The Columbia Review, which he titled "Ugly Ugly vs Pure Pure" in the spring of 1947. He also published a couple of cultural reviews under assumed names in the San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
the 1970s.
A handful of articles and interviews first published in the German language
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
by Sphinx, a magazine based in Basel
Basel
Basel or Basle In the national languages of Switzerland the city is also known as Bâle , Basilea and Basilea is Switzerland's third most populous city with about 166,000 inhabitants. Located where the Swiss, French and German borders meet, Basel also has suburbs in France and Germany...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, later appeared in American monthlies ( 80's and 90's ) such as "Blotter", "Spirit Magazine," and "Sun (magazine)".
Later in his life, Thaddeus Golas resolved that all the theorizing which led to writing "the Guide" needed to be followed by practical observations about our more “local” reality, as a means of dealing with the many “bugs” which continued to crop up in his paradigm
Paradigm
The word paradigm has been used in science to describe distinct concepts. It comes from Greek "παράδειγμα" , "pattern, example, sample" from the verb "παραδείκνυμι" , "exhibit, represent, expose" and that from "παρά" , "beside, beyond" + "δείκνυμι" , "to show, to point out".The original Greek...
- post-enlightenment, so to speak… He worked on a study of love
Love
Love is an emotion of strong affection and personal attachment. In philosophical context, love is a virtue representing all of human kindness, compassion, and affection. Love is central to many religions, as in the Christian phrase, "God is love" or Agape in the Canonical gospels...
as a mere exercise in agreement with reality
Reality
In philosophy, reality is the state of things as they actually exist, rather than as they may appear or might be imagined. In a wider definition, reality includes everything that is and has been, whether or not it is observable or comprehensible...
and the ensuing pain
Suffering
Suffering, or pain in a broad sense, is an individual's basic affective experience of unpleasantness and aversion associated with harm or threat of harm. Suffering may be qualified as physical or mental. It may come in all degrees of intensity, from mild to intolerable. Factors of duration and...
of maintaining structural integrity in the face of too much pleasurable vibrational agreement. A new model of practical ideas for human living emerged…voluntarily less poetic, harder to digest, but which he deemed "hard information one could rely on."
…Publishing these ideas proved impossible for two decades, and outright contempt
Contempt
Contempt is an intensely negative emotion regarding a person or group of people as inferior, base, or worthless—it is similar to scorn. It is also used when people are being sarcastic. Contempt is also defined as the state of being despised or dishonored; disgrace, and an open disrespect or willful...
from his publishers over his later manuscripts led to the end of his contract at Bantam.
Concepts
Thaddeus Golas wrote The Lazy Man's Guide to EnlightenmentThe Lazy Man's Guide to Enlightenment
The Lazy Man’s Guide To Enlightenment, is a philosophical essay by Paterson, New Jersey-born American author Thaddeus Golas Originally started as a letter for friends, the book began as a mimeographed pamphlet which Golas handed out on the streets of San Francisco in 1971. It was officially...
in a language that any reader of English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
could hope to understand; the simplicity of the book was clearly behind its success. The little “Guide” has a simple thesis: “Enlightenment doesn’t care how you get there.”
On a more subtle level, The book's title alludes to the idea that getting to Paradise
Paradise
Paradise is a place in which existence is positive, harmonious and timeless. It is conceptually a counter-image of the miseries of human civilization, and in paradise there is only peace, prosperity, and happiness. Paradise is a place of contentment, but it is not necessarily a land of luxury and...
should not require so much as lifting a finger; indeed, advising an approach of "no resistance", the author suggests that many spiritual practices are a denial of what is already manifest, and few among the posturing "wise and serious" have any "real intension on dissolving their attachment to structures and going on to another plane of existence."
"The trouble with Evil
Evil
Evil is the violation of, or intent to violate, some moral code. Evil is usually seen as the dualistic opposite of good. Definitions of evil vary along with analysis of its root motive causes, however general actions commonly considered evil include: conscious and deliberate wrongdoing,...
," suggests Golas, "is that it seduces us into trying to eliminate it."
At the core of the book is this axiom: “We are equal beings, and the universe is our relations with each other.” However, behind the apparent casual language, Golas introduced powerful and complex ideas…
Thaddeus Golas' work is original, and amounts to a sort of metaphysical
Metaphysics
Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world, although the term is not easily defined. Traditionally, metaphysics attempts to answer two basic questions in the broadest possible terms:...
String Theory
String theory
String theory is an active research framework in particle physics that attempts to reconcile quantum mechanics and general relativity. It is a contender for a theory of everything , a manner of describing the known fundamental forces and matter in a mathematically complete system...
.
It is unique in that it identifies a credible bridge between Science
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
and Spirituality
Spirituality
Spirituality can refer to an ultimate or an alleged immaterial reality; an inner path enabling a person to discover the essence of his/her being; or the “deepest values and meanings by which people live.” Spiritual practices, including meditation, prayer and contemplation, are intended to develop...
. His philosophy operates like a piece of software that unifies all beliefs, religious systems, scientific models, and can even integrate or at least help to grasp how nihilistic
Nihilism
Nihilism is the philosophical doctrine suggesting the negation of one or more putatively meaningful aspects of life. Most commonly, nihilism is presented in the form of existential nihilism which argues that life is without objective meaning, purpose, or intrinsic value...
views can cohabit with exalted spiritual insights.
Golas favored a spirituality inspired by Quantum Physics, General Relativity
General relativity
General relativity or the general theory of relativity is the geometric theory of gravitation published by Albert Einstein in 1916. It is the current description of gravitation in modern physics...
, and later Chaos Theory
Chaos theory
Chaos theory is a field of study in mathematics, with applications in several disciplines including physics, economics, biology, and philosophy. Chaos theory studies the behavior of dynamical systems that are highly sensitive to initial conditions, an effect which is popularly referred to as the...
.
His chief interest was in mapping the mechanisms of Space
Space
Space is the boundless, three-dimensional extent in which objects and events occur and have relative position and direction. Physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless four-dimensional continuum...
, Energy
Energy
In physics, energy is an indirectly observed quantity. It is often understood as the ability a physical system has to do work on other physical systems...
, and Mass
Mass
Mass can be defined as a quantitive measure of the resistance an object has to change in its velocity.In physics, mass commonly refers to any of the following three properties of matter, which have been shown experimentally to be equivalent:...
, and how they relate to the human
Human
Humans are the only living species in the Homo genus...
experience
Experience
Experience as a general concept comprises knowledge of or skill in or observation of some thing or some event gained through involvement in or exposure to that thing or event....
of consciousness
Consciousness
Consciousness is a term that refers to the relationship between the mind and the world with which it interacts. It has been defined as: subjectivity, awareness, the ability to experience or to feel, wakefulness, having a sense of selfhood, and the executive control system of the mind...
, through a process of expansion to space, or contraction from space through energy into mass.
Thaddeus Golas equated Space with Consciousness:
"Basic entities are conscious space when expanded, unconscious mass when
contracted, and alternating between these states as energy," he noted.
"Space is to Energy as Energy is to Mass" is the formula at the core of Golas' ideas. "Space pushes away Energy and Mass," he said. "Space Consciousness has no interest in controlling mass interactions."
He described the entire universe as composed of an infinite number of equal entities all equipped with a simple, binary choice of options - to expand or to contract. This simple mechanism, according to him, quickly builds into a very complex system, from subatomic particles all the way to what we can experience as "a being."
He described: "There are two states of being: expanded and contracted. (It might be more precise to say standing momentum outward, and standing momentum inward, but those are awkward phrases to repeat often.) An entity must be in one state or the other at any given instant. It may sustain either state at will.
Expanding consciousness is not a process of expanding like a balloon, it is a
process of PROLONGING your conscious state. You must be either conscious or unconscious in any given instant".
"Energy is the rapid alternation between space and mass", he explained, "the devil
Devil
The Devil is believed in many religions and cultures to be a powerful, supernatural entity that is the personification of evil and the enemy of God and humankind. The nature of the role varies greatly...
, the delinquent, the messenger who delivers only half the message, the marker of time." He coined the notion that: Space propels energy, and energy compels matter -- this process which is mostly described in studies of Electromagnetism
Electromagnetism
Electromagnetism is one of the four fundamental interactions in nature. The other three are the strong interaction, the weak interaction and gravitation...
and Gravity also relates, according to Golas, to the mechanism by which consciousness becomes entangled in the physical realm.
Golas saw Enlightenment
Enlightenment (spiritual)
Enlightenment in a secular context often means the "full comprehension of a situation", but in spiritual terms the word alludes to a spiritual revelation or deep insight into the meaning and purpose of all things, communication with or understanding of the mind of God, profound spiritual...
not as a benign form of therapy, but merely the way out of this reality
Reality
In philosophy, reality is the state of things as they actually exist, rather than as they may appear or might be imagined. In a wider definition, reality includes everything that is and has been, whether or not it is observable or comprehensible...
.
Golas was not fond of the New Age
New Age
The New Age movement is a Western spiritual movement that developed in the second half of the 20th century. Its central precepts have been described as "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and then infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational...
movement nor of the propensity of its parishioners for wanting to attain control of physical reality.
"The New Age is a Tower of Babel
Tower of Babel
The Tower of Babel , according to the Book of Genesis, was an enormous tower built in the plain of Shinar .According to the biblical account, a united humanity of the generations following the Great Flood, speaking a single language and migrating from the east, came to the land of Shinar, where...
", he said. "Trying to use Energy to get to Heaven -- it can't be done! You get to heaven by ceasing to be Energy. If you stay conscious continuously, you will push away the material world, all of it. Other than prolonging your consciousness, there is no idea or action on earth that makes the slightest bit of difference to your spiritual future."
The New Age did not like him much either, in fact - he was banished by it. In his later life, he was attacked by detractors who criticized him for being “negative” in his vision of earthly life. Many rejected his notions that "God cannot do anything about our predicament" and that ours is a “lunatic local reality” in which consciousness has fallen, in favor of more playful views of the “purposeful” nature of human life. He countered that the New Age was chiefly interested in bending philosophy to suit the commercial thirst and hopes our era to the detriment of a straight view of things “as they are, by opposition to how we would prefer for them to be.”
He felt that many seekers
Seekers
The Seekers, or Legatine-Arians as they were sometimes known, were a Protestant dissenting group that emerged around the 1620s, probably inspired by the preaching of three brothers – Walter, Thomas, and Bartholomew Legate. Arguably, they are best thought of as forerunners of the Quakers, with whom...
in the Spirituality
Spirituality
Spirituality can refer to an ultimate or an alleged immaterial reality; an inner path enabling a person to discover the essence of his/her being; or the “deepest values and meanings by which people live.” Spiritual practices, including meditation, prayer and contemplation, are intended to develop...
movement were about “channeling
Mediumship
Mediumship is described as a form of communication with spirits. It is a practice in religious beliefs such as Spiritualism, Spiritism, Espiritismo, Candomblé, Voodoo and Umbanda.- Concept :...
spirits, hugging trees, good vibes, pyramids, crystals, astrology
Astrology
Astrology consists of a number of belief systems which hold that there is a relationship between astronomical phenomena and events in the human world...
, banal optimistic messages, and manifesting more reality into one’s life.” He said:
"I punctured the New Age fantasy of controlling physical reality with your thoughts. This takes the status and snobbery out of being spiritual."
"The New Age considers this 'negative' thinking, because they do not want to look at where we are."
"We only exist in the context of our equals, and Space Consciousness pushes away any state more contracted and less permeable than itself. It is a mistake to think of Higher Consciousness as a storehouse of infinite Earthly data, and it is equally false to assume that Higher Consciousness wishes to manipulate and control energy's actions. Energy and Matter are simply the same 'Higher Consciousness
Higher consciousness
Higher consciousness, also called super consciousness , objective consciousness , Buddhic consciousness , cosmic consciousness, God-consciousness and Christ consciousness , are expressions used in various spiritual traditions to denote the consciousness of a human being who has reached a...
' functioning differently; we exist in perfectly ordered relationships of behavior, not of ideas."
Golas also said, "It isn't as though our movement in this life is horizontal through time, since in a state of Space Consciousness, the time is always now; when we attain a state of Space, we merely wake up where we have been sleeping".
Thaddeus Golas mostly cared about finding a “way out” of this reality – he did not espouse to glorify it. “The Turning Away from the World preached by Saints and Church Figures in past history is a message few wanted to hear,” he said, “I find a lot more comfort in knowing how it really works and knowing I don’t have to fix the chaos
Chaos theory
Chaos theory is a field of study in mathematics, with applications in several disciplines including physics, economics, biology, and philosophy. Chaos theory studies the behavior of dynamical systems that are highly sensitive to initial conditions, an effect which is popularly referred to as the...
– the movie is always running and you must decide whether or not to participate; vote with your feet.”
Though many wish to remember catch phrases such as : "Love it the way it is", or "What happens is not as important as how you react to what happens", Thaddeus Golas favored one notion above all else:
"No matter what happens, I am conscious all the time."
External links
- The Thaddeus Golas Café: Official home of Thaddeus Golas and his Cosmic Aerodrome
- The Seed Center: Home of Thaddeus Golas' previously unpublished works
- The Audio CD of The Lazy Man' s Guide to Enlightenment, read by author Thaddeus Golas
- The Lazy Man's Guide to Enlightenment - A copyrighted transcript of the pamphlet edition, for review purposes
- Library of Congress Online Catalog Record
Factoids
- Thaddeus S. Golas is often confused with Thaddeus A. Golas, the movie actor by the same name.
- Thaddeus Golas went to High School with poet Allen GinsbergAllen GinsbergIrwin Allen Ginsberg was an American poet and one of the leading figures of the Beat Generation in the 1950s. He vigorously opposed militarism, materialism and sexual repression...
and continued to "bump into him" over a number of occasions; he observed that Ginsberg seemed embarrassed by reminders of his Paterson, New JerseyPaterson, New JerseyPaterson is a city serving as the county seat of Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, its population was 146,199, rendering it New Jersey's third largest city and one of the largest cities in the New York City Metropolitan Area, despite a decrease of 3,023...
origins. - Thaddeus Golas, while he lived in New York, enjoyed a close friendship with film maker Maya DerenMaya DerenMaya Deren , born Eleanora Derenkowsky, was an American avant-garde filmmaker and film theorist of the 1940s and 1950s...
; over the years, he garnered the admiration of contemporaries Timothy LearyTimothy LearyTimothy Francis Leary was an American psychologist and writer, known for his advocacy of psychedelic drugs. During a time when drugs like LSD and psilocybin were legal, Leary conducted experiments at Harvard University under the Harvard Psilocybin Project, resulting in the Concord Prison...
and Alan WattsAlan WattsAlan Wilson Watts was a British philosopher, writer, and speaker, best known as an interpreter and popularizer of Eastern philosophy for a Western audience. Born in Chislehurst, he moved to the United States in 1938 and began Zen training in New York...
, though these two seemed to be primarily in awe of Thaddeus' swift book sales. - The Lazy Man's Guide to Enlightenment was in print for 30 years and translated into seven languages, but Golas felt it was only really written for the English languageEnglish languageEnglish is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
. - He had no religious affiliation, and reckoned that if he had, he would never have had the open mindedness to conceive of the concepts presented in The Lazy Man's Guide to Enlightenment.