In 1987 I began writing a book. The contents of the book were based on over twenty-five years of research, as well as discussions with people I had met in the course of my travels to places like South America, India and Tibet.
The book was called “The Cosmic Web” and carried the sub-title “A New View of Reality“. The aim of the book was to provide a synthesis between the Western objective materialistic view of science, and the Eastern subjective illusory view of the world as taught in the Hindu Vedas.
One of the chapters of this book was devoted to the subject of health. It was called “The Sceptre of Hermes“. It outlined the different paradigms of health that can be found around the world, and the various forms of treatment that have been devised to treat disease.
In this chapter I discussed the concept of disease that had been taught by spiritual masters down the ages, and was supported by the words of Jesus. Under this concept, all disease first begins at the level of the Mind, and then manifests later in the subtle realm before appearing on the physical level.
At the time that I wrote this chapter, I never thought that I would find myself facing a health crisis of my own some twenty-five years later, and that I would be forced to turn to this spiritual concept of disease for help. It proved to be a case of “Physician, heal thyself”.
The Onset of Symptoms
A Typical Bulls-Eye Rash
The first sign of impending trouble came when I was taking a shower in the spring (March) of 2013. As I was washing, I happened to notice an unusual rash under my left forearm. It consisted of two concentric circles in the form of a bulls-eye.
Although there was no pain associated with the rash, I decided to have it checked out at the local Health Clinic. There I was told that the rash was the result of a spider bite, and was given a prescription for an anti-fungal cream.
I applied the cream daily as directed, but found that the rash persisted, and only faded away about a month after I had first discovered it. As I was still experiencing no discomfort of any kind, I paid little attention to it and soon forgot about it altogether.
My health was excellent throughout the summer, but in the Fall (September) I began to experience flu-like symptoms. I had a persistent runny nose, and my voice developed a hoarseness which I could never overcome, no matter how many times I cleared my throat.
Then I began to suffer from a hacking cough which lasted throughout the day, but was worse in the evening. This was accompanied by digestion problems, which appeared to be a form of GERD (Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease).
Then one day in October 2013, as I was walking back to my car, I was suddenly overcome by a feeling that I was going to collapse. I sat down on the sidewalk and waited for the feeling to pass. When it did so, I slowly made my way back to the car and carefully drove home.
The following morning the sense of weakness continued, so I went back to the same Health Clinic that had diagnosed my initial spider bite. There they took my blood pressure, and announced that I had a Systolic reading of 45. I was told to get someone to drive me to the nearest hospital right away.
At the Emergency Department the staff confirmed that I was suffering from Bradycardia (extreme slow heart rate) and I was admitted immediately. The outcome of it all was that I had a Pacemaker surgically inserted into my chest.
While the Pacemaker did help to resolve the problems of Arrythmia (Irregular Heart Beat), it could not repair the damage caused by the heart block (absence of the electrical impulse from the Sinus Node). As a result I still continue to suffer from PVC’s (Premature Ventricular Contractions).
But the implanted Pacemaker did not signal an end to my problems. Instead, it seemed to herald a series of completely new symptoms that continued to emerge every few weeks after I returned from the hospital.
The next of these were the “night sweats”. After falling asleep at night, I would wake up about 4a.m. with my upper body completely drenched in perspiration. To combat this I took to going to bed with a towel in order to dry myself off before I could return to sleep.
It was not long after this that I happened to stop off for lunch at Vancouver International Airport. Although the meal passed off without incident, as I got up to leave, I found that I could not walk properly. I was unsteady on my feet, and my body kept lurching to one side.
I had no sensation of any pain or headache, but found that my speech was also affected. I was slurring my words, and was feeling dizzy and disoriented. Although I appeared to have all the symptoms of a mini-stroke, my Doctor could find no evidence of this.
And this was when the full array of mysterious new symptoms began. I began to suffer from mental disorientation and difficulty remembering commonly used words. I had trouble concentrating, and struggled to maintain a conversation.
But worst of all was the “brain fog”. I felt as if I was operating in a dense mental fog. When I tried to read something, it was hard to focus on the words. Even performing the simplest household chore required an immense mental effort.
Finally, I began to experience chronic fatigue, to the point where I could hardly drag myself around my apartment. Even the slightest physical effort exhausted me. When I sat on the toilet, my joints would give way, and I would have to pull myself up by holding onto a rail.
As this medical drama was unfolding in my life, I appealed to my personal Doctor for guidance and advice. I couldn’t understand what was happening to me, or what was responsible for all the other symptoms that seemed unrelated to one another.
His response was to order up a battery of tests which merely confirmed what I already knew. They indicated that I suffered from Type II diabetes, chronic lower back pain, and severe oxygen deprivation due to sleep apnea. All the other blood tests and scans were normal.
In desperation, I called a friend and asked: “How is it possible that I feel like I am dying, and yet all the medical tests come back normal?” Her response was the first glimpse of light amid the darkening gloom. She said: “It sounds to me like you have Lyme disease”.
The Nature of the Problem
Up until that moment I had never even heard of Lyme disease, so in an effort to find out more I turned to the Internet for help. I discovered that what is generally known about the disease has been summarised in the following entry in Wikipedia.
In short, it is an infectious disease that is transmitted to human beings through the bite of an infected tick.
According to statistics, Lyme disease is the most common disease spread by ticks in the Northern Hemisphere, where it is estimated to infect about 300,000 people in North America every year, and a further 65,000 annually in Europe.
It came to be called Lyme disease because it was first diagnosed as a separate condition in the community of Old Lyme in the American state of Connecticut, by scientist Willy Burgdorfer in 1981. In recognition of his efforts, the bacterium responsible was named after him. (Borrelia burgdorferi)
The most important feature about the bacterium that causes Lyme disease is its shape. In scientific terms it is referred to as a spirochete, meaning that it has a corkscrew shape, much like the bacterium that causes syphilis. And like syphilis, this bacterium has the ability to manifest in the body in many different ways.
Probably the most obvious feature associated with Lyme disease is the characteristic rash which takes the form of a bulls-eye, as shown earlier. Although not everyone who gets the disease has this rash, it does show up in a significant number of cases.
Another factor which is often overlooked is that people who are bitten by infected ticks may not only get Lyme disease, but a host of other “co-infections” as well. And because these co-infections vary from place to place, people who suffer from Lyme disease often manifest a wide range of other symptoms as well.
A broad outline of nature of Lyme disease, its diagnosis and treatment, as well as its broad implications for public health around the world, is well illustrated in the following video.
One of the first things I learned about Lyme disease is that it is notoriously difficult to diagnose, especially here in British Columbia where I now live. The problem is that the bacterium itself, together with its associated co-infections, do not lend themselves to a simple blood test.
Instead, the disease tends to be diagnosed symptomatically, as a result of an analysis of all the different symptoms involved. Unfortunately, these only become apparent many months after the person has become infected, when it is too late to prescribe the appropriate anti-bacterial drugs.
Upon further research I came across an extensive summary of possible symptoms associated with Lyme disease, in an article written by Dr Joseph Burrascano that was printed in the September, 2005, edition of Advanced Topics in Lyme Disease.
In comparing my own symptoms with those listed in the article, I found that of the 63 different symptoms listed, I had experienced 20 of them. Armed with this information, I again visited my Doctor and asked to be tested for Lyme disease.
Predictably enough, given the information presented above, the standard ELISA test came back negative. My Doctor’s response proved to be equally predictable. He said that I did not have Lyme disease, and dismissed all my other symptoms as being totally unrelated.
What to do about it
When it became clear that I was not about to get any help from the medical profession here in British Columbia, I looked around for other sources of treatment, such as naturopaths and other alternate health specialists.
What I found was a confusing mix of treatment plans, many of which made extravagant claims of successful cures for all manner of diseases. However, these unproven claims were linked with equally inflated costs that were way beyond my limited financial resources.
Most of these plans revolved around variations in diet that were used to purify the body and boost the immune system, as well as a host of different visualizations, affirmations and invocations that were designed to call upon the help of a Higher Power.
Although none of these different treatment plans appealed to me, they did at least point the way towards a strategy that I felt might help me in dealing with my debilitating symptoms.
It was then that I was reminded of something I had included in my book all those years ago. It was the response given by the 20th century Indian sage Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj to a question posed to him by a Western visitor on the subject of health.
Question: “Can I cure myself of a serious illness by merely taking cognisance of it?”
Maharaj: “Take cognisance of the whole of it, not only of the outer symptoms. All illness begins in the mind. Take care of the mind first, by tracing and eliminating all wrong ideas and emotions. Then live and work disregarding illness and think no more of it. With the removal of the causes, the effect is bound to depart.” 1
Based on this excerpt alone, I decided to come up with a treatment plan of my own. I would start by looking around for anything that would boost my immune system, and couple this my own intuitive ideas of how to deal with this disease at the level of the mind.
To boost my immune system, I settled on two things. The first was something that happened to have been left behind after a visit by my sister who lived in South Africa. They were teabags of a herbal tea called “Rooibos” (Redbush) tea.
This herbal tea has been popular in South Africa for generations, partly because it is only grown in the South-Western Cape, and also because of its unique properties. Although high in Ascorbic acid (Vitamin C), “Rooibos” tea contains low levels of Tannin, and no Caffeine.
The other item I chose to boost my immune system was a concoction called “Magic Bread”. Magic bread was devised by a New York physician named Sherry Rogers. It was based on an analysis of various power foods, and the recipe was included in her book “How to Cure Diabetes“.
The main ingredients of magic bread are almond flour, oat flour, coconut flour and carob powder, together with such things as applesauce, olive oil, pumpkin and chopped walnuts. All the ingredients are then baked in a pan, after which they are cut into squares.
So the only changes to my regular diet were one of these squares of magic bread daily, plus two mugs of “Rooibos” tea, which was readily available from the local health store. I also drank ordinary tap water. I never bothered with any of the so-called “health” bottled water products or water purifiers.
Dealing with the Mind
When it came to dealing with Lyme disease at the level of the Mind as indicated in the quotation above, I was guided by principles I had learned in the Anglican Church as a child. One maxim in particular stuck in my memory, and that was the exhortation to “Let go and let God“.
Another was the need to avoid all forms of fear. When I first began to research Lyme disease, I could not help reading pathetic stories of victims who had suffered the most appalling symptoms, some of which led to seizures, paralysis and even death.
These hair-raising case histories can be found all over the Internet. The case of Gabe Magnotta in Ontario, Canada, is just one example. A recent article in Maclean’s magazine discusses his case, as well as the political scandal that now surrounds the entire subject.
As a result I stopped reading about Lyme disease from then on. I felt intuitively that if I allowed these negative stories to generate fear, then the intensity of that fear would attract the very thing that I feared. I also adopted a strict regimen of prayer.
When saying my prayers at night I gave thanks for all the good things in my life, from food and drink, clothing and shelter, safety and security, friends and family and so on. The one thing I never did was to pray to be cured from Lyme disease, although many other people did so on my behalf.
After all, the words of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj could not have been more clear, when he said: “Then live and work disregarding illness and think no more of it. With the removal of the causes, the effect is bound to depart.” 1
So once I made the decision to hand over the whole matter of my health to a Higher Power, I surrendered all my personal concerns and simply allowed things to take their natural course – whether for good or ill. I just stopped worrying about it.
On those days when I hardly had the energy to do anything, I didn’t moan about my situation or blame an unkind fate. I just accepted my situation. On other days when I felt crippled by pain and discomfort, I either lay on my bed or sat at my desk and browsed on the computer.
Then quite unexpectedly, one day several weeks ago when I was on my way to meet a friend, I found myself walking energetically without any unsteadiness or need for any form of support. It was at that moment that it occurred to me that I should do a review of all my former symptoms.
The Outcome
Out of the twenty symptoms that had assailed me in those early months after I first contracted the disease, my situation was now as follows:
1) The characteristic bulls-eye-shaped rash, which is often the first sign of Lyme disease, disappeared after about a month. The flu-like symptoms that appeared about six months later also subsequently came and went.
2) The hoarseness and hacking cough persisted for about a year before fading away, while the digestion problems also finally disappeared after about eighteen months.
3) The saga associated with my heart, which led to the insertion of a Pacemaker of course continues, but in a strangely muted fashion. The arrhythmia that followed on from the bradycardia has left me with a strange pattern of irregular heartbeats.
Scans of my heart reveal a pattern of irregularity that changes from minute to minute, due to the PVCs (phantom heartbeats) that resulted from the electrical damage to my Sinus Node. Yet for some strange reason, I feel nothing abnormal and have long since forgotten all about it.
4) The “night sweats” also continued for a period of about eighteen months, until one day I suddenly realised that I was no longer experiencing them. Like many of the other early symptoms, they came and they went, for reasons I still cannot identify.
5) The “mini-stroke” that I experienced at Vancouver Airport seems to have been a “one-off”, as it has never re-occurred, nor have I suffered any apparent problems as a result.
6) The “brain fog” which is so often reported by Lyme disease sufferers, and which causes so much dizziness and disorientation, proved to be the most remarkable “cure” that I experienced. The symptoms disappeared completely within three days of beginning to drink “Rooibos” herbal tea.
7) The general sense of malaise that accompanied the early onset of the disease, and which manifested in the form of unsteadiness and unexpected loss of balance, also continued for several years until I suddenly realised that I was able to function normally again.
8) The chronic fatigue, together with joint pain and loss of strength in my knees has also slowly faded away, and I am able to function normally and my stamina and strength are steadily returning.
9) But most satisfying aspect of this entire saga has been the effect it has had on the problems I had endured for many years prior to the onset of Lyme disease.
Although tests show that I still suffer from oxygen deprivation as a result of sleep apnea, I resisted my Doctor’s recommendation that I purchase a CPAP machine. Interestingly, I do not seem to have suffered any deleterious consequences over the last few years.
The same goes for my Type II diabetes. When it became apparent that I was allergic to the common drugs usually used to treat the disease, like Metformin and Diamicron, I gave up drug medication altogether and turned to daily doses of a local herbal supplement.
And although quarterly A1C tests show that my blood sugar is at an elevated level, it seems to have remained relatively stable over the last few years. Again, I don’t seem to be suffering from any noticeable side-effects.
But by far the most spectacular change as a result of my unusual form of treatment, was the affect it had on my lower back. As a result of increasing degeneration of the bone in the lumbar region of the spine, I had been plagued for years with severe back pain.
This seemed to get progressively worse over the last six months, leading to intense pain due to back spasms. Then one day about a month ago, as I was lying on the bed, I felt my entire lower back begin to relax, allowing me to bend freely without pain for the first time in years.
So the outcome of this treatment of the Mind, together with “Rooibos” tea and “Magic Bread”, aided by prayers and affirmations by myself and others, has led to an alleviation of all my symptoms, both these associated with Lyme disease, as well as those that I had suffered from previously.
So have I discovered the secret to eternal youth? No I haven’t. But I am well pleased with my present situation. After all, I am 78 years old. I no longer have any pain. I do what I want and go where I want. I eat what I want. I sleep soundly and wake up refreshed each morning. I feel truly blessed.
How did I get it?
There was one mystery that remained, and that was how I managed to get Lyme disease in the first place. The guidelines used to treat Lyme disease in Canada are the same as those set out by IDSA, the Infectious Diseases Society of America.
IDSA is comprised of physicians, scientists and other health care professionals who specialize in infectious diseases. The purpose of IDSA is to set guidelines for the treatment of different infectious diseases, and Lyme disease is one of the diseases for which guidelines have been set.
According to IDSA, Lyme disease is a relatively rare disease that is confined mainly to the North Eastern states of America. It is caused by the bite of a deer tick, which are found on deer that roam the woods of New England. Those most at risk are hunters and hikers who walk in these woods.
In my case, I had never been near any woods. At the time I was infected, I was in the process of converting my book “The Cosmic Web” from a Word document to a Kindle Digital Download. This was a task that took nearly two months to complete, and kept me indoors for almost all of that time.
The only respite I allowed myself was to sit on the patio outside my apartment. The mystery of how I came to be infected was finally resolved on a particularly hot afternoon this past summer. While reclining on my chair, I happened to notice a moving mass on the floor of the patio.
Upon closer inspection, this black mass turned out to be a colony made up of thousands of tiny ticks that had emerged from the baseboards on the outside of my apartment. They were everywhere. I even found some crawling up the armrest of the chair I was sitting on.
Western black-legged ticks on a finger. From left to right: Nymph, Adult male, Adult female.
It was only then that I realised that I must have been sitting outside one afternoon, and unwittingly placed my left forearm on top of one of these tiny ticks. On further analysis, this column of ticks turned out to be Western Black-legged ticks, as shown on the accompanying illustration.
Another interesting fact I discovered later is that these ticks are classified according to their size, ranging from larva to nymph to adult size. I also found out that most infections are caused by the bites of ticks that are still in the nymph stage, where they are barely noticeable.
Conclusion
The conclusion to this episode in my life falls into the category of good news – bad news. The good news is that as a result of good fortune, good nutrition, prayer and my own intuition, I have recovered from a disease whose symptoms have proved crippling for many, and deadly for some.
The bad news is that IDSA stands as an obstacle to the recognition of the widespread nature of this disease, as well as any move towards developing accurate diagnostic tests and effective pharmaceutical treatments, due to its insistence that there is no problem, and hence no need for any change.
Meanwhile, I have news of my own, and that is that as a result of steadily increasing temperatures throughout North America as a result of climate change, Lyme disease is reaching epidemic proportions, and that untold thousands of people are condemned to suffer horrendous consequences.
These case histories are filling the waiting rooms of clinics and hospitals everywhere, where they are being wrongly diagnosed as chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis, Crohn’s disease and so on, as can be seen from a recent news article.
And the source of the majority of these infections along the West coast of North America are not Deer ticks at all. They are the Western black-legged ticks mentioned above, that are steadily moving North, and invading suburbs and gardens in cities throughout the Pacific North West.
Reference
1 “I Am That“, Conversations with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, translated by Maurice Frydman, Book I, Chetana, Bombay, 1973, p. 258.
Allan, The Sceptre of Hermes, October 25, 2015, 2:00 pm
Following his research into psychic healing and working with noted healers, the psychologist Lawrence LeShan found that he could not only perform healing of a psychic nature himself, but that he was able to teach students who attended his seminars to do so as well.
Yet as accomplished as he had become in the art of healing, he was hardly prepared for one incident which came to his attention.
“The most dramatic single result I had occurred when a man I knew asked me to do a distance healing for an extremely painful condition requiring immediate and intensive surgery. I promised to do the healing that night, and the next morning when he awoke a “miraculous cure” had occurred.
“The medical specialist was astounded, and offered to send me pre- and post-healing X-rays and to sponsor publication in a scientific journal. It would have been the psychic healing case of the century except for one small detail. In the press of overwork, I had forgotten to do the healing!” 1
In reporting this episode, LeShan clearly missed the crucial significance of this “miraculous” event. The fact was that the man, who had been suffering from a serious pathological condition requiring immediate surgery, was completely healed overnight. This fact was confirmed by his specialist.
Although LeShan was no doubt disappointed at being unable to claim the glory for this cure, he failed to recognise that this event was an even more potent example of psychic healing than it would have been if he had actually undertaken a distance healing himself.
In this case it was not LeShan’s power that produced the cure, but unmistakably the belief of the patient in the efficacy of LeShan’s powers. The patient literally cured himself!
It was unfortunate that the specialist, who was in possession of corroborating evidence of the patient’s pre- and post-condition, did not see fit to proceed with publication in a scientific journal. Armed with the evidence of the X-rays, he would have been able to report a case that was even more remarkable than either he or LeShan had anticipated.
Perhaps the most enduring evidence of the influence of the mind on the physical health of an individual, lies in the phenomenon of the placebo. The word placebo, refers to any inactive substance or technique which is able to promote an active medical response.
It is this medical effect which has come to be known as the “placebo effect”. The placebo can take many different forms. It may be a harmless pill which is able to achieve a medical “cure”, by overcoming the prevailing symptoms. It may also be a diagnostic procedure which leads to similar relief.
Medical anecdotes abound of patients who have undergone routine diagnostic tests, and who have then thanked the white-coated technicians for some dramatic relief of pain which they had just experienced.
The placebo effect is an acknowledged fact of medicine, although physicians have grappled to find a way of explaining this effect within the framework of their accepted medical paradigm. Because it is recognised to be psychological in nature, many people have tended to be scornful of those who have experienced this effect. As G.S.Claridge notes.
“What is the popular notion of someone who is gullible enough to be taken in by a sugar pill and react to it as though given some potently active chemical? Probably that he (or more likely she!) is a weak minded hysteric, an unstable character over-concerned with bodily health.” 2
Yet, as Claridge has pointed out, a thorough investigation of the placebo effect has not shown a prevalence of neurotic individuals.
“The truth is that extensive research has failed to identify any particular “placebo-type” who will respond to placebos consistently under all conditions.” 2
Research has shown that the placebo effect can be experienced by almost anyone when suitable circumstances permit. It is also able to influence a wide variety of medical conditions.
In a research project involving over a thousand subjects in fifteen separate studies, it was found that the prescription of harmless substances led to significant improvements in the following areas: wound pain, the pain of angina pectoris, headaches, nausea, anxiety, tension, and the common cold.
It was found that this placebo effect was most pronounced where the stress was greatest. Given the facility of the mind for influencing the physical body, it is hardly surprising that those subjects whose need for relief was greatest, should have experienced the greatest reduction in pain.
It is worth noting that the patients who experienced this effect all believed that what was prescribed for them did, in fact, contain a medically active ingredient that was capable of overcoming their distress.
The researchers found, furthermore, that the placebo was not only able to generate beneficial effects, but detrimental results as well. The subjects who were told that they had received medication which contained harmful ingredients, actually manifested deleterious effects, even though the substances given to them were inert.
Since the results showed such consistency over so many different circumstances involving so many different people, the researchers concluded that some fundamental mechanism must be operating in all these cases. 3
The Sages and mystics of the world have pointed out that this common characteristic is the fundamental mechanism of belief.
It is the confident expectation that a certain outcome will occur that is responsible for the occurrence of that outcome. That is not to say that every expectation immediately produces evidence to support it. Yet wherever a personal need is great, and the desire for a certain result is strong, the anticipated result does, in time, occur.
This result is in direct proportion to the intensity with which it is desired. Belief does not need to be based on a foundation that is consistent with past results. Any belief, if held with sufficient conviction, is capable of generating a confirmatory result, whether this result is harmful or beneficial to the believer. The belief may even be illogical.
For example, an experiment was conducted in 1965 with fourteen anxious and neurotic patients, who were given pills to take for their condition. Although all of these outpatients were expressly told that the pills were completely inert, each one of them reported at the end of a seven day period, that they had experienced a marked improvement in their condition.
This improvement was confirmed by their physicians. The primary conclusion of this experiment was that the placebo effect continued to operate, even though the subjects were aware of the inert nature of the pills that had been given to them.
In this case, although the patients knew that the pills were impotent, they clearly operated under the belief that they really were effective, and so experienced a confirmatory result. 4
The placebo phenomenon continues to provide proof of the ability of the mind to influence the physical body for good or ill. As Michael Jospe, author of The Placebo Effect in Healing, concludes:
“The power of the placebo cannot fail to impress. This power is only mysterious insofar as the mysteriousness of human action can inspire a sense of wonder. The placebo effect attests to the power people can have, not in the sense of political might or coercion, but in the sense of overcoming personal adversity.” 5
In his research into the placebo phenomenon, Jospe also noted the importance of the role of the doctor in influencing patient reactions, saying:
“We have also seen how important an influence the person of the doctor can be in the placebo effect, and how situational factors can be important determinants of the magnitude of the effect placebos can have.” 6
The status of physicians in western society, together with the environments in which they practise, contribute to an aura of confidence and authority. This confidence is enhanced by the outward decor of the physician’s chambers, replete with framed qualifications, uniformed staff, and an impressive array of equipment.
Given the conviction which most patients possess regarding the ability of the physician to overcome their suffering, it is little wonder that inert substances prescribed within such a powerful milieu should achieve such positive results. The power of suggestion is extremely potent under such conditions.
What is perhaps unfortunate about this situation is that, while many doctors readily acknowledge the power of positive suggestion and the efficacy of belief in overcoming various problems, they frequently fail to realise the impact with which their negative pronouncements are received.
All too often, a pessimistic prognosis is received by the patient with all the authority of a divine decree. They are convinced that their condition is irremediable, and so easily fall victim to their fears.
Yet, again and again, we find instances of people who confound medical opinion. There is the athlete who makes a triumphant return from crippling injury, or the quadriplegic who ultimately learns to walk again. These people do these “miraculous” things by their power of dogged determination, allied to an iron will.
Doctors should thus be cautioned before pontificating on what can or cannot be done. The human mind is always capable, as we have seen, of transcending physical limitations, even of the most traumatic nature. What is possible in life is determined by the mind, and not by the prevailing physiological condition of the body.
The mind dominates the body in all of its physical functions. Perhaps nowhere is this more true than in the matter of diet. Throughout history, the types and varieties of human nourishment have varied, not only between one society and another, but as fashions within particular societies.
Under the impetus of the scientific method, the study of nutrition has become a discipline of science. Scientists have sought to establish which nutrients are vital to the operation of the human body, and what diet may best represent the path to organic health.
As a result of its investigations, the discipline of dietetics has produced recommended daily allowances of a host of different nutrients, involving such things as proteins, carbohydrates, fats, minerals and vitamins.
Yet despite the vast number of experiments that have been conducted within the current scientific paradigm, there seems little reason to support the view that there exists one pattern of diet that is ideal for the human body, or that there are any specific nutritional ingredients which are mandatory for survival.
Mankind seems, in fact, far more resilient in the matter of diet than most dieticians would allow. People have managed to survive and thrive on an amazing range of foodstuffs, or even on no food at all.
Societies that live in harsh and isolated areas, such as the Eskimos of the Arctic or the Tuaregs of the Sahara, live on extremely restricted diets which are totally diverse. They certainly do not enjoy a well balanced diet. Yet these people live healthy, robust lives.
They demonstrate that it is not food which makes bodies healthy, but the minds which animate them. For just as Jesus pointed out that it was not what was ingested which defiled a man, so the corollary is also true, that it is not what goes into his mouth that makes him healthy.
One of the curious features of the modern cultural paradigm has been the notion of “health foods”. This idea has grown out of a groundswell of opinion which has striven to eliminate unnatural ingredients from the diet, and replace them with food sources which are derived directly from nature.
As attractive as this idea may sound in theory, the quest for organic food has tended to be counterproductive, and numerous people have now become ensnared by their twisted thinking on the subject of diet.
In their search for ideal food sources, many people have sought out specially marketed “health” products, and fortified their diets with selected vitamins, tonics and other beneficial bonanzas.
Nourished by such pure and worthy diets, adherents to such practices should rapidly be expected to become powerhouses of fitness, strength and vitality. What generally seems to occur, however, is quite the reverse. These people do not become measurably stronger in health, but demonstrably more vulnerable to disease.
No sooner do they eat or drink something that falls outside of the narrow range of their accepted dietary orbit, than they fall prey to a host of ailments and disease. Far from enhancing their health, these people have actually become victims of their own thinking.
Their downfall stems from the fact that the underlying motive which prompts this concern for the purity of food, is invariably fear – the fear of physical disease. The very idea that health should be a product of diet is itself an illustration of this fear.
It is those who are most vulnerable to disease who are quickest to seek ways of shoring up their physical defences. The truly healthy person eats heartily without any sense of impending doom, and manifests as a result enormous powers of stamina and endurance.
If such people happen to suffer injury, they recover swiftly without side-effects. Unfortunately, few westerners have strong and healthy minds. Despite the sophistication of their knowledge, they live timorous lives, surrounded by a company of fears. Few westerners today die in their beds of natural causes.
The fact that food is considered to be necessary for physical survival, is itself a product of societal conditioning. Food is not an essential requirement to healthy living. There are certain people who have shown that it is possible to live healthy lives, despite a complete lack of physical food.
St Theresa of Lisieux, for example, survived on a daily ration of one small consecrated wafer. Even this was a concession to her faith. For as she explained to Sri Paramahansa Yogananda on the occasion of his visit, “I take it for sacramental reasons; if it is unconsecrated, I am unable to swallow it.” 7 When Yogananda asked her how she had been able to live for so many years on so frail a diet, she remarked simply, “I live by God’s light.” 8
Western allopathic medicine appears today to stand unrivalled as the supreme medical paradigm of the planet. The practitioners of this form of medicine operate in the conviction that they, and they alone, manifest a true understanding of the nature of disease.
So strong is this conviction, that allopathic physicians are in many countries the only doctors who are allowed to practise under law. Those practitioners who choose to operate under alternate paradigms of medicine are thus obliged to be unlicensed, and as such, are subject to prosecution.
The allopathic medical profession, in its attempts to maintain a monopoly over health, has striven to ostracise all other forms of medicine, branding their practitioners as charlatans and quacks.
There is growing recognition, however, particularly among the young, that other forms of medicine are equally capable of conquering disease. They have intuitively grasped the truth that the symptoms of disease may be defined in terms of any number of different paradigms, and treated in ways which are appropriate to those paradigms.
A number of alternate forms of medicine are therefore increasingly being practised. A recent healing seminar held in Victoria, Canada, provides an indication of the novel forms of medicine which are now finding expression.
This seminar included lectures on healing by means of colour, vibrational healing, creative visualisation, reflexology, iridology, body-mind acupressure, healing with chants, and healing with the essences of flowers.
To the traditional practitioners of allopathic medicine, these new ways of dealing with disease will seem patently absurd. Since they do not define disease in terms of the overriding paradigm of pathological agents, they are regarded as anathema.
The problem which the traditional view of medicine faces, is that these new forms of medicine actually do work, particularly for those who have placed their trust in them. And because they work, more and more people are turning to them for relief from their symptoms.
The tragedy for many developing nations around the world, is that the growing allure of Western allopathic medicine comes at a heavy cost. Not only do these countries frequently lack the resources to invest in expensive equipment needed to undertake sophisticated diagnostic tests, but the drugs necessary to treat disease according to the Western way usually have to be imported, often at inflated prices determined by international pharmaceutical companies.
The very cost of obtaining treatment then conspires to place this form of medicine beyond the reach of the very people it is designed to serve. What makes this situation sadder, is that the allopathic system of medicine introduced at great cost, is often no better than the traditional forms of medicine that have served these countries well in the past.
The art of healing can never be limited to a single mould of thought. There will always be those who are inspired to interpret disease according to different frameworks of belief, and who treat its symptoms in unusual ways.
The art of healing is not conferred by academic blessing. A university degree is not a guarantee of competence, nor is its absence evidence of fraud. The art of healing is a resource that exists within each one of us. Each person has the power to be his or her own physician, once they have learned the secret of the true nature of disease.
In a more enlightened age, the treatment of disease will not be monopolised by a coterie of doctors who are wedded to one single paradigm of thought. Instead, disease will be regarded as a state of mental disequilibrium which can be diagnosed and treated in a number of different ways, according to the free choice of those who are afflicted.
At that time we will all become potential physicians, able to draw on that power which lies resident in our own minds. In doing so, we will discover a truth that has been taught by Sages down the millennia.
The universe is a self-fulfilling theatre of belief.
As the Tripura Rahasya states, “The world becomes for one whatever one is accustomed to think of it.” 9 Or as John Lilly has remarked, “In the province of the mind, what is believed to be true is true or becomes true, within limits to be found experientially and experimentally.” 10
In spite of the evidence which constantly supports this fact, we find it impossible to believe that the universe can be so capricious a place as to be capable of responding to the thoughts of each and every individual.
We have been taught to believe that the universe exists as a vast, consistent cosmos, created by nature’s law. It seems incredible, even blasphemous, to consider that the universe might actually be an evanescent construct of our own minds, capable of being cajoled in such a frivolous fashion.
Yet that is the evidence of our experience. It is also the testimony of the Sages. This revelation is as old as the ancient of days. It is a truth which has been told anew to every generation, as the Tripura Rahasya reveals:
“One starts by imagining something; then contemplates it; and by continuous or repeated association resolves that it is true unless contradicted. In that way, the world appears real in the manner one is used to it.” 11
In the Devikalottara of the ancient Hindu Agamas, we find this same truth repeated:
“The universe has no external support, nor is it cognised from without, but as you make it so it becomes.” 12
It has been revealed again in the 20th century in the words of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj:
“Fundamentally, all happens in the mind only. When you work for something wholeheartedly and steadily, it happens, for it is the function of the mind to make things happen.” 13
References
1 Lawrence LeShan, “The Medium, The Mystic and The Physicist“, Ballantine, New York, 1975, p. 123. 2 Quoted in “The Placebo Effect in Healing“, by Michael Jospe, Lexington, Toronto, 1978, p. 60. 3 Henry Beecher, “The Powerful Placebo“, American Medical Association Journal, 159:1602-1606, 1955. 4 Lee Park and Lino Covi,”Non Blind Placebo Trial“, Archives of General Psychiatry, 12:336-345, 1965. 5 Michael Jospe, op.cit., p. 148. 6 Ibid, p. 147. 7 Paramahansa Yogananda, “Autobiography of a Yogi“, Self Realization Fellowship, Los Angeles, 1977, pp. 421-422. 8 Ibid, p. 422. 9 “Tripura Rahasya“, translated by Swami Saraswathi, Sri Ramanasramam, Tiruvannamalai, 1962, p. 88. 10 John Lilly, “The Center of the Cyclone“, Bantam, New York, 1973, p.xv. 11 “Tripura Rahasya“, op.cit., p. 100. 12 “The Collected Works of Ramana Maharshi“, edited by Arthur Osborne, Rider, London, p. 113. 13 “I Am That“, Conversations with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, translated by Maurice Frydman, Book I, Chetana, Bombay, 1973, p. 233.
Allan, The Sceptre of Hermes, October 13, 2015, 2:22 pm
We can never hope to understand the true nature and origin of disease, until we come to understand the true nature of ourselves. We need to know who we really are.
Just as the symptoms of disease have to be traced to their origins within the body, so the body itself has to be pursued to its source. That source, according to the wisdom of the Sages, lies in the mind.
Conventional thinking regards thought, and the existence of the mind, as a by-product of the brain. The body is considered to be the foundation of the mind, by providing that physical structure which makes consciousness possible.
To the Sages and mystics, however, it is the mind which is the architect of matter, and the determinant of all experience. As the 20th century Indian Sage Sri Ramana Maharshi remarked in answer to a question:
“I say that the body itself is a projection of the mind. You speak of the brain when you think of the body. It is the mind which creates the body, the brain in it, and also ascertains that the brain is its seat.” 1
The mind, as the Buddha has also taught, is nothing more or less than those thoughts and feelings that make it up. If there is disharmony in the outer form, then the source of this disharmony must arise from these thoughts and emotions.
The origin of disease must therefore be pursued to its source in the mind. The Sages have consistently taught that the secret of enduring health lies in the harmony of one’s thoughts and feelings.
If these are healthy, the body too will be free from any disease. Jesus pointed out that disease stemmed from what transpired within a person’s heart, rather than the result of anything that occurred to the body itself.
“Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man, but that which cometh out of his mouth, this defileth a man.” (Matthew 15:11)
“For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man.” (Matthew 15:19-20)
Regardless of how disease is defined and treated, its origins remain the same for all cultures and for all seasons. The imperfections displayed by the body are evidence of the imperfections of one’s thoughts and feelings.
If one delves into the innermost sanctum of the mind and clears away the mental debris which is to be found there, the outer limitations in the form of physical disease must inevitably disappear.
For as another Indian Sage, Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj pointed out to one incredulous questioner:
Question: “Can I cure myself of a serious illness by merely taking cognisance of it?”
Maharaj: “Take cognisance of the whole of it, not only of the outer symptoms. All illness begins in the mind. Take care of the mind first, by tracing and eliminating all wrong ideas and emotions. Then live and work disregarding illness and think no more of it. With the removal of the causes, the effect is bound to depart.” 2
Few of us, however, are competent to deal with disease on so supreme a level. For the average person, it is only when a symptom of disease appears on the physical level that he or she is prompted to seek a cure.
This “cure” invariably takes the form of removing the offending symptoms, in a manner which is consistent with the parameters of that person’s own belief. Yet the disappearance of the outer symptoms does not by itself lead to a lasting cure.
By simply removing the physical symptoms without attending to their mental causes, the patient must inevitably succumb to some other manifestation of disease, perhaps in quite a different form.
Within the context of western medicine, therefore, the pathology which appears on the physical plane to be the cause of a physical ailment, is itself the product of a deeper cause which lies at the level of the mind.
The germs that are thought to be the cause of disease, are thus the result of the original disharmony, rather than its source. It is not bacteria which cause disease, for this bacteriological action is simply a physical and outer reflection of an inner and mental disequilibrium.
According to this view of life, any manifestation which appears in the physical realm must inevitably be preceded by changes in the non-physical realm. Thus, any effect which reveals itself on the physical plane, must be accompanied by a non-physical equivalent which precedes it.
In the case of disease, disease or disharmony would first manifest itself in the non-physical realm. As it developed further, this disharmony would subsequently appear on the physical plane in the form of physical pathology.
This consequential progression of disease has been neatly summarised by William Tiller of Stanford University.
“All this leads quite naturally to a perspective of healing: i.e. that pathology can develop at a number of levels and that healing is needed at all of them to restore the system to a state of harmony.
“The initial pathology begins at the level of Mind and propagates effects to both the negative space-time and the positive space-time levels. We then perceive what we call disease or malfunction at these levels and try to remove the effects by a variety of healing techniques.
“The best healing mode is to help the individual remove the pathology at the cause level and bring about the correction by a return to “right thinking”. The next best healing mode is to effect repair of the structure at the negative space-time level. The third best level of healing is that which medicine practises today, wherein one effects repair of the structure at the positive space-time level.” 3
Jesus and other enlightened Sages performed their “miraculous” cures directly at the level of the mind, which then produces instantaneous results. Other healers, of the type we call faith healers or psychic healers, operate within the negative space-time realm described by Tiller.
The vast majority of healers, however, including those physicians who act within the western medical paradigm, devote their efforts to resolving pathology at the positive space-time level, which is the level that is discernible by the senses.
There are significant consequences to this overview of disease. Those symptoms of disease which appear in the physical body must necessarily have their counterpart in negative space-time in a non-physical body, and this non-physical pathology must ultimately derive from the mind itself.
Merely counteracting the physical symptoms of disease, therefore, without attempting to correct the underlying causes at the mental level, can never contribute to a lasting cure. As long as the pathology remains on these more subtle planes, the disease must inevitably recur in the physical body, possibly in another form.
When a physician trained in western medicine prescribes specific drugs to counteract certain pathological agents in the body, the offending symptoms may well disappear completely. But this does not mean that the patient can be regarded as being cured.
The physician may be satisfied that healing has taken place, but if the underlying cause is not attended to, which is seldom the case in western medicine, then symptoms of the underlying pathology will inevitably reappear. The cycle will repeat itself.
The patient may undergo a series of apparent successful “cures”, but may ultimately die as a result of powerful causes at the non-physical level which were never recognised or treated.
All forms of physical medicine suffer from this liability. The most effective forms of healing, therefore, are those paradigms which acknowledge the non-physical causes of disease, and provide techniques for dealing with disharmony at this level.
The medicine of “primitive” aboriginal societies practised by shamans and witchdoctors is, in this light, often more effective in combating disease than the sophisticated technological forms of medicine that dominate the world today.
This shortcoming of modern medicine is at last coming to be recognised, as attempts are made to provide a more “holistic” form of treatment, tailored to the psychological as well as the physiological pathology of the patient.
While the physical symptoms of disease are merely the outer manifestation of an inner imbalance, the mind itself plays a key role in determining the onset of these symptoms. It does this primarily through the emotion of fear.
Fear is simply the opposite pole of desire. It is desire directed at an unwanted target. Yet the very nature of the mind is to attract those experiences in life which reflect the content of desire. For as Maharaj has indicated:
“It is in the nature of desire to prompt the mind to create a world for its fulfillment.” 4
It is the persistence with which we hold on to our desires which draws them into manifestation. This principle is equally effective when dealing with negative desires or fears. Again, as Maharaj has pointed out, “All happens according to your faith, and your faith is the shape of your desire.” 5
Just as we attract those things toward us that we desire, so also we remorselessly attract to ourselves anything that we fear. Both desire and fear work with the same efficiency, and generate results in due proportion to the energy which propels them.
If the generating power is strong, whether though the magnitude of one’s desire, or else through the intensity of one’s fear, the result, whether hoped for or feared, is bound to materialise.
If we are afraid of contracting cancer, for example, we inevitably draw cancer to us. The time it takes for cancer to materialize, and the severity with which it strikes, depends on the strength of our fears.
There may be no intrinsic flaw in our physical bodies, nothing that would warrant the mutation of healthy cells, but the disharmony that exists within our minds will inevitably produce pathology within our bodies in consonance with our fears.
Whenever the content of the mind is focused on disease, the mind begins to complement this mental image by producing its precise physical counterpart.
While we laugh today at the naivety of the primitive person who succumbs to death by voodoo curse, we ourselves are victims of the same power of suggestion. We little realise that we are assiduously at work creating those very circumstances which we most fear.
When disharmony appears at the level of the mind, and then upon the negative space-time level, it ultimately manifests in the positive space-time realm in the form of some pathological affliction. The form which this disease takes will be determined by the prevailing conditions within the physical body.
A chain breaks at the point of its weakest link. But it should be evident that no physical disease can appear without its mental counterpart, which is the true cause of this condition.
Once non-physical disharmony is present at the level of the mind, some physical reaction must naturally follow, and that takes the form of disease. This disease is not caused by the adoption of any physical habits, for it is a function of the underlying disequilibrium of mind.
The mind is not only the source of all disease, but it remains the most powerful agent for overcoming disease.
It is the attitude of mind, reinforced by faith, which is capable of overcoming the physical manifestation of disease. In so doing, the mind is merely dealing with its own disequilibrium.
There is no magic in this. The action of the mind in counteracting disease is simply the action of the mind re-forming itself. Once the mind is consciously reformed, the original impetus for harm is overcome. The true art of healing is directed, as it always has been by the Sages, to restoring the harmony of the mind itself.
Dr Carl Simonton and, his wife Stephanie Matthews Simonton have been in the vanguard of those medical researchers who have utilised the mind as a powerful weapon in overcoming the manifestations of disease.
Working with cancer patients, they have encouraged them to visualize their cancers in the form of various antagonistic creatures present in their bodies, and to imagine various scenarios for overcoming them. Some patients have visualised an army of white blood cells marching upon the invaders and, in grand “star wars” fashion, repelling these hostile intruders.
Others pictured their pathological agents in the form of snakes and other creatures, and devised vivid mental strategies for defeating them. The more dramatic, in fact, these scenarios became, the more likely they were found to be effective. Dr. Simonton reported that his patients succeeded by these methods in gaining relief from pain, and remission of their cancerous conditions.
Conquering disease by means of mental visualisation is still a highly controversial subject within the medical profession. However, it rests on sound psychological principles enunciated by the Sages. Yet it is not a simple panacea for all ills. Merely targeting the physical symptoms without addressing their underlying mental causes, can never lead to a cure that is lasting and complete.
There is also the question of energy. The essential factor in all non-physical forms of healing, lies in the extent of one’s inherent level of energy, or personal power. As Michael Harner stresses, “In shamanism, the maintenance of one’s personal power is fundamental to well-being.” 6
This is a theme which recurs throughout the writings of Carlos Castaneda. The ability of mind to influence matter depends on the level of this vital energetic source.
Individuals do not possess unlimited amounts of energy, and their effectiveness in achieving their objectives depends on the degree to which they are able to conserve it. As Maharaj replied to a questioner who said that he was lacking energy:
“What happened to your energy? Where did it go? Did you not scatter it over so many contradictory desires and pursuits? You don’t have an infinite supply of energy.” 7
Similarly, when the disciples of Jesus were unable to heal a stricken child who was brought before them, they appealed to him to explain why they had failed. Jesus answered. “This kind can come forth by nothing but by prayer and fasting.” (Mark 9:29)
Jesus drew attention to some of the time-honoured ways of increasing personal power. In the accomplishment of any desire, it is not sufficient simply to visualise the selected goal. This mental image must be energised by power. That power is the power of life, residing in consciousness.
As Maharaj responded to another questioner:
Question: “I have cut my hand. By what power did it heal?
Maharaj: By the power of life.
Question: What is that power?
Maharaj: It is consciousness. All is consciousness.” 8
On another occasion he remarked:
Maharaj: “In some way or other you have to work for the fulfilment of your desires. Put in energy and wait for the results.
Question: Where do I get the energy?
Maharaj: The desire itself is energy.
Question: Then why does not every desire get fulfilled?
Maharaj: Maybe it was not strong enough and lasting.” 9
As he went on to explain:
Maharaj: “When your desire is not clear nor strong, it cannot take shape. Besides, if your desires are personal, for your own enjoyment, the energy you give them is necessarily limited; it cannot be more than you have.” 9
The energy that we possess can be enhanced by repeated efforts, focused upon a clear objective. The power of this strategy can be likened to the blow of a hammer on a metal rod. Although a single blow may leave the rod unmarked, if these blows are repeated for long enough, even a small force will ultimately break the rod completely.
So it is in the achievement of our desires. The problem of applying the mind of a patient to his or her own symptoms of disease is that their inherent power has been drained by this disease.
For example, Kirlian photographs taken of human limbs clearly show a diminution in the energy field when the subject is ill or mentally depressed. When the body has been ravaged by some chronic condition such as cancer, the amount of energy needed to overcome the symptoms may far exceed that which is possessed by that particular patient.
Such a person will be unable to overcome this condition through visualisation, because of this inadequate reservoir of energy. This deficiency may, however, be rectified by the infusion of energy from some outside source. This is the basis of all healing which takes place by means of the “laying on of hands”. It is simply a means of redistributing energy.
Psychic healers also achieve their results by transferring energy directly to the afflicted person. If the amount of energy transferred is sufficient to overcome the pathology, that person will be healed immediately. In most cases a single session is usually inadequate, and repeated attempts must be made before healing is complete.
When the flow of energy is clearly focused, and the reservoir of energy is great, as it is with those who have learned to harness their mental resources, truly astonishing acts of healing are capable of taking place.
For example, the psychic healer Elsie Salmon recorded the case of a man who attended one of her healing missions, who was suffering from a congenital deformity of his leg. Following treatment, his leg grew by two inches to its normal length in the course of a single night. 10
As a youth, Sri Yukteswar Giri suffered from a severe illness which caused him to lose a great deal of weight. During his convalescence he approached his Guru, Lahiri Mahasaya, who reproached him for being so thin.
His Guru remarked, “Really, it is your thoughts that have made you feel alternately weak and strong. Thought is a force,” he went on to say, “even as electricity or gravitation. The human mind is a spark of the almighty consciousness of God. I could show you that whatever your powerful mind believes very intensely would instantly come to pass“.
When Yukteswar enquired whether he could regain his lost weight, the Master replied, “It is so, even at this moment“. Yukteswar reported that he felt an instant increase in strength and weight. “I weighed myself and found that in one day I had gained fifty pounds; they have remained permanently“. 11
(Continued in Part Four)
References
1 “Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi“, recorded by Swami Saraswathi, Sri Ramanasramam, Tiruvannamalai, 1968, p. 296. 2 “I Am That“, Conversations with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, translated by Maurice Frydman, Book I, Chetana, Bombay, 1973, p. 258. 3 William Tiller, Introduction to “Science and the Evolution of Consciousness“, Autumn Press, Brookline, 1978, p. 17. 4 “I Am That“, Book I, op.cit., p. 100. 5 Ibid, Book I, p. 182. 6 Michael Harner, “The Way of the Shaman“, Bantam, New York, 1982, pp. xv. 7 “I Am That“, Book I, op.cit., p. 56. 8 Ibid, Book I, p. 42. 9 Ibid, Book I, pp. 28-29. 10 Elsie Salmon, “Christ Still Healing“, Arthur James, Worcester, 1956, pp. 71-72. 11 Paramahansa Yogananda, “Autobiography of a Yogi“, Self Realization Fellowship, Los Angeles, 1977, pp. 133-134.
Allan, The Sceptre of Hermes, September 29, 2015, 2:12 pm
In the same way that Sathya Sai Baba, the 20th century mystic from South India, was able to materialise sweets, trinkets and vibhuti (sacred ash) to startle materialistically minded people into an awareness of other levels of consciousness, so psychic healers create objective phenomena to overcome doubt, and foster belief in their ability to heal.
It is upon these deeper levels of consciousness that psychic healers such as Olga Worrall (who was quoted in Part One) operate. The powers of healing which they bring to bear upon the patient are real, but they do not work in a way which conforms to the modern medical paradigm.
It is precisely because these powers are not explainable in common medical terms that they are so often impugned. But the reality of these powers can be readily experienced and, as in the case of Lynn Brailler, may be felt subjectively as heat and warmth.
Although psychic healing is still regarded in many quarters as a form of quackery, the power which lies behind it has been shown to exist in various scientific experiments.
At the suggestion of Dr. Justa Smith, a Sister of the Franciscan Order and Professor of Biochemistry at Rosary Hill College in Buffalo, New York, an unusual experiment was conducted under the auspices of the Human Dimensions Institute.
This experiment involved Oskar Estebany, a former Colonel of the Hungarian Cavalry, who had emigrated to Canada and gained a reputation as a psychic healer.
Since Sister Smith’s doctoral thesis had been devoted to the influence of strong magnetic fields on the activity of enzymes, an area in which she was regarded as an authority, she suggested that a carefully controlled experiment be undertaken to determine what effect, if any, Estebany’s powers would have upon the activity of certain enzymes.
She recommended a test using trypsin, an enzyme that assists in the digestion of protein in the human body. In this experiment, equal parts of trypsin were placed in four enclosed tubes.
While one tube was kept as an untreated control, another tube was exposed to ultraviolet light. A third tube was placed in a strong, magnetic field, and the fourth tube was “treated” by Estebany. This treatment consisted of his holding the tube containing trypsin for a period of about seventy-five minutes.
When the results were examined it was found that, in relation to the untreated control, the trypsin in the tube exposed to ultraviolet light had reduced its activity by about a quarter. The activity of the trypsin which had been placed in the strong, magnetic field was found to have been enhanced to the degree predicted by Dr. Smith.
The experimenters found that the trypsin in the tube which had been held by Oskar Estebany, had increased its activity to a degree which matched that of the influence of the magnetic field.
It was evident that Estebany had subjected the trypsin to a source of energy which was of similar magnitude to that generated by the magnetic field. The energy demonstrated by Estebany was not magnetic, because he was unable to influence compasses or magnetometers.
Yet it was obvious that Estebany exerted a definite force which, like magnetism, yielded observable physical effects. As commentator Dr.Owen remarked in his evaluation of this experiment:
“This is a very remarkable result. The experiment was carried out with the most sophisticated biochemical and biophysical equipment. Unlike the studies of living patients, there is no problem of interpretation because there is no possible confusion of physical and psychological effect.
“Consequently, there is no adequate reason for doubting the scientific validity of the experiment or of the conclusion to be drawn from it, namely that some healers transmit a force from their bodies that has a real physical effect on biochemical substances.” 1
The evidence obtained from faith healing and psychic surgery remains data that is anomalous in terms of the western medical paradigm. Because there is no accepted medical theory to account for its validity, psychic healing is rejected as “unscientific” by the modern medical profession.
Having been dubbed a pseudo-form of medicine, its practitioners are usually dismissed as charlatans who prey on the hopes of the afflicted. According to the western medical paradigm, disease is explained on the basis of pathology. Disease is thus defined in terms of adversaries.
With the discovery of bacteria and the process of bacteriological interaction, western medicine has determined that diseases are the product, not of alien spirits or unwelcome stellar alignments, but of distinct pathological organisms which adversely affect the body.
It is now regarded as a proven truth that germs cause disease.
Because of this, the direction taken by western medicine has been to search out these offending pathogens, and then find ways of overcoming them. The success of modern medicine has been built upon the discovery that certain chemical agents can effectively curtail the actions of these pathogenic germs.
Western medicine has thus been described as an allopathic form of medicine, derived from the Greek term allos meaning “other”, or opposite. The technique of western healing has been to administer a specific chemical agent to the body, whose action is directly opposite to that of the bacteria which have caused the symptoms that are the manifestation of disease.
By producing an opposing or limiting effect, the counteragent is thus regarded as a healing substance, as it is capable of successfully overcoming the offending symptoms of disease. With the disappearance of the symptoms, the disease is presumed to have been cured.
The idea that germs are the origin of disease is the basis of modern scientific medicine. Although this has led to a remarkable degree of success in the treatment of disease, it is by no means the most effective “description” of disease, nor is western medicine the only form of medicine that is able to cure disease.
The germ theory of disease merely happens to be that description of disease which fits the modern scientific paradigm. The subtle truth, which still eludes most medical researchers, is that there is no single description of disease which is the one “true” explanation.
The manifestation of disease can be explained in a variety of ways. No one description of the nature and cause of disease is intrinsically superior to another. Each is valid within its own framework of belief.
The experience of an agonising abdominal pain may be diagnosed in western medical terms as the action of cancerous cells within the stomach. But what is called stomach cancer within one frame of reference, may equally well be defined as something completely different within another context of belief.
For example, this may range from the intrusion of an offending spirit, to an imbalance of colour, or a disturbance in organic frequency. Each diagnosis will be valid within its own frame of reference, and will require treatment which is tailored to that paradigm.
When viewed from the standpoint of any one particular paradigm, the diagnoses offered by other paradigms will inevitably be rejected as being pseudo-medical, unscientific and invalid.
If we ask ourselves, for example, which of these many different diagnoses is the “correct” one, the answer is that there is no single definition of disease that is valid for all people and for all contexts.
A diagnosis of disease is only valid when it conforms to the paradigm of disease adopted by that society. And the appropriate form of treatment must necessarily conform to the prevailing pattern of ideas adopted by the society to which the “sick” person belongs.
So while the symptoms of “stomach cancer” may well be treated effectively within western society by means of specialised radiation, they may equally well be treated by the application of substances or techniques appropriate to other paradigms of disease adopted by other societies.
In fact, every culture tends to define disease within a particular framework of ideas, and then treat these symptoms of disease in ways which conform to their prevailing patterns of belief.
The validity of any form of medicine can therefore only be judged by its efficacy within its own paradigm.
Some two-and-a-half thousand years before the birth of Christ, conversations on the nature of disease between the Emperor of China, Huang-ti and his chief minister Chi Po, were reduced to a written record. This recorded script came to be known over time as Nei-Ching, or the “Theory of Internal Disease”.
This theoretical treatise on the nature of disease was based on the cosmological ideas that were prevalent at the time. The ancient Chinese philosophy of nature regarded the human body as a miniature version of the cosmos.
The cosmos was thought to be composed of a universal energy called Chi, which was considered to be in constant ebb and flow. This energy was believed to manifest in either of two polarities. One of these polarities was called Yin and the other Yang.
Yin was believed to be the negative mode of Chi. It was thought to represent the feminine aspect of life, along with the qualities of passivity and coldness. Yang, by contrast, was considered to be positive, reflecting masculinity as well as the qualities of activity and heat.
Just as the universe was thought to be the theatre in which these two aspects of Chi vied for supremacy, so too the human body was believed to be the repository of this same energy, and was equally subject to the forces of Yin and Yang.
Health then, under this paradigm of ideas, demanded a balance in the body between these two opposing principles. If either force should gain temporary control, it was believed that disease would be the inevitable result.
The system of medicine which the ancient Chinese adopted to counteract disease, therefore, was a variety of techniques which were designed to restore the balance of Yin and Yang within the human body.
The Chinese believed that the twin forces of Yin and Yang flowed through the human body along a series of special channels, or meridians. These meridians were thought to control the functions of the various organs of the body.
Whenever any form of disease manifested itself, it was necessary to diagnose which of these meridians was affected, and where a “blockage” in the flow of energy had occurred. Since each meridian was believed to be linked to a particular pulse, physicians were trained to identify these meridians by the subtle variations in the human pulse beat.
Once diagnosis had been made, treatment took the form of altering the flow of Chi at designated points along the meridian. This manipulation was performed by means of special needles which penetrated the flesh, thus giving rise to the name whereby this form of treatment is known today – acupuncture.
The Chinese description of disease was antedated by an even earlier system of ideas devised by Indian minds. To these ancient Indians, the human body was thought to be vitalized by a particular energy called prana, which they believed to be the basic life force of the universe.
This prana was believed to flow through the body along a multitude of nerve passages, called nadis. These nadis were linked in turn to a central column, consisting of three major channels.
One channel was known as the Pingala, and was thought to be the repository of the positive aspect of prana. Likewise, negative prana was believed to be directed along its own special channel, called the Ida. Both the Ida and the Pingala were considered to be intertwined around a central channel called the Sushumna, as depicted in the following diagram.
At each point where the Ida and the Pingala crossed the Sushumna, a chakra, or pranic force centre, was believed to exist. To the early Indians the health of the body was dependent on the unobstructed flow of prana through each of the seven chakras of the body.
The intertwining features of the Ida and Pingala around the Sushumna came to be represented pictorially as the sinuous linking of serpents around a central column.
It was this symbol which was borrowed by Hellenistic Greece to denote the emblem of the medical profession. As the winged-staff of the Greek God Hermes, this sceptre has come to be known as the caduceus, as shown below.
This symbol, often shorn of one of its serpents, remains to this day the insignia of the medical profession. Although physicians have become the modern custodians of this ancient staff of healing, very few are aware of its underlying origin and significance.
Over the millennia, different societies have ascribed the origins of disease to different agents, and have interpreted the effects, the symptoms of disease, according to differing systems of belief.
The Tibetans, for example, attributed disease to certain “poisons of the soul”, such as greed, arrogance and envy, which disturbed the balance of the three primary juices of life – the wind, bile and slime.
The western concept of disease, based on the action of minute pathological bacteria, or germs, is simply the latest in a long line of descriptive paradigms. It carries no inherent superiority over those that have passed before, although each varies in the degree to which it is capable of meeting the medical needs of society.
All traditional systems of medicine have successfully cured disease, even those of the past which are now scorned from the scientific vantage point. Even the medieval practice of blood-letting undoubtedly aided its patients as its practitioners believed. If it had not done so, it would never have been utilised for so long.
Yet today, except in a few specific cases, blood-letting is regarded as barbaric. Shamanism, acupuncture, ayurvedic medicine, psychic surgery and allopathic medicine, are all substantiated by successful cures, which are explained in terms of a central philosophical regime or paradigm.
It follows then that every medical paradigm, such as the paradigm of allopathic medicine, rests upon a foundation of belief. This belief is imbued within members of any society, and is acquired as part of their general cultural conditioning. As Lawrence LeShan remarks:
“The metaphysical system you are using is the metaphysical system that is operating. A metaphysical system is a set of assumptions about how the universe is put together and functions. We always have one whether or not we are aware of it.
“The assumptions we use about the nature of reality make up the system. The system determines what is possible and impossible, normal and paranormal, within it.” 2
The germ nature of disease is a metaphysical system of medicine which derives its efficacy from a sense of validity and trust by those who have adopted it. As LeShan stresses: “One must know it is valid to operate within it.” 3
We in the west have come to place implicit trust in our belief that germs are the agents of disease. Yet in the early days of western medicine, researchers laughed at this outrageous suggestion.
One of the earliest proponents of the germ theory of disease was the German bacteriologist Robert Koch, who was later awarded a Nobel prize for his discovery. Koch was the first person to discover and isolate the cholera bacillus, and he developed choleric cultures in his laboratory.
One of those who challenged Koch’s germ theory of disease was his compatriot Professor Max von Pettenkofer. Max was convinced that Koch’s ideas were utterly ridiculous, and to prove this fact, he along with several of his students swallowed virulent cultures of choleric bacilli.
To Robert Koch’s chagrin, neither Professor von Pettenkofer nor any of his students came to any harm, although each of them had swallowed enough quantities of choleric bacteria to kill the inhabitants of a large city.
The reason for this enigma, which medical historians still find difficulty in explaining to this day, is precisely that requirement noted by LeShan. To be bound by the effects of a germ-defined paradigm, “one must know it is valid“.
Robert Koch certainly knew, for he was one of the founders of this paradigm. For him, the swallowed dose would undoubtedly have proved fatal. For von Pettenkofer and his students, however, who did not share Koch’s confidence in the validity of this new medical paradigm, these choleric cultures were as harmless as a voodoo curse would be to a professor of nuclear physics today.
Yet it would be foolhardy to try to emulate von Pettenkofer today, for belief in the validity of germ induced disease now forms the warp and weft of the current western way of thinking. To duplicate his feat would require a state of mind in which the customary definition of reality was temporarily suspended.
Although any single paradigm may be efficacious in yielding valid results, this does not mean that different paradigms can be unified into a single universal scheme. Based on what we have examined thus far, the human body would prove to be hopelessly complex if all the features of every paradigm were to be combined.
Not only would it be possessed of a skeleton draped in a muscular cloak, populated by various organs and served by a network of nerves which fed into a central brain, but it would also appear to be imbued with energy coursing down tiny tracks, which constantly vied for supremacy between two opposing poles.
The spine, furthermore, would be host to a party of serpentine coils, at whose junctures would appear centres of energy which were independent of any of the known organs of the body. It would also be composed of various juices of life, each of which was subject to our thoughts and emotions, anyone of which might at any stage disturb the equilibrium of our lives.
To combine all of these medical paradigms together into one synthesised system of thought, as some modern researchers still attempt to do, would create a human body with more complexities than the epicycles which doomed the geocentric astronomy of Ptolemy, which leads to the following conclusion:
There can never be a unified or “correct” paradigm for defining disease that is valid for every society and for all time. Disease has traditionally been defined, and will continue to be explained, according to the prevailing metaphysical systems of their times.
Despite the sophistication with which western society has confronted the symptoms of disease, modern medicine remains confounded by the nature of disease itself. Although it claims to speak with confidence about the “causes” of disease, just why a particular symptom happens to arise, and what causes it ultimately to disappear, is still a mystery which continues to defy analysis.
Just as the physicist is unable to explain the true nature of electricity, and is content, like Edison, to say that it matters not how it is explained as long as it works, so also physicians, unable to explain the mystery of healing, are content to ignore this problem as long as they can demonstrate the success of their methods.
(Continued in Part Three)
References
1 A. R.G. Owen, “Psychic Mysteries of the North“, Harper and Row, New York, 1975, pp. 108-109. 2 Lawrence LeShan, “The Medium, The Mystic and The Physicist“, Ballantine, New York, 1975, p. 153. 3 Ibid, p. 154.
Allan, The Sceptre of Hermes, September 15, 2015, 2:36 pm
Harold Wright was a dentist by profession, practising in the American city of Philadelphia. His lifelong interest and hobby, however, was the study of anthropology.
It was this pursuit which frequently took him to distant lands to study the culture and behaviour of aboriginal societies, and it was his curiosity about traditional jungle medicine which took him one day to a remote area of Peru.
Canoeing on the Maranon river in Peru
On this occasion Wright was travelling in a canoe down one of the tributaries of the Marañón river. He was accompanied by a Jivaro Indian named Gabrio, who had agreed to guide him through the territory of the Huambiza tribe in search of a brujo or medicine man.
Their journey had thus far proved unsuccessful, as the Indian communities with whom they had come in contact were suspicious of wealthy white intruders. Wright began to think that his quest had been in vain.
Then one morning, shortly before he was due to return to Philadelphia, Gabrio complained to him that his jaw was swollen, and that he was in considerable pain. From what Wright could make out he seemed to be suffering from an infected tooth.
Wright explained to his guide that he was a trained “tooth” doctor who was well qualified to deal with his problem. But Gabrio adamantly refused his aid, claiming that the white man’s medicine was not good for the Indian.
A short while later, as they were paddling along the river, a small jungle village hove into sight. Gabrio immediately beached the canoe and went off in search of the resident medicine man.
When he returned a few minutes later, he was accompanied by a thin, emaciated old man who was clearly the local brujo. Gabrio explained the nature of his problem to him, whereupon the elderly man squatted down and placed Gabrio’s head firmly between his knees.
After probing with his fingers around the inflamed gums for a while, the brujo uttered a grunt of satisfaction. He then called to his assistant, who brought a bowl filled with a dark, oily liquid, which the medicine man proceeded to swallow with a single gulp.
Wright was hardly surprised when the man suddenly vomited the contents on the ground in front of him. Undeterred by this event, the man called for a second bowl and the identical scene repeated itself.
With the aid of his assistant, the medicine man then pulled Gabrio to the ground and crouched over him. He then placed the contents of a tobacco-like pouch into his mouth and began chewing furiously, all the while chanting in a thin, reedy monotone.
As Wright looked on with interest, the witchdoctor leaned forward, placed his mouth against Gabrio’s swollen cheek, and began to suck noisily. The pressure on the tender gums caused the Indian to let out a yelp of pain.
The old man continued to suck vigorously until he suddenly raised his head and spat something out onto the ground. Wright drew closer and saw that it was a splinter of wood. The witchdoctor continued to suck, and soon spat out another mouthful. This time it was a collection of ants.
Wright was amazed to see that a third expectoration produced a grasshopper, and that the fourth delivered a dead lizard. The brujo then picked up this last creature and dangled it by its tail in front of the enthusiastic crowd of Indians that had gathered around to watch.
Gabrio gazed at these objects in astonishment, but it was clear that he was still in considerable pain. The old man then picked up an open mussel shell and, using it as a pair of tongs, proceeded to pluck a live coal from a nearby fire. He then crushed some dry leaves into a fine powder and sprinkled this upon the glowing coal.
Then, turning to Gabrio, he motioned him to place the shell in his mouth. As he did so, the fumes from the burning powder curled slowly out of Gabrio’s mouth. After a few minutes of this treatment Gabrio removed the shell with its smoking contents, and announced to the group that his jaw was healed and that the pain had disappeared.
He told Wright that he was ready to continue their journey down river. Before they left, Wright was able to obtain some of the leaves which had been used in the cure. When he returned to the United States he had them analysed, to see if they contained some healing or anaesthetic property.
Subsequent laboratory analysis revealed that the leaves were taken from a variety of the babassu plant. Yet to his surprise, Wright learned that they contained nothing which could possibly have accounted for the abrupt cure of Gabrio’s swollen jaw.
The Indian had effectively been healed, but by a substance which apparently held no curative powers. As Wright later confided to a friend about this strange incident: “What I cannot understand is how a toothache can be cured without medicine or surgery.”
Yet the brujo had healed Gabrio’s pain in the space of half an hour, in a way which Wright with all his dental skill could not have matched. 1
In 1966, another American doctor had an unusual experience in South America. His name was Andrija Puharich. Puharich was a physician who had distinguished himself in the field of medical technology, having invented a variety of miniature devices to assist the hard of hearing.
He was also a researcher of psychic phenomena, having conducted investigations of such gifted clairvoyants as Eileen Garrett, Harry Stone and Peter Hurkos. It was his interest in the unusual which led Puharich to Brazil, to see firsthand the exploits of a certain psychic surgeon named José Arigo.
He travelled to Congonhas de Campo in the state of Minas Gerais to observe this unusual healer in action. It so happened that, prior to his visit to Brazil, Puharich had been suffering from a growth of tissue on his arm. Since his own physician had found this growth to be non-malignant, he had recommended that it be left untreated.
Puharich was aware that the growth was extremely near the nerve controlling the movement of his little finger. He was afraid that any further growth in size could lead to muscle contraction which might paralyse his finger.
In due course, therefore, after having witnessed Arigo performing various surgical procedures which appeared to be successful, Puharich asked him if something could be done about the growth on his arm.
Arigo examined it closely, and then turned to those who were still waiting for attention, and asked if any of them possessed a knife. Of the several that were offered, Arigo selected one, and passed it on to Puharich for inspection. The American found it to be a common pocketknife, which he then returned to the healer.
Then, without attempting to sterilise the knife in any way, Arigo grasped Puharich’s arm and made a swift incision. Blood immediately began to ooze from the cut. Arigo then pressed his fingers on either side of the incision and began to apply pressure to the opening.
As Puharich watched, a small tumour emerged and dropped onto the floor. Although the cut was only about one centimetre in length, Puharich was surprised to see that the tumour which lay on the floor was about three centimeters in diameter.
Although the incision in Puharich’s arm was not sutured or treated in any way, it healed completely within forty-eight hours. Puharich noted later that while a western-trained surgeon would have required at least fifteen minutes to perform this excision, the entire operation conducted by Arigo had lasted less than fifteen seconds. 2
1966 was also the year in which Lynn Brailler, the wife of an American physician, was involved in a motor vehicle accident. In this collision she suffered serious injuries to her neck and spine, which required her to wear a neck brace to support her damaged limbs.
These injuries caused her intense pain, and she resorted to various drugs to gain relief. When large amounts of aspirin were no longer effective, she switched to codeine. The presence of the neck brace did little to ease the pain, which continued unabated for the next three years.
It was then that Lynn was told that she had acquired a terminal disease of her spinal cord. Despite this alarming diagnosis, she was convinced that her pain was due to a cervical disc injury.
It was another three years before her specialist concluded that she did, in fact, have a disc problem which required surgery. By this time the majority of the muscles in Lynn’s neck, back and right arm had atrophied from lack of use.
An operation was then performed in which pieces from her hipbone were transferred to her neck. The surgeon estimated that this disc fusion operation would take another two years to heal completely, and he warned Lynn to be particularly careful during this time, as any sudden blow could cause her to break her neck.
In May 1975, almost nine years after the original accident, Lynn was out shopping when the car in which she was travelling was struck broadside by a truck that had careened through a red traffic light. In this collision, Lynn again suffered injuries to her neck. The two discs which had previously been fused together had shattered.
Although her neck required another operation which would again involve a transplant from her hip, the surgeon chose not to operate because her spine was in such a fragile condition, and because he was fearful that another operation might sever her spinal cord completely and leave her paralysed.
Instead, he directed her to rest in bed and to treat her injured neck with applications of hot packs. For Lynn the pain which had been bad before, now became intolerable, and she dosed herself with increasing amounts of codeine and valium.
Lynn Brailler was faced with the choice of a protracted and extremely painful convalescence in bed, which would entail resigning from her job, or else of undergoing dangerous surgery which could leave her a quadriplegic.
She had already decided on the latter course of action when she chanced to pick up a journal which contained an article by the noted psychic healer Olga Worrall. Although Lynn had never been able to bring herself to believe in such a thing as faith healing, a friend of hers persuaded her to telephone the healer in Baltimore.
Lynn spoke to Worrall, who expressed interest in her case and invited her to attend one of her healing clinics. Before making a decision, however, Lynn discussed the matter with her husband.
“It’s not going to help you to go over there,” he declared emphatically. “Somehow in your mind you’ll think you’ve tried everything, that nothing will work, and you’re going to be more depressed than ever.” 3
Despite her own misgivings, and against the advice of her husband, Lynn decided to undertake the trip from Washington to Baltimore.
When she arrived at the church where the healing sessions were to take place, Lynn suddenly felt overcome by embarrassment at having succumbed to such an improbable course of action. As she sat in the pew with her arm in a sling and her neck in a brace, it seemed obvious that nothing could be done for her.
Later, when various people began to make their way to the altar rail, she felt that she simply could not bring herself to join them. It was her friend who insisted that she do so, and practically pushed her down the aisle. Lynn described what happened then.
“I never felt so foolish in my whole life. For me to kneel down at a rail was just too much. Olga came along and put a hand on either side of my head, and I thought, Humpf!, big psychic! She doesn’t even know where the problem is.
But then, I knew she wasn’t for real anyway. I was thinking what a waste of time, when suddenly I felt a deep heat going through the inside of me, through my back and into my arms. When she took her hands away from my head, the heat dissipated.” 4
As she retraced her steps from the altar rail, Lynn was convinced that she was, if anything, even more seriously hurt than before. She felt that the action of the healer had actually added to her injuries. She sat out the remainder of the service in a state of shock.
As she was leaving the church, however, Lynn noticed that both her arms felt perfectly normal. She found that she was able to raise her right arm, still in its sling, without the usual searing “tear response” which inevitably attended any movement.
Furthermore, the agonising pain in her neck had been reduced to a mere ache. Thinking that this was a temporary effect caused by her state of shock, Lynn waited for the pain to return. But by the time she reached her home in Washington, D.C., the pain had still not returned.
Her husband greeted her skeptically, saying: “Well, did you get healed?” In response, Lynn flailed both her arms and moved her neck and cried, “Did I ever get healed!” Her husband looked at her in stunned amazement.
“The poor man! I felt sorry. I just watched the color drain from his face, and he was listing a little to the left. Finally he said, ‘Do that again’, and I did. You know how you always have to repeat everything for scientific validity.” 5
For Lynn Brailler, almost ten years of suffering and intense pain had come to a sudden and dramatic end. Her neck injuries had been completely healed.
The experiences which occurred to Harry Wright, Andrija Puharich and Lynn Brailler, are instances of physical healing which defy explanation in conventional western medical terms.
Because they do not fall within the accepted mould of western medical thinking, cases such as these are generally regarded as spurious, as contraventions of reality. Where they are not condemned as outright fraud, they are rejected as the result of suggestion and imagination.
They are not considered to be cases of valid medical procedures. But while the cures that were witnessed by these three people may seem inexplicable within our own definition of reality, they nevertheless find a legitimate place within the mental framework of other cultural patterns of belief.
Michael Harner
Michael Harner was a teacher of anthropology at the Graduate Faculty of the New School for Social Research in New York. He was not, however, the usual type of teacher one might expect to find within this academic discipline.
Harner was a recognised shaman, having received his shamanistic training from the Jivaro Indians on the eastern slopes of the South American Andes, as well as with the Conibo Indians of the Ucayali River region of the Peruvian Amazon.
For Harner, shamanism was not mere mumbo-jumbo, or some pseudo-medical subterfuge played upon the gullibility of simple minds. Rather, it was an exquisitely refined social and psychological paradigm, based upon an alternate view of reality. As he described it:
“Shamanism is a great mental and emotional adventure, one in which the patient as well as the shaman-healer are involved. Through his heroic journey and efforts, the shaman helps his patients transcend their normal, ordinary definition of reality, including the definition of themselves as ill.
“The shaman shows his patients that they are not emotionally and spiritually alone in their struggles against illness and death. The shaman shares his special powers and convinces his patients on a deep level of consciousness, that another human is willing to offer up his own self to help them.
“The shaman’s self-sacrifice calls forth commensurate emotional commitment from his patients, a sense of obligation to struggle alongside the shaman to save one’s self. Caring and curing go hand in hand.” 6
For Harner, shamanism is not a practice which can be separated from the mental paradigm in which it has its roots. Its validity lies in its value in sustaining the social fabric of the tribe, and its ability to diagnose and treat disease within the context of that psychological setting.
The mental paradigm under which the shaman operates, is not the paradigm held by the modern medical practitioner. The witchdoctor and the brujo function within a description of the universe which is profoundly different from the western way of thinking.
Its efficacy is not denied by the validity of the western scientific paradigm. Both descriptions of the universe are valid within their own contexts of belief. It is the belief in each underlying system which generates results. These beliefs are not confined to any special society. They can in fact be transferred from one group to another. They can be learned as the need arises.
For example, by using those same methods by which he was taught, Harner has conducted training workshops in shamanistic healing throughout Europe and North America.
He has found that westerners can successfully practice shamanism, if they are prepared to set aside their usual systems of belief and conventional assumptions of reality.
As he stresses to his students, it is not necessary to understand how shamanism works in order to practise shamanistic healing, just as it is not necessary to understand the principle of electricity to operate a motor vehicle or radio. All that is necessary is to permit one’s self the freedom of believing in its possibility.
With that as a base, the subsequent results speak for themselves, and are their own proof of the validity of the shamanistic way of healing. Harner has demonstrated that shamanism does not draw its worth from the gullibility of primitive minds. It is potentially as effective within western technological society as it is within the aboriginal world.
What determines its effectiveness is the underlying foundation of belief.
When Harold Wright witnessed the strange ritual on the banks of the Marañón river in Peru, his western scientific training led him to believe that the efforts of the Jivarobrujo were mere sleight-of-hand tricks designed to prey upon the gullibility of his guide Gabrio.
It was clear to Wright that the various objects which the medicine man spat onto the sand were objects which he had previously extracted from his tobacco-like pouch, slipped surreptitiously into his mouth, and then regurgitated at the appropriate psychological moment.
To Wright, there seemed nothing of real medical value in the entire performance, other than the inescapable fact that it cured Gabrio of his painful condition.
Yet Harner has pointed out that the various creatures which the medicine man produced were not simply a collection of extraneous objects gathered at random. Each object was actually a tsentsak, or magical dart, which was essential to the shamanistic method of healing.
According to the shamanistic paradigm of belief, the tsentsak, or spirit helpers, are powers which are believed to cause and cure disease. Non-shamans are naturally unable to see these spirit helpers because they do not share the shamanistic state of consciousness. To the shaman, however, they are vividly real.
Harner explains the significance of these spirit helpers, and the role they play in the restoration of health.
“Each tsentsak has an ordinary and nonordinary aspect. The magical dart’s ordinary aspect is an ordinary material object, as seen without drinking ayahuasca. But the non-ordinary and “true” aspect of the tsentsak is revealed to the shaman by taking the drink.
“When he does this, the magical darts appear in their hidden forms as spirit helpers, such as giant butterflies, jaguars, serpents, birds and monkeys, who actively assist the shaman in his tasks.
“When a healing shaman is called in to treat a patient, his first task is diagnostic. He drinks ayahuasca, green tobacco water, and sometimes the juice of a plant called piripiri. The consciousness changing substances permit him to see into the body of the patient as though it were glass.
“If the illness is due to sorcery, the healing shaman will see the intruding non-ordinary entity within the patient’s body clearly enough to determine whether he possesses the appropriate spirit helper to extract it by sucking.
“When he is ready to suck, the shaman keeps two tsentsak, of the type identical to the one he has seen in the patient’s body, in the front and rear of his mouth. They are present in both their material and nonmaterial aspects, and are there to catch the non-ordinary aspect of the magical dart when the shaman sucks it out of the patient’s body.
“He then “vomits” out this object and displays it to the patient and his family saying, “Now I have sucked it out. Here it is.” The non-shamans may think that the material object itself is what has been sucked out, and the shaman does not disillusion them.
“To explain to the layman that he already had these objects in his mouth would serve no fruitful purpose and would prevent him from displaying such an object as proof that he had effected the cure.” 7
Psychic surgeon Tony Agpaoa
Among the psychic surgeons of the Philippines and Brazil, the ability to operate within a unique framework of reality, other than the normal state of mind, is crucial to the healer’s craft. Like the shaman, the psychic surgeon works within a specific framework of belief, which is linked in turn to those cultural values which lend it its validity.
Western observers, who have watched psychic surgeons at work, have made much play of the fact that these “surgeons” seldom actually penetrate the skin of their patients, but manipulate instead their outer flesh.
They point out that laboratory analyses of the tumours and other tissues which emerge from such surgery often reveal no organic link with the patient concerned. Surgeons even produce bizarre objects such as feathers and pips, which could never have been part of the bodies of their patients.
Furthermore, the blood, which usually appears in such profusion at these surgical operations, is often found to belong to pigs or chickens, or to some other non-human source. To critically trained observers of the west, these absurdities are taken to be clear evidence of medical fraud – a charade played upon the ignorance of their patients.
Yet this judgement is merely a reflection of the way in which these effects are construed within the western paradigm of thought. But the phenomena of one paradigm can never be validated within the context of another.
The physical objects which the shaman spits out, or the tissues which the psychic surgeon excises, cannot be interpreted correctly within the context of the western framework of belief. These things are visitors from another paradigm.
They can have no value within the western medical mould of thinking, just as the idea of pathological bacteria has no significance within the shamanistic scheme.
The objects conjured up by psychic healers are actually materialisations, or apports created by the healer, which serve as physical evidence induced to enforce belief that effective treatment has actually taken place.
As Dr. Hiroshi Motoyama was told when he challenged the Philippine psychic surgeon Tony Agpaoa:
“I asked Tony Agpaoa why he finds it necessary to produce immediate, physically apprehensible results (such as blood) during the operation. Tony said that it is actually unnecessary to produce blood or tissue to cure a person, but he held that people will become more convinced of the existence of higher dimensions of being if they witness the materializations of physical objects through non-physical means, and that such immediate experience is necessary to shock materialistically oriented people into spiritual growth.” 8
(Continued in Part Two)
References
1 Harry Wright, “Witness to Witchcraft“, Funk and Wagnalls, New York, 1957, pp. 8-15. 2 Gene Klinger, “Jose Arigo or Dr Fritz?” Fate magazine, December, 1967, pp. 95-96. 3 James Crenshaw, “A New View of Healing“, Fate magazine, May 1979, pp. 89-90. 4 Ibid, p. 90. 5 Ibid, p. 91. 6 Michael Harner, “The Way of the Shaman“, Bantam, New York, 1982, pp. xiii-xiv. 7 Ibid, pp. 21-23. 8 Hireshi Motoyama with Rande Brown, “Science and the Evolution of Consciousness“, Autumn Press, Brookline, 1978, p. 127.
Allan, The Sceptre of Hermes, September 1, 2015, 3:33 pm
In the third chapter of the Book of Exodus, the Bible describes an occasion some three thousand years ago when Moses was tending to the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian.
It records how Moses led the flock “to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb“. And it was on this mountain that he was attracted to a bush that mysteriously “burned with fire but was not consumed“.
As Moses approached the bush, he heard a voice that identified itself as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Joseph calling out to him. This voice then charged Moses with the task of rescuing the children of Israel out of their bondage in Egypt.
Then in chapter 19 of Exodus, three months after Moses had succeeded in his mission, the Bible records how the children of Israel came to the wilderness of Sinai, and camped at the foot of the mountain. And it was there, on Mount Sinai, that God gave Moses the tablets of stone on which were inscribed the Ten Commandments.
Although the mountain on which these two events took place is called Mount Horeb at one place in the Bible, and Mount Sinai in another, most Jewish scholars consider that Mount Horeb and Mount Sinai refer to the same place.
So in mystical fashion, the place where Moses first encountered the burning bush turned out to be the very spot where he later received the Ten Commandments. And it was here on Mount Sinai that a Christian monastery later came to be built to commemorate both of these events.
St. Catherine’s Monastery and the Sinai Peninsula (Courtesy BBC)
This Greek Orthodox monastery is commonly known today as St. Catherine’s monastery. It is located in the Egyptian province of Sinai, at the mouth of a gorge at the foot of Mount Sinai, where it has flourished for over fifteen hundred years.
The fortress walls of the monastery were built at the order of the Emperor Justinian in 542 AD, to protect it from Bedouin marauders. The walls also enclosed a special chapel that had been commissioned several centuries earlier by Helena, consort of Constantine the Great, the first Roman Emperor to embrace Christianity.
This chapel, which is known today as St. Helen’s Chapel, was built at the site where Moses was believed to have seen the burning bush. The bush that can be seen on the chapel grounds today is considered to be the same one witnessed by Moses.
Behind the Monastery, a pathway of stone steps have been carved out of the mountain. They are known as the “Stairs of Repentance”, and they lead from the Monastery walls up to the top of Mount Sinai, at an altitude of 7,500 feet (2285 metres).
St. Catherine’s Monastery as it looks today
In 1934 AD, a Greek Orthodox chapel was built on the summit of the mountain, at the site of the ruins of a 16th-century church. This chapel encloses the rock that is thought to be the origin of the stone tablets given to Moses.
While most Christians today know about the link between Moses and Mount Sinai, very few are aware of the association between St. Catherine’s monastery at the foot of Mount Sinai and Muhammad, the founder of the Islamic religion.
The prophet Muhammad was born around 570 AD in the Arabian city of Mecca, located some 400 miles(640 kms) to the south-east of Mount Sinai. Muhammad was orphaned at an early age, and was raised by his paternal uncle Abu Talib.
It is known that while he was still in his early teens, the young Muhammad accompanied his uncle on trading journeys to Syria, which took him through the Arabian peninsula. Later on, he became a merchant and made frequent trips to the area.
It was during the course of these trips that Muhammad came to visit St. Catherine’s monastery, where he was welcomed by the monks who engaged him in discussions about science, philosophy and spirituality. It is said that these discussions had a great influence on the young prophet.
Muhammad’s religious calling began at the age of forty, when he had a series of visions of the angel Gabriel. Although he continued to live in Mecca, in the year 622 AD Muhammad became aware of a plot to kill him, causing him and his followers to leave Mecca and flee to the city of Medina – an event that became known in Islamic tradition as the Hijra (flight).
Four years after the flight of Muhammad from Mecca to Medina, in 626 AD, the monks of St. Catherine claimed that the prophet had personally granted them a special charter which became known as the Achtiname of Muhammad.
Under the terms laid out in this charter, all Christians “far and near” who were living under Islamic rule were granted protection, freedom of worship and movement, as well as the freedom to appoint their own judges and to own and maintain their own property.
A 16th Century copy of the Achtiname of Muhammad
They were also granted exemption from military service, freedom from paying taxes, and the right to protection by Islamic forces in the event of war. This document (the Achtiname), was sealed with the imprint of the hand of Muhammad.
According to the monks of St. Catherine, during the Ottoman conquest of Egypt in 1517 AD, the original document was seized by Ottoman soldiers, and taken to the palace of Sultan Selim I in Istanbul for safekeeeping. However, a copy was made to compensate the monks for the loss of their original document.
According to historical documents issued by the government in Cairo during the period of Ottoman rule from 1517 AD to 1798 AD, the Pashas of Egypt recognised the authenticity of this document, and annually reaffirmed the protections granted to the monastery by Muhammad.
To this day certified historical copies of this Achtiname can be found on display at the library of St. Catherine. An Arabic version of the text was first published in 1916, followed shortly thereafter by a German translation in Bernhard Moritz’s Beiträge zur Geschichte des Sinai-Klosters.
An English translation of the original text was published in the early 20th century by F. Anton Haddad under the title Oath of the Prophet Mohammed to the Followers of the Nazarene. It reads as follows:
“This is a letter which was issued by Mohammed, Ibn Abdullah, the Messenger, the Prophet, the Faithful, who is sent to all the people as a trust on the part of God to all His creatures, that they may have no plea against God hereafter.
Verily God is the Mighty, the Wise. This letter is directed to the embracers of Islam, as a covenant given to the followers of Nazarene in the East and West, the far and near, the Arabs and foreigners, the known and the unknown.
This letter contains the oath given unto them, and he who disobeys that which is therein will be considered a disobeyer and a transgressor to that whereunto he is commanded.
He will be regarded as one who has corrupted the oath of God, disbelieved His Testament, rejected His Authority, despised His Religion, and made himself deserving of His Curse, whether he is a Sultan or any other believer of Islam.
Whenever monks, devotees and pilgrims gather together, whether in a mountain or valley, or den, or frequented place, or plain, or church, or in houses of worship, verily we are [at the] back of them and shall protect them, and their properties and their morals, by Myself, by My Friends and by My Assistants, for they are of My Subjects and under My Protection.
I shall exempt them from that which may disturb them; of the burdens which are paid by others as an oath of allegiance. They must not give anything of their income but that which pleases them.
They must not be offended, or disturbed, or coerced or compelled. Their judges should not be changed or prevented from accomplishing their offices, nor the monks disturbed in exercising their religious order, or the people of seclusion be stopped from dwelling in their cells.
No one is allowed to plunder the pilgrims, or destroy or spoil any of their churches, or houses of worship, or take any of the things contained within these houses and bring it to the houses of Islam.
And he who takes away anything therefrom, will be one who has corrupted the oath of God, and, in truth, disobeyed His Messenger.
Poll-taxes should not be put upon their judges, monks, and those whose occupation is the worship of God; nor is any other thing to be taken from them, whether it be a fine, a tax or any unjust right.
Verily I shall keep their compact, wherever they may be, in the sea or on the land, in the East or West, in the North or South, for they are under My Protection and the testament of My Safety, against all things which they abhor.
No taxes or tithes should be received from those who devote themselves to the worship of God in the mountains, or from those who cultivate the Holy Lands. No one has the right to interfere with their affairs, or bring any action against them.
Verily this is for aught else and not for them; rather, in the seasons of crops, they should be given a Kadah for each Ardab of wheat (about five bushels and a half) as provision for them, and no one has the right to say to them this is too much, or ask them to pay any tax.
As to those who possess properties, the wealthy and merchants, the poll-tax to be taken from them must not exceed twelve drachmas a head per year.
They shall not be imposed upon by anyone to undertake a journey, or to be forced to go to wars or to carry arms; for the Islams have to fight for them.
Do no dispute or argue with them, but deal according to the verse recorded in the Koran, to wit: ‘Do not dispute or argue with the People of the Book but in that which is best’ [29:46].
Thus they will live favored and protected from everything which may offend them by the Callers to religion (Islam), wherever they may be and in any place they may dwell.
Should any Christian woman be married to a Musulman, such marriage must not take place except after her consent, and she must not be prevented from going to her church for prayer. Their churches must be honored and they must not be withheld from building churches or repairing convents.
They must not be forced to carry arms or stones; but the Islams must protect them and defend them against others. It is positively incumbent upon every one of the Islam nation not to contradict or disobey this oath until the Day of Resurrection and the end of the world”. (View Source)
As will be clear from the words of this document, it was the expressed wish of the prophet Muhammad that Christians be allowed to pursue their faith in whatever manner they wished, and free from interference by those of the Islamic faith.
This message from the foot of Mt. Sinai is also a timely reminder that the essential message of Islam is one of peace, tolerance and goodwill to all people, and that it is the duty of Moslems everywhere to protect any Christians who happen to live in their communities.
It is also a reminder in these days of fanatical religious extremism, where various sects are intent on wiping out all those who think and act differently from themselves, that all religions draw their meaning from a common source, and that all human beings share a common nature that is Divine.
Allan, Land of the Covenant, Signs of the Times, August 18, 2015, 12:19 pm
The ability to communicate between human and other forms of life is not limited to domesticated animals, but includes creatures of the wild as well.
When biologist Lyall Watson lived for some months on a remote Indonesian island in the Banda Sea, he became fascinated by the egg-laying rituals of female marine turtles.
These ponderous creatures would come ashore under the curtain of night to dig nests in the sand in which to lay their eggs, before dragging themselves exhaustedly back into the simmering surf. Although numerous different species of turtle came ashore, Watson was never able to catch sight of the giant of all sea turtles, the leatherback.
Finally, after many nights in vain anticipation, he happened to mention his interest in this turtle to the local djuru, a man who had an uncanny ability to locate and understand sea creatures. The djuru promised to show him one.
It was several weeks later when the village djuru approached Watson and announced that his wish would be fulfilled. That afternoon, the two of them proceeded to a spur of volcanic rock which stretched into the deep waters of the lagoon.
Then, as Watson watched in curiosity, the djuru crouched down at the water’s edge and began dabbing his fingers in the waves, as if he were playing upon the keys of a piano.
After about twenty minutes of this strange behaviour, Watson noticed a large frigate bird swooping low over the surface of the lagoon. As the bird drew nearer, it was clear that it was attracted by a dark shape in the water that was steadily approaching the tongue of rock on which the two men stood.
Suddenly, the glistening olive-green shell of a leatherback turtle broke the surface of the waves. It was larger than Watson had ever imagined. At the sight of this creature, the djuru broke into a quiet chant. Slowly, but with repeated evasive flights of alarm, the giant turtle approached the djuru’s outstretched fingertips.
As Watson watched in astonishment, the turtle lifted its beak and gently nibbled at his fingers, before turning and swimming swiftly back to the open sea. 1
Aboriginal societies not only communicate with animals but with plants as well. When shamans and witchdoctors incorporate plants and herbs in their medicinal cures, they talk to them as part of their rituals.
One of the mental hurdles that Carlos Castaneda had to overcome in his apprenticeship to the Yaqui shaman Don Juan, was his idea that plants could not communicate and were incapable of feelings. As Don Juan continued to stress to his western neophyte, however, “Plants are very peculiar things – they are alive and they feel.” 2
On another occasion he told his pupil, “In order to see the plants, you must talk to them personally. You must get to know them individually, then the plants can tell you anything you care to know about them.” 3
One person who was well aware that plants were conscious and were able to think and feel, was the Indian scientist Jagadis Chandra Bose. Bose was educated at Christ College, Cambridge, and astonished his colleagues with various devices he invented to measure the character and sensitivity of plants.
He was able to demonstrate, by physical means, that plants had a nervous system and that they enjoyed a varied emotional life. He found that they responded to such stimuli as hate and love, and that they expressed such emotions as fear and pleasure.
Like humans, Bose found that plants became intoxicated when given doses of alcohol , and showed every sign of the common hangover. He also noticed that the application of chloroform on plants had the effect of temporally discontinuing all growth, and led to a state of general torpor.
It was by this means that Bose was able successfully to transplant trees that were fully grown. He also discovered that plants suffered from stress and fatigue, and that this directly affected their powers of resisting disease.
He found, furthermore, that at the moment of death plants radiated an enormous electrical charge. Referring to this phenomenon he noted that five hundred green peas were able to generate, in their death spasm, an electrical discharge that was sufficient to electrocute a chef, if it were possible to connect them up in series. 4
For his innovative research and success in analysing plant physiology, Bose received a knighthood in 1917.
Although many people might be prepared to grant intelligence to domestic pets, and even concede a sympathetic response in plants, few would generally consider that any form of consciousness or intelligence might reside in insects.
Yet all insects, as Maharaj has pointed out, possess consciousness and an awareness of identity. Some years after Allen Boone had his memorable relationship with Strongheart, he formed an unusual friendship with a common housefly, which he christened Freddie.
Boone was able to establish his extraordinary contact with the fly by drawing on the lessons he had learned from his experiences with Strongheart. He found that he could attract the fly to him if it were absent, merely be issuing a mental call. He also found that the fly responded directly to his thoughts and feelings:
“There was no emotionalism or sentimentality, or wishful thinking in all of this. I simply was compelled to realize that as I identified Freddie as either intelligent or unintelligent, good or bad, friendly or unfriendly, co-operative or unco-operative – that is precisely how he behaved. For Freddie was nothing more or less than the state of my own consciousness about him being made manifest in our outward experience.”
It took a humble housefly to reveal to Boone that life, consciousness and intelligence manifested in all creatures, and that no matter how lowly these might appear to the human eye, each demonstrated an amazing ability to share in a world of fun, joy and adventure.
In describing his episode with Freddie, Boone recalled the words of the thirteenth century mystic and theologian, Meister Eckhart:
“When I preached in Paris I said then – and I regard it well said – that not a man in Paris can conceive with all his learning that God is in the very meanest creatures – even in a fly.” 5
According to the sages, intelligence is a characteristic of all life, and inhabits every form. Even such microscopic creatures as bacteria exhibit intelligence, by processing information in ways which are favourable to their survival.
One of the problems with which medical scientists have grappled in the course of their research, has been the problem of “acquired bacterial resistance”. This is exemplified by such strains of bacteria as staphylococci, which, over a period of time, have become immune to the influence of such antibiotics as penicillin.
In a similar way, the bacterium Escherichia coli have become immune to the drug streptomycin. 6
It is a common experience that chemical antitoxins work well initially in counteracting the ravages of bacteria. Over the course of time, however, the efficacy of these antitoxins becomes reduced, until finally they cease to be effective altogether.
The limits to intelligence do not end with microscopic forms of organic life, for evidence continues to accumulate that even insentient matter possesses a rudimentary form of consciousness and intelligence.
Jagadis Bose found that metals suffered from fatigue, just as plants and humans did, and that, if given sufficient opportunity to rest, would return to their normal level of functioning.
Bose discovered that the pattern of fatigue demonstrated by a slightly warmed magnetic oxide of iron was similar to that exhibited by human muscles. In both instances, the recovery response decreased with exertion. Bose found, however, that metal fatigue could be removed by gentle massage or immersion in warm water.
He also learned that potassium lost its power of recovery altogether when coated with certain substances, in a way which seemed to rival the response of muscular tissue to various poisons.
When Sir Michael Foster, secretary of the Royal Society, called on Bose one day while he was engrossed in one of his experiments, he happened to glance at the response curve that was being recorded. “Come now, Bose,” he exclaimed, “what is the novelty of this curve? We have known of it for at least half a century.”
When Bose asked him what he thought the curve represented, Foster” replied: “Why, a curve of muscle response, of course.” Sir Michael was silenced when Bose quietly countered: “Pardon me, but it is the response of metallic tin!” 7
Bose was led by the results of his experiments, to question the classical scientific division between organic and inorganic life, and came to the conclusion that this dichotomy was purely artificial.
At a meeting which took place at the Royal Institution on May 10, 1901, he announced to his bemused audience:
“I have shown you this evening autographic records of the history of stress and strain in the living and the non-living. How similar are their writings! So similar indeed that you cannot tell one apart from the other. Among such phenomena, how can we draw a line of demarcation and say, here the physical ends, and here the physiological begins? Such absolute barriers do not exist.” 7
Science has traditionally divided nature into two distinct categories. That which is inert it has called inorganic matter, while that which has demonstrated the principle of cohesive growth, it has called organic life.
It has, furthermore, classified organic life into a hierarchy of forms, starting from the simplest and proceeding to the most complex. Science has called the process whereby the simple forms have been transformed into the complex, evolution.
While it has succeeded in identifying these various forms of life and cataloguing them according to certain common characteristics, science is still struggling to explain the way in which these transformations have taken place. As has been pointed out in earlier Blogs, the traditional theory provided by Charles Darwin now seems ripe for a new explanation.
Mankind stands today at the apex of the evolutionary process, and appears to science to be the fruit of an age-old procession through a long hierarchy of forms. The physiology of man is considered to be the product of his unique genetic code, which ultimately determines the limits of his powers.
Yet the scientific description of the origins and nature of humanity, as represented by the current theory of evolution, is the direct product and outgrowth of the classical mode of thought, which believed that the universe was a form of Giant Machine.
Because the universe was conceived to be a vast scheme of physical objects and organic creatures that existed independently of the observer, the appearance of this variety of form led naturally to the concept of an evolutionary spiral linking these forms together in a meaningful way.
But once the universe is portrayed as a subjective phenomenon, in the form of various images appearing in consciousness, then the entire edifice of evolutionary thought reveals itself to be a structure built upon the quicksands of illusion.
Since illumined souls have taught that there is no such thing as an objective universe that exists separately from us, what we have taken to be a real world is, they claim, merely a series of images projected on consciousness, just as cinematic images are projected on a screen.
Furthermore, because these images are projected by the mind of each individual observer, the nature of what is seen must inevitably reflect the content of each mind. It is the recognition of this fact, or, to be more precise, its revelation, which the sages claim exposes the true nature of creation. For as Maharaj points out:
“To know that you are a prisoner of your mind, that you live in an imaginary world of your own creation is the dawn of wisdom.” 8
Because the universe has revealed a plethora of creatures, the various religions of the world have taught that all these creatures have been created by a supernal God. The sages, on the other hand, have consistently taught that the existence of all creation, as well as the God to whom it is attributed, is in fact a creation of our minds.
It is because we find ourselves living in a world of incredible size and beauty that we assume that there must exist some all-powerful Being who is responsible for this extraordinary variety. The sages point out, however, that this entire panoply of universal form is nothing but a projection of our minds, and that it is we ourselves who are the authors of its expression.
The various religious orders of the world pander to the needs of their adherents by conceding the existence of a Creator. To those who can grasp the subtle truth, however, the sages reveal the subjective nature of the universe.
As the master explains to his disciple in the Indian Vedantic classic Advaita Bodha Deepika:
“Man having forgotten his true nature of being in the all-perfect Ether of Consciousness, is deluded by ignorance into identifying himself with a body, etc., and regarding himself as an insignificant individual of mean capacity.
“If to him it is told that he is the creator of the whole universe, he will flout the idea and refuse to be guided. So coming down to his level the scriptures posit an Isvara as the creator of the universe. But it is not the truth. You are now mistaking the nursery tale for metaphysical truth.” 9
The entire discipline of science is founded upon the belief that the universe exists as an objective phenomenon that is experienced alike by every mind. Yet despite the splendid theories of science, and despite the evidence of our senses, there is no world of shape or form that exists independently of our selves.
We project the images we see in waking life, just as we do in hallucination or dream. The fact that we are able to discover in the rich world of our experience, fossilised remains buried in antiquated rocks, together with ruins of ancient civilisations, does not in any way alter the fact that these hoary objects are actually pristine images which are being projected moment by moment in consciousness.
Our experiences in waking consciousness are, in essence, no different from our dreams.
In our dreams we also see objects of great antiquity. We discover ancient relics and other buildings and artifacts which seem to be the product of long ages of time. Yet when we wake, we see that the appearance of time was illusory, and that our ancient ruins were freshly minted by our minds within the fleeting moments of the dream.
When we see the images and objects of our waking state, we do not stop for a moment to consider that they might also arise in the same way as a vision or hallucination. Instead, we allow ourselves to be beguiled by the evidence of our senses into believing that our waking state is the only state that is real, and that it alone reflects an objective world.
Because our waking world is not an objective world, the analysis of those physical objects and organic forms which populate our waking state is only valid within the context of belief. Our conclusions have no underlying validity that is independent of our thinking.
Trying to classify the images of our waking world is no different from attempting to catalogue the creations of our dreams. Just as the idea of subjecting the content of our dreams to scientific analysis seems ludicrous, so also the evaluation of our waking world in scientific terms is equally illusory.
Our scientific paradigms are mere pyramids of thought, built upon our belief in an objective reality which is itself illusory. As Sri Ramana Maharshi remarks:
“One sees an edifice in his dream. It rises up all of a sudden. Then he begins to think how it should have been built brick by brick by so many labourers over such a long period of time. Yet he does not see the builders working.
“So also with the theory of evolution. Because he finds himself a man, he thinks he has developed to that stage from the primeval state of the amoeba. The man always traces an effect to a cause; there must be a cause for a cause; the argument becomes interminable.” 10
The physical bodies which we inhabit in our waking world appear to us to be completely real. In terms of the current scientific description of the universe, our bodies are believed to be dominated by the messages of our genes, and that it is our genes which ultimately decide what our bodies can and cannot do.
Yet the sages have pointed out that our bodies are encompassed by our minds, and that it is the content of our minds which determines the effective limits of our ability. Each person’s world thus takes the shape of those thoughts which give it birth.
“Thoughts“, says the Maharshi, “are the content of the mind, and they shape the universe“. 11
Or in the words of Maharaj, “What is imagined and willed becomes actuality“. 12
Or again, “The world becomes for one whatever one is accustomed to think of it“. 13
Our world, stress the sages, is governed by our minds. Our bodies, likewise, are limited only by our thinking. We are not bound by any laws of nature, nor are we dependent on the decrees of any genes. We are always free to roam within the limitless shores of our minds.
Confronted by this bold statement, the tough-minded realist reacts by saying: “I simply don’t believe it!”
The sage in turn retorts: “That, in a nutshell, is your problem”. For as Jesus assured the father of a child stricken with a demonic sprit: “All things are possible to him that believeth.” (Mark 9:23)
When Kirk Maynard Gull dragged himself across the beach with a damaged wing, Jonathan urged him to fly.
“You don’t understand. My wing. I can’t move my wing. Maynard Gull, you have the freedom to be yourself, your true self, here and now, and nothing can stand in your way. Are you saying I can fly? I say you are free.” 14
Each one of us is ever free to transcend the apparent limitations of our bodies. We are neither the captives of our genes nor the victims of our environment. Each one of us is truly the unlimited expression of our divine potential.
We limit ourselves only by our thoughts, and by the nature of our beliefs. Our true origins do not lie in the gloom of a primeval past. They arise out of the untrammeled depths of spirit.
From our earliest days we have bound ourselves in chains of our own making, absorbing those beliefs that are the common heritage of our culture. But we need not remain bound. We are always free to shed the shackles of our illusory limitations, if we can only bring ourselves to believe we can.
Science has determined man to be a creature of the earth, a product of the long, slow march of time. Born out of the primal slime of antiquity, he is believed to have emerged from the ancient seas, until he came to stalk the land.
Driven by the constant struggle for survival, he mutated through a kaleidoscope of forms, until he laboriously reached that pinnacle of physical expression in which he exists today. Man’s potential is believed to be determined by his genes, which set strict limits to what may or may not be done.
The testimony of the sages points to an altogether more ethereal source. Man, they say, is a creature of ancestral freedom. The apparent limits of his physical form are but the shadows of his mind.
Loose the shackles of his thoughts, they claim, and he is free to explore the utmost limits of desire. His only obstacle is the impediment of his own belief. Man’s ultimate destiny, and the end of all his striving, lies in the rediscovery of his One True Source.
This is the truth that sets him free.
References
1 Lyall Watson, “Lifetide“, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1979, pp. 179-180. 2 Carlos Castaneda, “Journey to Ixtlan“, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1972, p. 22. 3 Carlos Castaneda, “A Separate Reality”, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1971, p. 117. 4 Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird, “The Secret Life of Plants“, Avon, New York, 1974, p. 107. 5 Allen Boone. “Kinship with All Life“, Harper and Row, New York, 1954, pp. 143-144. 6 Harold Morowitz, “Do Bacteria Think?” in Psychology Today, 15:10-12, 1981. 7 “The Secret Life of Plants“, op. cit., pp. 99-101. 8 “Seeds of Consciousness“, The Wisdom of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, edited by Jean Dunn, Grove Press, New York, 1982, pp. 199-200. 9 “Advaita Bodha Deepika“, translated by Swami Saraswathi, Sri Ramanasramam, Tiruvannamalai, 1967, p. 20. 10 “Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi“, recorded by Swami Saraswathi, Sri Ramanasramam, Tiruvannamalai, 1968, p. 603. 11 Ibid, p. 93. 12 “I Am That“, Conversations with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, translated by Maurice Frydman, Book I, Chetana, Bombay, 1973, p. 241. 13 “Tripura Rahasya“, translated by Swami Saraswathi, Sri Ramanasramam, Tiruvannamalai, 1962, p. 88. 14 Richard Bach, “Jonathan Livingstone Seagull“, Pan Books, London, 1973, pp. 82-83.
Allan, Talking to Animals, August 3, 2015, 2:07 pm
According to the ancient Hindu sages, whose teachings were first recorded in Sanskrit texts known as the Vedas over three thousand years ago, consciousness is the fundamental principle of all matter, and permeates every form, whether animate or inanimate.
When Jesus was rebuked by the Pharisees for allowing his disciples to sing his praises during his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, he replied: “I tell you that if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.” (Luke 19:40)
Materialists naturally scoff at the possibility of stones possessing life, but as Ramana Maharshi told a visitor who announced that plants had life, “so too the slabs you sit on.” 1
While skeptics may discount this remark as a mere figure of speech, in the sense that we commonly refer to “the living rock”, it is worth recalling the words of the 20th century sage Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj. Speaking of the relationship between matter, consciousness and life, he said:
“Consciousness as such is the subtle counterpart of matter. You may consider it in a way as a very subtle energy. Wherever matter organises itself into a stable organism, consciousness appears spontaneously. With the destruction of the organism consciousness disappears. ” 2
All physical matter, therefore, possesses consciousness. It is the subtle counterpart, the complementary aspect, of the energy of which it is constituted. It follows that all life is not only conscious, but also conscious of a sense of identity.
This identity is the sense of the “I am” which is experienced as the source of consciousness. This awareness of unique individuality is the prism through which all conscious experiences in life are viewed. Again, to quote Maharaj:
“This knowledge “I am” is the same, whether it is an insect, worm, human being, or an avatar (being of the highest order); the basic consciousness is the same in all of these.” 3
Not only are all living creatures conscious, and conscious of a special sense of identity, but each form is also capable of processing information, which is the chief characteristic of intelligence.
Intelligence manifests in all forms of life, and because it does, all living organisms are potentially capable of interacting intelligently with one other.
Our current scientific paradigm has denied consciousness, and therefore intelligence, to lower orders of life, and by so doing has separated humanity from other realms of nature.
However, despite the gulf that has arisen over the centuries between human beings and creatures of the animal kingdom as a result of the materialistic view of science, it is always possible to heal this ancient breach, and to regain inter-species communication.
If we are willing to embrace a new concept of life founded upon spiritual principles, we can restore this holistic view of life. This will allow mankind to embrace a unity of expression with all creatures, a facility which up until now has tended to be the preserve of the primitive aboriginal, as well as saints and sages.
An incident in the life of the 20th century Indian sage Sri Ramana Maharshi illustrates this community of understanding.
“At about 4 pm, Sri Bhagavan (the term commonly used to refer to the Maharshi), who was writing something intently, turned his eyes slowly towards the window to the north; he closed the fountain pen with the cap and put it in its case. He closed the note-book and put it aside.
He leaned back a little, looked up overhead, turned his face this way and that, and looked here and there. Then he turned to someone in the hall and said softly: ‘The pair of sparrows just came here and complained to me that their nest had been removed. I looked up and found their nest missing’.
Then he called for the attendant, Madhava Swami, and asked: ‘Madhava, did anyone remove the sparrows nest?’ The attendant, who walked in leisurely, answered with an air of unconcern: ‘I removed the nests as often as they were built. I removed the last one this afternoon’. 4
Those people who have been raised in a cultural and scientific paradigm which denies intelligence and the powers of expression to the humbler forms of life, are naturally prevented by their limiting beliefs from exercising this avenue of communication between species.
But just as it is always possible to overcome one’s limiting beliefs, so one is always able to rediscover this kinship with other forms of life.
J. Allen Boone was a journalist during the earlier part of the 20th century who became interested in the care and treatment of those animals involved in Hollywood productions. This interest subsequently led him to become the first Commissioner of the Board of Animal Regulation in Los Angeles, and encouraged him to make animal-human relationships his life’s work.
At a time when movies dealing with the heroic deeds of animals were popular in Hollywood, Boone was approached to take temporary care of a German Shepherd dog named “Strongheart”, an animal star of international fame.
Boone’s association with this unusual dog was to change his life, for it prompted him to transcend the customary barriers of human and animal interaction.
It was soon clear to Boone that Strongheart was no ordinary dog. He seemed to display a telepathic understanding of his thoughts, and the two shared many unusual adventures together.
During their daily association, Boone became increasingly frustrated that, while Strongheart appeared to have no trouble understanding his own inner thoughts, he seemed to have no way of understanding the mind of the dog.
Boone eventually decided to seek the aid of a desert recluse named Mojave Dan, who was renowned for his extraordinary ability to converse with desert animals and reptiles.
Boone finally succeeded in tracking his quarry to a remote spot in the Mojave desert, and it was there, while the two of them lay beside a campfire under a canopy of stars, that he explained the nature of his problem. Dan was silent for a long time.
“Finally, Dan yawned and stretched. Then he spoke, aiming his words at the stars. There’s facts about dogs he said, and there’s opinions about them. The dogs have the facts, and the humans have the opinions. If you want facts about a dog, always get them straight from the dog. If you want opinions, get them from the human.” 5
Returning to Hollywood, Boone began to see that the barrier between himself and Strongheart lay in his underlying belief in the innate superiority of humanity and the resultant inferiority of animals.
He realised that Strongheart was not simply a “dog”, but another expression of intelligent life like himself. As a result of this insight, Boone came to change his entire outlook about Strongheart.
He stopped treating him like a dog in the conventional manner and found, to his surprise, that Strongheart stopped acting in the traditional “dog-like” manner when the two of them were together.
As they began to function together as two equal and rational companions, Boone came to place himself completely in Strongheart’s care, allowing Strongheart to be the teacher, while relegating to himself the position of student. Boone later described his inner metamorphosis:
“I had a large assortment of wrong beliefs about dogs and other animals; these notions had to be cleared out in order to make room for the facts. It took discipline, a sense of wonder and appreciation, inner and outer flexibility, unlimited expectancy and a willingness to follow facts wherever they led.” 6
Boone came to regard Strongheart as a spiritual creature filled with unlimited possibilities like himself. During the days they spent in each other’s company, the two came to share an exalted state of communion. While Boone chose what they would do one day, he allowed Strongheart to decide what the two of them should do the next.
On one particular day when Strongheart was in charge, Boone was taken on a long march up into the hills, until they reached a promontory of rock which towered over the surrounding scene. The two of them sat together on the rock, gazing at the setting sun. In this sublime setting Boone mentally framed the questions which had plagued him for so long.
“Sitting there on the ledge with his back in my direction, Strongheart had heard the questions I had mentally asked him. When I went into that blank state of mind, without knowing what I was doing, I had become mentally open and receptive.
“Then, turning his head in my direction so as to get my full attention, he had silently answered my questions. I had spoken to Strongheart in the kind of speech which does not have to be uttered or written, and he had replied to me in the same language.
“Without the exchange of a sound or gesture between us, each had perfectly understood the other. I had at last made contact with that seemingly lost universal silent language which, as those illumined ancient’s pointed out long ago, all life is innately equipped to speak with all life whenever hearts and minds are properly attuned.” 7
Boone had bridged the gulf that normally divides human from non-human understanding, by breaking down the barriers of his old beliefs.
It was only when he had succeeded in stripping away the encrustation of his intellectual preconceptions that he was able to share that inner communion which attends true kinship between all forms of conscious life.
Boone’s interaction with Strongheart was based on a faculty of mind which parapsychologists today call “Telepathy”, or the transmission of information without using any of the known senses. And because it bypasses our customary sensory channels, telepathy is included under the term ESP, or Extra-Sensory-Perception.
But whereas telepathy is usually considered by parapsychologists to be limited to cases of communication between people, Boone demonstrated that it was possible for a human being to communicate intelligently with another species of the animal kingdom.
Sceptics, as well as those trained in modern materialistic science, naturally reject the idea of telepathy between people, or the possibility of inter-species communication. Yet there are more and more people today who have not only learned how to communicate with other species themselves, but have been able to teach others how to do so successfully as well.
One of the best-known exemplars of inter-species communication in the world today is Anna Breytenbach. Anna was born and raised in South Africa, where she later gained a degree in Psychology, Economics and Marketing at the University of Cape Town.
She subsequently began an international corporate career that took her to places like Australia and the United States, where she was able to pursue her interest in wildlife and conservation by volunteering at various animal rehabilitation and educational centres.
It was while she was living in Silicon Valley that Anna was able to receive advanced training in animal communication at the Assisi International Animal Institute in California. For the past twelve years she has been working in South Africa, Europe and the United States with domestic and wild animals.
This has included educational and rehabilitation programmes with such animals as baboons, cheetahs, lions, wolves and elephants. Without doubt, one of the most extraordinary examples of Anna’s uncanny ability to relate to animals is the episode involving a black leopard named “Diablo”, which can be seen in the video below.
According to Anna’s website, her goal is to raise awareness and advance relationships between humans and other species, on both the personal and spiritual levels, and to be a voice for animals and the wilderness.
To this end, although Anna now makes her home in the Wilderness area of the South-Western Cape, she continues to travel around the world conducting animal communication seminars.
Anna’s work, as well as the efforts of those who share her mission, is helping to open up new portals in the understanding of the nature and role of different species in the eco-structure of the planet.
It could also provide a vital breakthrough in humanity’s stewardship of species that are threatened by environmental degradation, by helping us to communicate directly with the animals that are most at risk.
Furthermore, it would enable us to find out from the animals themselves how they feel about living in captivity, instead of turning to scientists who merely study their outward behaviour and then utilise their own value judgements in determining how best to treat them.
Those readers interested in the outcome of the saga of “Diablo”, or “Spirit”, as the black leopard came to be renamed, the operators of the Jukani Wildlife Sanctuary in Plettenburg Bay have provided the following video update:
Over the years, Anna continued to maintain contact with the Jukani Sanctuary and follow the life of this extraordinary leopard, who was later joined in his enclosure by two adult leopard sisters who were surrendered by a zoo that was closing.
Then on 19th June, 2023, she announced that Spirit had left his body peacefully on that day, assisted by kind curators and vets who accurately determined that his cancer was uncomfortable and untreatable. He lived to an amazing 21 years of age – almost unprecedented for a leopard.
References
1 “Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi“, recorded by Swami Saraswathi, Sri Ramanasramam, Tiruvannamalai, 1968, p. 20. 2 “I Am That“, Conversations with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, translated by Maurice Frydman, Book II, Chetana, Bombay, 1973, pp. 5-6. 3 “Seeds of Consciousness“, The Wisdom of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj”, edited by Jean Dunn, Grove Press, New York, 1982, p. 196. 4 “Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi“, op.cit., p. 597. 5 Allen Boone, “Kinship with All Life“, Harper and Row, New York, 1954, pp. 47-48. 6 Ibid, p. 55. 7 Ibid, pp. 71-72.
Allan, Talking to Animals, July 21, 2015, 12:13 pm
“Space is neutral”, declared the Indian Sage Nisargadatta Maharaj, “One can fill it with what one likes.” 1
Science is the enduring proof of the truth of his assertion. The entire edifice of science has been built upon the foundations of belief. Science has proved to be so successful in describing the behaviour of the universe because we have allowed ourselves to be convinced that it does.
Furthermore, we have come to believe in the validity of scientific law because we have accepted our sensory experience of the universe as evidential proof, without ever questioning the methods whereby this evidence has been attained.
Because we experience circumstances in life which bear out these “rules of nature”, and because our experience is matched by others who think as we do, we have assumed that our experiences are evidence of the way that nature “really is”. What we fail to see is that nature has simply come to mould itself according to our beliefs.
Once the original division between the realms of matter and of mind was officially formalised, science sought to strip itself of any type of emotional or mental contamination. It became part of the etiquette of science, honoured as an article of faith, that all empirical experiments should be separated from all forms of subjective interference.
In this way, results would be seen to be independent of the human participant. Scientific experiments were undertaken with the expressed aim of identifying nature “as it really is”, freed from the influence of human bias.
This preoccupation with the objectivity of science has long been regarded as a fundamental virtue of the scientific method. It was believed that by carefully avoiding any emotional bias in the conduct of scientific experiments, and by reporting these results in neutral language, sanitised of any emotional content, that it would be possible to isolate certain basic laws of nature.
Those scientists who were considered to have invested their hopes or desires in the outcome of their empirical experiments were attacked as being emotionally biased, and their results dismissed as correspondingly “unscientific”.
What went unrecognised until quite recently, was that this “objective” approach of science was a myth, and that it was impossible, even in principle, to conduct a truly objective experiment.
There simply was no such thing as a neutral scientist. Every scientist came with a mind pregnant with expectations and limiting beliefs. These expectations and beliefs could never be isolated from the experiment itself.
Every scientific experiment was nothing more or less than a personal confrontation with nature, and the results of this interaction were inextricably tied to the mind-set of the scientist concerned.
It was precisely for this reason that scientists had achieved in the past, and would continue to experience in the future, such variable results as Kuhn and Josephson had described. There is no scientific experiment that can be successfully shielded from its human influence.
Since each experiment is an interaction between the experimenter and nature, and because there is no such thing as an independent nature or objective universe separate from the experimenter, the results of each experiment must inevitably bear the unique imprint of the mind-set of that experimenter.
The fallacy of the traditional objective view of science has been neatly exposed by Gary Zukav.
“The concept of scientific objectivity rests upon the assumption of an external world which is “out there” as opposed to an “I” which is “in here” According to this view Nature, in all her diversity, is “out there”.
The task of the scientist is to observe the “out there” as objectively as possible. To observe something objectively means to see it as it would appear to an observer who has no prejudices about what he observes.
The problem that went unnoticed for three centuries is that a person who carries such an attitude certainly is prejudiced. His prejudice is to be “objective”, that is, to be without a preformed opinion.
In fact it is impossible to be without an opinion. An opinion is a point of view. The point of view that one can be without a point of view is a point of view. The new physics, quantum mechanics, tells us clearly that it is not possible to observe reality without changing it.
If we observe a certain particle collision experiment, not only do we have no way of proving that the result would have been the same if we had not been watching it, all that we know indicates that it would not have been the same, because the result that we got was affected by the fact that we were looking for it.
According to quantum mechanics there is no such thing as objectivity. We cannot eliminate ourselves from the picture. ” 2
Science and Art
Because it is impossible to extricate the scientist from the picture, the picture of the universe which has been painted by science has come to resolve itself as a pure work of art fashioned by scientists themselves. As Maharaj has stated:
“Once you create for yourself a world in time and space, governed by causality, you are bound to search for and find causes for everything. You put the question and impose the answer.” 3
The entire structure of science proves ultimately to be nothing but a collective figment of scientific imagination. This does not mean to say that science is invalid, for the universe continues to appear to function just as if it truly was created according to those laws which science has identified.
But these scientific laws are not real. They do not represent the way the universe was ordained. Science cannot bind the universe according to unvarying law, nor can nature’s expression be limited to a single set of rules.
As the Sages have revealed, the universe always takes its shape according to that pattern of belief which gives it form. For, as we read in the Vedanta classic Tripura Rahasya:
“The relation between space and objects and between time and events is according to your estimate of them; there is no intrinsic relationship between them.” 4
We find an echo of this truth in the words of Yoka Daishi, a Chinese Zen Master of the eighth-century A.D.
“Whatever propositions are made by logic are no (true) propositions, for they stand in no intrinsic relation to my inner light.” 5
The universe is not a collection of objects that exist in outer space, but is in fact a composite picture painted by our minds.
What science has done, and done very successfully, is to colour that picture according to its own special tints. It has moulded the universe into a particular manifestation which conforms to its pattern of scientific belief.
We, who have placed our trust in science, believing implicitly in its ability to reveal the universe “as it really is”, have misplaced our trust. Although everything that science has portrayed the universe to be can be validated by experiment and personal experience, the scientific description of the world is simply one particular theory of the mind among many.
The universe is not bound by this scientific description. It can change its manifestation at any time, according to the dictates of the presiding mind. We have only to change the attitude of our minds and our personal universe will come to reflect that change.
The validity of science lasts only as long as we continue to place our trust in its underlying tenets of belief.
The moment we cease to pay allegiance to the scientific model, we cease to be bound by scientific law.
The “laws of nature”, the basic “laws of science”, have no fundamental validity. They are not ordained by God, nor are they the product of chance. And we are not bound by them unless we choose to be.
What we have come to claim as laws are merely the codification of our ideas, the crystallisation of our thoughts. They appear to be universal because we have all independently and collectively learned to agree on that description.
Each one of us has come to be bound by these laws because they are inherent in the description of the universe that we have personally adopted. We little knew in our formative years how these gossamer threads of thought would one day come to bind us in hoops of steel, yet that has been our fate.
The laws of physics are the laws of physicists. The consistency of scientific experience is proof only of the consistency of scientific belief, not evidence that the laws themselves are fundamental and unchanging. What we find in nature is what we ourselves have put there.
The avowed purpose of physical science is, as Henry Margenau has indicated, “to organize, to make rational and meaningful, all cognitive human experience.” 6
The problem which science has thus far failed to recognise or address, is that all cognitive human experience is not uniform.
The experiences of each person are unique to that individual, and rest upon the tenets of their own personal belief. Those who think differently experience differently.
The success of science rests upon the fact that, by a careful process of education and conditioning, people have been taught to adopt common ways of thinking. Since, however, there will always be those who choose not to be indoctrinated, science will never be able to speak for “all cognitive human experience.”
Science will never be able to explain in rational and meaningful terms all human experience, but only those experiences which are governed by the consensus which science has itself decreed.
Science will always be confronted by the dilemma which so troubled Albert Einstein: “Alas, our theory is too poor for experience“. Its ultimate limitation will always be demonstrated by the retort of Nils Bohr: “No, No, experience is too rich for our theory.” 7
Science is dominated by the pursuit of scientific truth, that residue of experience which can be shown to be fundamental to all life. Yet science will never be able to reveal the character of the “true” Reality, for no experience can hold a candle to its Being.
Reality is that substratum which underlies all cognitive experience. In the analogy of the cinema, Reality is the screen on which the passing images of the manifested universe appear.
While the pictures cannot be portrayed without the presence of the screen, the screen itself is unaffected by the nature of these scenes. Its integral character remains unblemished.
What science has done has been to reveal to us the nature of the pictures which are reflected upon the screen of Reality. In fact, it has done more. It has actually served to shape these pictures for those who have identified themselves with the scientific mode of thought.
These pictures can never reveal the character of the screen. No picture can show the true nature of the screen. In order to see the screen it is necessary for the flow of images to stop, and this has been the traditional teaching of the Sages down the ages.
Science and Magic
The splendour of science is that is has enabled us to create a structured universe, which appears to be logical, consistent and understandable, and has enabled us thereby to live confident and comfortable lives.
Furthermore, it has enabled us to fashion matter in ever more astonishing ways, and to pamper us in the fulfillment of our desires. The tragedy of science is that it has truncated life, by limiting itself to those things that are of material satisfaction, and by excluding those subjective thoughts and feelings which endow life with supreme significance.
Yet the cycle of the times is changing, and the impending marriage of physics and metaphysics holds promise of healing this artificial rift. The irony of the scientific description of the universe, is that it has triumphed by those very methods which it fought against and sought to overcome.
Western science was born of a medieval society governed by faith and dominated by forces of ignorance and superstition. The crowning achievement of science has been its victory of reason over faith.
It succeeded in replacing the terror filled world of superstition with a rational exposition which illuminated the mysteries which had for so long defied the understanding of humanity.
Scientists, then, have come to represent the very antithesis of those guardians of aboriginal society, the witchdoctor and the shaman. In commenting on the role of the shaman in illiterate society, the explorer Harold Wright wrote:
“The witchdoctor, in effect, steps into the dark and troubled world of primitive man’s mind, beset by fears and anxieties; and by the use of “magic” in various forms, he reduces anxiety and establishes faith.” 8
Science too, has penetrated the dark and troubled world of modern man, beset as it is by a host of anxieties and fears. It has allayed these fears by revealing a less threatening world, which is perceived to be more predictable and understandable. It has presented a world that is responsive to reason and logic.
Science has assured us that those mysteries which still confront us can be resolved by the scientific priesthood. It has used its own “magic”, in the form of its technological marvels to awaken our wonder and to establish faith in its pronouncements.
While the primitive shaman has operated within an unreasoned framework of belief which has made his “magic” possible and relevant, the scientist by contrast, has worked within a reasoned climate of belief, and achieved his “magic” by a similar exploitation of belief.
Both the shaman and the scientist have demonstrated their efficacy and power through their manipulation of belief. The “magic” of the modern scientist, however, far surpasses that of the ancient shaman. Science is not only able to heal, rejuvenate and build, but also to destroy on a scale which dwarfs the imagination.
The truth of the entire scientific enterprise over the last four hundred years is that the scientists of today are no different from those guardians of aboriginal societies, the shamans, the healers and the prophets. Scientists have in fact become the witchdoctors of our times. They are the modern magicians.
And the universe itself is an equal partner in this magic. For no sooner does a shaman, scientist or magician describe the universe according to a specific paradigm, or pattern of belief, than the universe magically transforms itself into an image that exactly matches that belief.
What scientists have yet to realise, however, is that they have always been free to change their so-called “laws” of nature or “laws” of physics to reflect anything they wish, and the universe will always change and act accordingly, as long as scientists genuinely believe this to be true, and teach it in all their schools and universities.
The fallacy of the scientific quest is that, at its most fundamental level, science is not about seeking answers or finding out “the truth”. It is, instead, an exercise in learning how to manipulate form, and getting nature to conform with the prevailing pattern of belief.
And not only are modern scientists no different from their ancient forbears in the role they play within society, but the entire body of western scientific knowledge is simply just another paradigm of thought – another suit of clothes in which to dress the phenomena we see and sense around us.
While the vast majority of trained scientists today firmly believe that they are in the forefront of human understanding about the true nature of the universe, there are a few isolated individuals who have begun to sense the fallacy of scientific truth.
For, as Edward Harrison, professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Massachusetts, remarked on the occasion of receiving the Melcher Award in 1986:
“Human beings of all societies and in all periods of history believe that their ideas on the nature of the real world are the most secure, and that their ideas on religion, ethics and justice are the most enlightened.
Like us, they think that final knowledge is at last within reach. Like us they pity the people in earlier ages for not knowing the true facts. Unfailingly, human beings pity their ancestors for being ignorant and forget that their descendants will pity them for the same reason.
Dare I say that secure knowledge can never be found? That our boundless ignorance explains why we feel so confident of success in bounded knowledge? That each discovery creates in the long run more mystery than it solves? That we stand no closer to the ultimate truth than did our forbears? And that we are no better than the people who lived a thousand and even ten thousand years ago?” 9
Professor Harrison points toward a truth which is as old as humanity, and which we find reflected in the ancient writings of the Hindu sages:
“The greatest of all delusions is the conviction that knowledge is not a delusion.” 10
References
1 “I Am That“, Conversations with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, translated by Maurice Frydman, Book I, Chetana, Bombay, 1973, p. 100. 2 Gary Zukav, “The Dancing Wu Li Masters“, Bantam, New York, 1980, pp. 30-31. 3 “I Am That“, Book I, op.cit., p. 45. 4 “Tripura Rahasya“, translated by Swami Saraswathi, Sri Ramanasramam, Tiruvannamalai, 1962, p. 103. 5 D. T. Suzuki, “Manual of Zen Buddhism“,. Rider, London, 1983, p. 97. 6 Henry Margenau and Lawrence LeShan, “Einstein’s Space and Van Goch’s Sky“, Macmillan, New York, 1982, p. 51. 7 Gary Zukav, “The Dancing Wu Li Masters“, Foreword by David Finkelstein, New York, July 1978. 8 Harry Wright, “Witness to Witchcraft“, Funk and Wagnalls, New York, 1957, p. 53. 9 Quoted in Fate magazine, June, 1988, p. 7. 10 “Tripura Rahasya“, op.cit., p. 157
Allan, The Fallacy of Scientific Truth, July 6, 2015, 10:29 am
Over the period of the last four centuries scientists have been remarkably successful in reducing the mysteries of life to behaviour that is both understandable and predictable, and is derived from certain fundamental principles.
These basic principles have now been formulated as scientific “laws”. And because nature has been observed to act in accordance with these laws, these scientific laws have also been equated with the “laws of nature”.
The success achieved by this scientific method of enquiry has convinced scientists that they have at last succeeded in understanding the inner workings of nature, and in so doing, have discovered the fundamental rules that govern the operation of the universe.
What was not realised until very recently, however, was that this success was actually more apparent than real. It has now become evident that these scientific “laws” are not in fact actual properties of nature at all, but simply nature that has been moulded to reflect the current expectations of scientific minds.
The Work of Thomas Kuhn
It was Thomas Kuhn, an American physicist, historian and philosopher of science at the University of California in Berkeley, who first glimpsed this mirroring influence of the mind in its construction of reality, in the course of his research into the early history of chemistry.
Kuhn focused his research on the life and work of the British chemist John Dalton, who has come to be regarded as the founding father of chemistry by virtue of his pioneering work in the formulation of atomic theory.
Dalton believed that atoms of certain elements combined together in chemical reactions with atoms of other elements in proportions which always remained unchanged. These proportions, claimed Dalton, always presented combinations of whole numbers of atoms, and never involved parts of an atom.
We know today, for example, that water is a chemical compound involving two different elements, hydrogen and oxygen. We also know that one molecule of water consists of a combination of two atoms of hydrogen and one of oxygen, exactly as Dalton predicted.
Furthermore, each molecule of water consists of an unvarying combination of these two elements. We never find two atoms of hydrogen combining with, say, 1.5 atoms of oxygen.
Today, every student of chemistry is taught that Dalton discovered the “real” way in which nature functions. Modern textbooks confirm that this was the way nature had always worked, and that Dalton was merely the first person to tumble to its plan.
However, the truth was not quite so simple. When Kuhn examined the actual historical evidence of that time, it seemed to him that Dalton had not discovered a fundamental “law” of nature at all. Instead, what appeared to have happened was that he had actally been successful in moulding nature to his particular way of thinking.
Prior to John Dalton’s advent into the field of chemistry, a fierce debate had been raging in France between the two chemists, Joseph Proust and Claude Berthollet. Proust claimed that all chemical reactions took place in fixed proportions, while Berthollet argued that chemical compounds could vary in their proportions.
What made this debate so provocative was that each man had assembled an impressive collection of physical evidence to support his contention, and that neither man could convince the other of the fallacy of his point of view.
Now Dalton was not a chemist by training, but was in fact a meteorologist. In approaching the new subject of chemistry Dalton sided with Proust, and argued that in all reactions which were purely chemical in nature, atoms would only combine with one another in proportions which were based on combinations of whole numbers of atoms.
He therefore predicted that one atom of an element would combine with one or more atoms of another element, but not with 1.56 parts of an atom. If such a combination did occur, said Dalton, that combination was not a purely chemical reaction.
It became a basic requirement of Daltonian theory that atoms could only combine in fixed proportions of simple whole numbers.
Naturally, Dalton’s conclusions were immediately attacked by Berthollet, and with good reason, for Berthollet was able to provide empirical proof that certain compounds actually were composed of partial combinations of atoms.
When Dalton looked for evidence to justify his conclusions, he found to his consternation that some results matched his theory, and some did not. Even Proust, who supported Dalton’s view that atoms of oxygen and copper would combine together in a ratio of two to one, found that his experiments yielded a result of 1.47 to one.
Despite the brilliant insight which Dalton had bought to bear upon the theory of chemical combinations, the empirical evidence provided by other chemists did not always bear him out. Nature proved to be far from uniform, and for many years continued to defy Dalton’s neatly ordered plan.
As Thomas Kuhn explains, nature still had to be moulded into Dalton’s chemical paradigm.
“But it is hard to make nature fit a paradigm. That is why the puzzles of normal science are so challenging and also why measurements undertaken without a paradigm so seldom lead to any conclusions at all. Chemists could not, therefore, simply accept Dalton’s theory on the evidence, for much of it was still negative.
Instead, even after accepting the theory, they still had to beat nature into line, a process which, in the event, took almost another generation. When it was done, even the percentage composition of well-known compounds was different. The data themselves had changed.” 1
Creating a Successful Paradigm
The universe was not revealed by Dalton to have been created according to the magic formula of whole-number combinations of atoms. Instead, Dalton’s atomic theory was merely a creation of his mind.
What made Dalton’s theory so attractive to other scientific minds, was that his theory made it possible to assimilate the work of other people like Richter and Gay-Lussac, as well as opening up new possibilities for chemical experimentation.
Had Dalton’s theory initially been rejected on the basis of the conflicting evidence of the time, it is probable that chemistry would never have come to yield the rich practical benefits which we experience today.
Fortunately, as it happened, his theory was successful in gathering converts, even though not all of these early recruits could always achieve the experimental results which his theory demanded.
Yet, as belief in the validity and elegance of the new theory grew, so experimenters began increasingly to produce the results that were expected until there came a time, about a generation later, when they reached uniformity.
It was only then, when nature had been manipulated into a common groove, that chemists could talk with confidence of chemical composition as a fixed “law of nature”. The consistency that then appeared in nature paralleled the consistency of scientific minds.
Nature had gradually been moulded by the minds of chemists until it was able to reproduce that consistency which allows us today to speak of the proportions of atomic reactions as a scientific law.
In truth there never was, nor ever will be any law of nature governing chemical combinations. “Reality” had merely come to mirror the content of people’s minds, as the Sages had predicted.
In the light of the revelations of mystics, we can begin to see how this amazing transformation of the chemical constituency of the universe came to occur.
Our Compliant Universe
To understand this process we need to recognise the fact that the universe is not a physical, objective phenomenon existing independently of our minds. What we consider to be the world outside of us is in fact nothing but a series of images appearing in consciousness.
We have learned to project these images into the form of three-dimensional objects which then appear to have an existence that is independent of ourselves. In the course of shaping our phenomenal world, we have been guided by the ideas of others, and have learned to create a world that is similar to that created by other minds.
We need to understand, furthermore, that the projections of our minds are projections which are coloured by our beliefs, as represented by our thoughts. The way in which we learn to create a common world is by acquiring those beliefs which are common to the group.
To the early pioneers of chemistry, who were making their first forays into the world of chemical analysis, there were conflicting schools of thought regarding the nature of chemical combinations. As can be expected, therefore, these early chemists found that they obtained experimental data which supported a variety of views.
Certain experiments yielded combinations of whole numbers of atoms, while others represented fractional combinations. This was the stage at which the French chemists Proust and Berthollet had their dramatic confrontation.
When Dalton appeared on the scene and argued persuasively in favour of the merits of the whole number ratio, his theory had an internal elegance which immediately appealed to many chemists.
Not everyone was convinced, however, and we can see how for several decades experimental results continued to defy Dalton’s theory. As more and more chemists came to share the Daltonian view, so the experimental results which they obtained came more and more to consolidate into the whole number pattern.
Fractional results became increasingly rare until, after the space of about another generation, they virtually disappeared, allowing the Daltonian theory of chemical combinations to reign supreme. Once all the chemists had begun to think alike, so their results came to reflect this uniformity.
It was this uniformity which served to demonstrate to succeeding generations of students the validity of Dalton’s theory, and that it was in fact a true reflection of the workings of nature.
Today, the textbooks of chemistry leave no doubt at all in the minds of aspiring students that this is a law of nature. Because the novice comes to be indoctrinated into the structure of belief of the overwhelming majority, he or she continues to sustain this universal conformity.
This fundamental belief of chemistry then continues to be verified and validated in the world by each student anew. Yet what their education actually teaches them to do, is to continue to manipulate nature into the accepted pattern of belief.
The Inconsistencies of Science
Although this unifying conditioning is at work equally in all spheres of science, not all students succumb to this conditioning. So, from time to time, odd anomalous results continue to occur. These anomalies are attributed to the shortcomings of the individual student, who is counselled to persist until the accepted or “real” result is obtained.
In the course of education and professional practice these anomalous results tend to be eradicated, as students successfully adopt the universal patterns of belief. Those pupils who consistently fail to embrace the common mould are inevitably branded as being “unscientific”. So they fail to gain admittance to the official sanctuary of science.
The vast emporium of science does not remain static, for there continue to be vendors of new ideas in every field. However, the pioneers of these new advances continue to experience the same frustrations which tormented the early explorers of chemistry. They too find themselves confronted by conflicting results, with no clear evidence as to which idea is the “correct” one.
It is only after the passage of time, and as one single climate of belief comes to predominate, that the results of practical experimentation come to match each other in a consistent way. The Cambridge physicist and Nobel prizewinner Brian Josephson commented on this strange variability of empirical data when he wrote:
“Currently in physics there’s the strange phenomenon that the laws of nature seem to keep on changing. New symmetry violations are being discovered, the velocity of light is found to be different from what people thought it was, and so on.
An odd thing, which may or may not be significant, is that sometimes when a new observation is made different people get different results. In one instance a particular symmetry was broken on one side of the Atlantic, but not on the other; however, after a while everyone got the same results.
The conventional explanation would be that errors were being made on one side of the ocean, but conceivably the true explanation is that the discrepant results were genuine, and that it was the process of communication of knowledge from one side of the Atlantic to the other which caused a kind of phase transition or ordering process, as a result of which identical results were subsequently found in both places.” 2
What Josephson has referred to as “a kind of phase transition or ordering process” which subsequently causes identical results is, in fact, nothing less than the mirroring process of the mind as described by the mystics, and alluded to in the following words:
“The thoughts are the content of the mind, and they shape the universe.” (Ramana Maharshi)
“What we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday, and our present thoughts build our life of tomorrow: our life is the creation of our mind.” (Dhammapada)
“The world becomes for one whatever one is accustomed to think of it. (Tripura Rahasya)
“Experience is shaped by belief and belief is shaped by experience.” (Nisargadatta Maharaj)
Any system of ideas is equally fertile ground for science. There is no theory, whether inherently scientific or not, which is unable to yield fruitful results. There is no limit to the range of theories which can be validated by belief, or manifested by the application of the necessary mental energy.
But, in order to succeed, any new scientific theory, like any new religious faith, has to secure recruits. Without this proselytisation, no scientific theory can hope to accumulate the necessary data of evidential proof. It is through the medium of the spoken and written word that this process of cross-fertilisation takes place.
New scientific theories generate their support in various ways. They gather new devotees either through their inherent elegance and charm, or else through their ability to explain phenomena which were hitherto misunderstood, or viewed in a different light.
The ideas of Newton, Maxwell and Einstein were only able to succeed in achieving the status of scientific paradigms because of their success in soliciting supporters. These supporters were not easily come by at first.
As the years passed, however, and especially as their former opponents retired and died, so the new adherents came to achieve a dominant position of influence. Once a platform of power had been attained and a consensus reached, the natural forces of the paradigm assumed control.
Textbooks were rewritten to accommodate the new ideas, to make them seem as if they were a logical outgrowth of earlier science. Later generations of students were then indoctrinated into accepting the fact that these new theories were proven evidence of the way that nature “really was”.
With the growth of conviction in the efficacy of these new ideas, new empirical data came to mirror these ideas in a consistent way, which then became further proof that the faith which they had placed in these new scientific theories was justified.
There are numerous instances on record where new theories have failed to garner the necessary scientific support. In such cases the budding theory has been condemned as being scientifically sterile, just like the Biblical seed that fell on stony ground.
While these theories may well have been intrinsically sound, and may even have been supported by convincing evidential proof, their failure to gain admission to the official Halls of Academe, has doomed them to be outcast.
The irony of these rejected theories is that they are invariably castigated as being “unscientific.” Yet, in most cases, the problem lies not with the question of their scientific pedigree, but with the fact that they are out of step with the conventional thinking of their time.
Because science has been built upon the foundation of belief that the universe operates in a consistent and predictable manner, the edifice of science has been forced to reflect this consistency. New theories cannot therefore be admitted to the scientific corpus unless they can be shown to be related in some fashion to what has already been accepted.
New theories are not permitted to stand alone, devoid of associated scientific support. The fact that these novel theories may be verifiable in “reality” is then beside the point. They are doomed to be ignored by virtue of their illegitimate birth, as we may see from the following example.
Karel Drbal
In 1949, a Czechoslovakian citizen named Karel Drbal applied to the Czechoslovakian Patent Office for a patent on a device which, he claimed, could sharpen razor blades. Drbal’s device was quite a simple affair, so simple in fact that the chief patent examiner was quite unable to fathom how it worked.
To test its claims, therefore, the examiner personally used this device for ten years before supporting its claim before the patent commission. In 1959, Karel Drbal finally succeeded in being awarded Patent No 91,304 for his unusual device. 3
The sharpener concerned turned out to be a cardboard model of a pyramid, constructed according to the dimensions of the ancient Egyptian pyramid of Cheops. By an odd series of circumstances, Drbal’s invention was fated to spread across the world in subsequent decades as the miracle of “pyramid power”.
By the nineteen seventies this magical power was alleged not only to be able to sharpen razor blades, but also to relieve headaches, restore skin tissue, aid relaxation, promote inner healing, improve sleep, enhance plant growth, hasten seed germination, revive ailing plants, sweeten the taste of coffee, reduce rust, preserve milk and yoghurt, plus a host of other wonderful remedies.
It was in short a panacea for all ills. Unfortunately the bubble finally burst, and pyramid power was relegated to the domain of such pseudo-scientific myths as phlogiston and animal magnetism. The power of the pyramid was officially exposed as a grand psychological deception that had been fostered on a gullible public by the power of suggestion.
Sadly for Drbal, no millions of dollars were to flow into his pockets, nor would he become regaled as a latter day genius, to be ranked along with the scientific giants for the discovery of a new form of energy. Pyramid power was doomed to be forgotten as an irrelevant anomaly.
Yet the irony of this strange saga was, if any solace can be afforded to Drbal, that his original cardboard pyramid continued to sharpen razor blades. The unchallengeable fact was that it really worked. The problem was that it only tended to work for those who believed it would, and when it did work, those people were unable to say why it worked.
Although the power of the pyramid was attributed to a force called “Neoenergy”, science did not welcome this foundling child, because nobody could explain what Neoenergy was, or how it might be related to any other known form of energy.
Drbal himself volunteered the opinion that his razor blades were sharpened by a process of “dehydration and anoxidation”. The razor blade remained sharp he said, because the power of the pyramid forced water molecules out of the metal blade.
Clearly, this was not the sort of explanation that was likely to prompt a chair in pyramidology at Princeton, Harvard or Cambridge. Pyramid power died a natural death, as have many other theories and devices that were inexplicable in terms of the scientific paradigm of their times.
Had it been possible, however, to incorporate the concept of Neoenergy within the accepted framework of existing scientific belief, and to reinforce this belief with the power of consensual agreement through education in every school and university, we would all no doubt today be driving vehicles powered by the miraculous force of Neoenergy.
(Continued in Part Four)
References
1 Thomas Kuhn, “The Structure of Scientific Revolutions“, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1970, pp. 132-134. 2 Brian Josephson, “Possible Connections between Psychic Phenomena and Quantum Mechanics“, New Horizons, Vol. I, No.5, 1975, p. 226. 3 Serge King, “Neoenergy and Geometric Forms“, in “Future Science”, op.cit., pp. 193-197.
Allan, The Fallacy of Scientific Truth, June 22, 2015, 9:48 am
The underlying purpose of all science is the search for scientific laws.
In order to qualify as laws, they must not simply be theoretical ideas, often expressed in mathematical terms, but must also conform to actual experience and be supported by empirical evidence obtained by experimentation.
It is quite possible for a law to be valid theoretically, yet fail to be a true representation of the physical universe. So for example, the Greek mathematician Euclid claimed that it was a mathematical law that the sum of the three angles of any triangle would always amount to 180°, or two right-angles.
But as Einstein subsequently discovered, this did not match the results of his own experiments, because space-time was actually found to be curved and not flat. Euclid’s law therefore could not be accepted as an empirical law, nor could it be regarded as scientific truth.
Prediction and Science
Scientific laws are thus derived from actual observation. They represent a summary of past experience. Nature is believed to operate in a manner which conforms to these laws because this is what scientists have consistently found to be true, in terms of their experiments.
Because science is founded upon reason, it is assumed that what was true of natural behaviour in the past will equally well be true of all natural behaviour in the future. The limits of future possibilities tend, therefore, to be interpreted in the light of past-experience.
Yet historical observation has seldom proved to be a true guide to future possibilities. There have been numerous instances where new developments and inventions have initially been rejected on the grounds that they conflicted with the known “laws of nature”.
For example, when the incandescent light bulb was first invented, a scientific commission was formed in Britain to evaluate its future possibilities. This commission subsequently reported back to Parliament in 1878 that the light bulb was:
“…unworthy of the attention of practical or scientific men. It is impossible to adapt electrical lighting to households. Any attempt to do so is futile for it would flaunt the laws of the universe. On this the most eminent scientists agree.” 1
We may be amused today at the ignorance displayed by this Parliamentary Commission. Yet it was composed of scientists who were all highly respected people within their various fields of specialisation.
It is worth recalling too, that at the beginning of the 20th century it was considered impossible to travel at fifty miles (eighty kilometres) an hour, or to fly above the ground in a vehicle heavier than air. The explanation given in both of these two cases was also that to do so would contravene the “laws of nature”.
Scientists have, in fact, been poor prognosticators of the future. Even Einstein rejected the idea that nuclear energy would ever be utilised by humanity, when he declared in 1932 that “there is not the slightest indication that (nuclear) energy will ever be obtainable. It would mean that the atom would have to be shattered at will.” 2
As it happened, scientists succeeded in shattering the atom at will a bare decade or so after these words were spoken. In another momentous statement which has since become famous, the British Astronomer Royal, Dr Richard Woolley, announced in January 1956 that “space travel is utter bilge“. 3
The reason why scientists have traditionally been poor prophets is a legacy of the classical age of science, when the universe was regarded as being a giant machine, operating according to certain basic principles which were presumed to have already been discovered.
These “laws”, according to which Nature was considered to operate, were the product of past observation. When the “new” physics of quantum mechanics exposed the shortcomings of the Giant Machine, and challenged the accepted belief that it was possible to examine the universe in any objective or neutral way, these laws in turn became more vulnerable.
Once the status of the observer gave way to the idea of the participator, the experimenter who actively influenced the results of each experiment, past observation could no longer be accepted without question as acknowledged truth. The universe became at once a far more dynamic place, and one that was filled with new subjective possibilities.
The Search for Facts
In its pursuit of meaning in this universe of experience, the fundamental ingredients of science are “facts”. Facts may be different things or different circumstances. They may be objects or portions of objects, or they may be events or patterns of events.
Whatever each datum happens to be, it does not become a scientific fact until a measurement of some sort is made. Science does not present itself as art. It is not a pursuit whereby one individual relates to his or her environment in an individual and unique way. Science represents a body of knowledge that is based on the experiments of vast numbers of individuals.
It is a necessary requirement of science, that what is regarded as a fact by one scientist must be equally recognisable as such by another, albeit with the requisite education and experience. Again, facts only become facts when they are measured.
The temperature of boiling water only becomes a fact when it is observed according to a system of measurement. Furthermore, this measurement must be capable of being replicated by anyone else. It is out of countless such observations made by successive generations of scientifically trained observers, that the corpus of scientific knowledge has been acquired.
Now facts are meaningless by themselves. The temperature of boiling water carries no meaning when compared to the colour of a tortoise shell or the speed of an approaching taxi. Although these are legitimate facts in themselves, they only acquire scientific significance when they can be linked together in a meaningful way.
Facts only become of interest to a scientist when they can be combined in the form of a theory. As the physicist W. F. Barrett has pointed out, “without a theory facts are a mob, not an army“.
It is only when facts can be grouped together in a significant way, either as a pattern of similar facts, or in comparison with others, that they assume meaning to a scientist. It goes without saying that a fact is not significant unless it is recognised to be significant.
The level of mercury in a thermometer is an important fact to a chemist who is conducting an experiment involving heat, but is meaningless to an aboriginal forest dweller who has never seen a thermometer and has no idea of its function.
All facts, therefore, only become facts in relation to a particular attitude of mind. It is the mental outlook of the individual that determines which facts are significant and how they may be linked together in a meaningful way.
The Early History of Science
The early scientific investigators of the sixteenth century had no precedents as to what was significant and what was not, and they proceeded according to their own inner curiosity and conviction.
These scientific pioneers communicated the results of their investigations to others, and did so in ways which made it possible for others to duplicate them for their own satisfaction. In due course, people of similar theoretical persuasions banded together to form schools of common interest.
Although the early history of science was characterised by independent and localised research, with no general consensus between members of different schools of thought, there appeared certain scientists who were men of such towering intellectual ability, and who were able to coordinate facts in novel ways of such brilliant ingenuity, that they were able to dominate the science of their day.
These men of genius were able to explain nature in ways which transformed the previously accepted habits of thought.
The first of these men in the history of western science was Copernicus. Copernicus did not discover facts which were unknown to astronomers trained in the Ptolemaic school of astronomy. What he did was to explain these facts in a completely new way.
It was his brilliant and revolutionary insight which enabled subsequent generations of astronomers to add a wealth of information about celestial objects, and to explain this information in ways which overcame the problems inherent in the Ptolemaic system of astronomy.
Other examples of these intellectual giants were Sir Isaac Newton, the British physicist James Maxwell, and Albert Einstein. These men revolutionised the theoretical constructs of their times, in ways which had profound implications for future scientific research and development.
Science and Revolution
In referring to such men, the scientific historian Thomas Kuhn wrote that each “transformed the scientific imagination in ways that we shall ultimately need to describe as a transformation of the world within which scientific work was done.” 4
Kuhn called these transformations scientific revolutions, and he used the term “paradigm” to describe them. He defined a scientific paradigm as “the entire constellation of beliefs, values, techniques, and so on shared by members of a given community.” 5
Paradigms according to Kuhn, were scientific revolutions which altered the entire perspectives of their times, being “universally recognised scientific achievements that for a time provided model problems and solutions to a community of practitioners.” 6
In tracing the history of the scientific adventure, Kuhn noted that progress was far from linear, in which one scientific discovery led naturally to another. Instead, he found that scientific development followed a somewhat similar course to the social and political upheavals of those years, in which steady development was punctuated by outbreaks of sudden violence, leading to dramatic changes in the nature of those societies.
In between these outbreaks of violence, there occurred periods of relative stability in which progress was again able to follow its normal course. In dissecting the nature of these scientific revolutions, Kuhn found that, like their social counterparts, each tended to display a common character, and to develop in common ways.
He found, for example, that each new scientific revolution did more than build upon the theories of its predecessors, for each completely changed the foundations of the past. As each new paradigm became entrenched, it was necessary not only to reconstruct past theory, but also to re-evaluate past fact.
A new paradigm was not just an incremental advance on what was already known, but demonstrated a complete revision of the past. It also provided new avenues for solving the anomalies of the past and opened up new vistas for potential exploration.
Although Kuhn found that no paradigm was able to explain all the facts with which it was confronted, each new paradigm came to be accepted by the scientific community as being clearly superior to the one it superseded.
According to Kuhn, once a paradigm became universally accepted, it became possible for scientists to operate within a designated and expressed body of belief, and to apply these beliefs in novel ways. Kuhn referred to the science practised within any paradigm as “normal” science.
Under an accepted scientific paradigm, it was no longer necessary for the individual scientist to re-evaluate the entire history of science. He or she was able to work within a framework of belief that was universally acknowledged.
It was an inevitable result of the success of each new paradigm that textbooks came to be rewritten, in order to incorporate these new beliefs. The new generation of textbooks then presented the new paradigm in the light of historical perspective, in a way that suggested that it was a simple and logical outgrowth of the past.
But Kuhn found that this was seldom the case, for like all revolutions, new paradigms succeed by convulsively shaking up the accepted order of the past. As he explained:
“From the beginning of the scientific enterprise, a textbook presentation implies scientists have striven for the particular objectives that are embodied in today’s paradigm. But that is not the way a science develops. Many of the puzzles of contemporary normal science did not exist until after the most recent revolution. Very few of them can be traced back to the historic beginning of the science within which they occur.” 7
New generations of students learn from a new generation of textbooks which suggest, not only that the history of science has been linear and cumulative, but that new answers have been found for old questions. Antiquated science is presented in the form of out-of-date beliefs based on inadequate information or limited understanding.
To the historian of science, however, the scientific theories of the past are as intrinsically scientific and sound as any that are current today. Because of this it seems likely that those theories which are today accorded the sanctity of scientific “truth” will one day be replaced, and in due course will be regarded as equally unscientific, in the light of a new framework of belief.
The Foundation of Belief
The validity of any scientific theory rests therefore upon its underlying foundation of belief. When the structure of that belief changes, then the theory which had previously seemed to be entirely adequate, comes to be recognised as being scientifically deficient.
For as long as the scientific paradigm prevails, normal science conducts a vigorous campaign to force nature into line with those conceptual beliefs which characterise the new paradigm, motivated by the conviction that this new paradigm is able to reveal nature “as it really is”.
Within the limitations of the paradigm, this normal science at first succeeds brilliantly in solving problems which could hardly have been imagined in the past. The range of technological achievements and practical utilisation grows apace.
The paradigm does, however, exert a subtle restraining influence upon the practitioners of this normal science. It inevitably determines what scientific problems are valid within that paradigm, and which are to be ignored as being unscientific.
Kuhn also points to another subtle characteristic of each scientific revolution which he calls the “invisibility” of the paradigm. Those practitioners of normal science who have been trained within a specific paradigm, and who have acquired its underlying philosophy of belief, seldom see the limiting pressures of the paradigm itself. They remain unable to extricate themselves from the limitations of their paradigm, for they are generally unaware of its existence.
Normal science works within a paradigm and, as Kuhn points out, is at first spectacularly successful in resolving problems that arise within the framework of that paradigm. As the body of data generated by normal science grows, however, certain anomalies appear which cannot be explained by the paradigm.
Initially these anomalies are small in number, and can easily be dismissed as being of little consequence in the overall scheme of things. As they grow more numerous, it becomes increasingly difficult to ignore them and the prevailing paradigm becomes increasingly unwieldy or contrived.
It was precisely this state of unwieldy complexity in Ptolemaic astronomy, which was reduced to explaining the motion of celestial objects by means of an increasing number of epicycles, that led to the breakthrough of understanding provided by Copernicus.
Changing Paradigms
When a scientific paradigm is overburdened by anomalies which it is unable to explain, it becomes ripe for revolutionary crisis. These crises have generally been resolved in the history of western science by lonely men of genius, who have been able to present an entirely new way of evaluating past data.
Founders of new paradigms are invariably young men who have, in one way or another, escaped the conditioning of their colleagues, and who have not yet become entrenched within their professions.
They are thus able to bring a new vision to their fields of practice, and to link past data in revolutionary ways which are successful in explaining most of the unexplained anomalies of the past.
These revolutionary purveyors of new ideas have traditionally met with a wave of resistance from “normal” scientists who have been conditioned in the old habits of thinking. Not surprisingly, this resistance has been particularly marked among those scientists whose status and reputation have been built upon the old ideas, and therefore have the most to lose by an overthrow of the old regime.
Each scientific revolution proceeds therefore very much like its social or military counterpart. It is led by a young and bold leader, who is successful in drawing to his or her side recruits, who then do battle with the old guard who have become entrenched in the traditional ways of thinking.
Success, however, does not come easily or immediately. It often takes several generations before victory is complete and the old paradigm is successfully demolished.
As Max Planck, who was himself a progenitor of new ideas, sadly reflected: “A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it.” 8
Planck had good reason for this comment, for he was able to draw on the harsh criticism and initial rejection which greeted his discovery of the quantum. But he was in good company, for it took almost a hundred years for the ideas of Copernicus to become generally accepted, while Newton’s theories were not adopted in his own lifetime.
Einstein’s theory of relativity, arguably the most explosive theory in the history of science, and which daily dominates our lives in the form of the nuclear threat, was met with initial disbelief and to this day has failed to merit the Nobel prize for physics.
False Assumptions
We have seen that science concerns itself with “observables.” As scientists have penetrated ever more deeply into the secrets of matter, they have come to examine more closely this question of observation.
Under the paradigm of classical physics dominated by Sir Isaac Newton, matter was considered to be something inert which had definite substance, and which existed and moved in empty space.
In the 20th century matter has been discovered to be something far more subtle. We have found that we can never, even in principle, learn anything about the actual nature of matter directly. All we can ever know about the world is what our senses tell us.
The nuclear physicist who charts the path of an electron through a cloud chamber is not in direct contact with reality. All he or she can say with certainty is that what was taken for an electron interacted with the cloud chamber and revealed itself to his or her senses in a particular way.
All of physical science rests ultimately upon the evidence of the senses. Even the instruments of science are simply extensions of the senses. The evidence that reveals itself to the scientist is never an objective reality which exists independently of the mind.
The new view of reality, as indicated by the new physics, is that the “observer” of classical physics has had to be replaced by the concept of “participator”. A person who sets up an experiment inevitably influences the result of that experiment by virtue of the act of participation.
According to this new view of reality, it is never possible to examine nature “as it really is”, but only through that particular filter which characterises each individual mind. The outcome of any experiment will thus inevitably be dominated by the contents of that mind.
The very essence of the scientific enterprise has been an attempt to reduce all human experience to certain fundamental principles which are true for every person. In undertaking this pursuit, science has operated under certain subtle assumptions which have seldom been recognized, let alone challenged.
The first and most important assumption is that the phenomena with which it deals form part of a physical universe that is both “real” and exists “objectively” in space.
Secondly, science has assumed that this “real” universe is experienced equally by everyone alike. That being so, scientists have logically concluded that any result obtained by a trained scientist in any one discipline, will automatically match the result achieved by any other scientist in that discipline who follows the same protocol.
Thirdly, the entire scientific quest is based upon the assumption that the universe is both rational and consistent, and that all phenomena can ultimately be reduced to a single set of rules. Within the boundaries of these overall assumptions scientists have set to work to identify those rules.
Yet the irony is that, because each of these three assumptions has now been found to be false, all of the so-called “laws” deduced by scientists from this data over the last four hundred years, must necessarily be false as well.
(Continued in Part Three)
References
1 Quoted in “Future Science“, edited by John White and Stanley Krippner, Anchor, New York, 1977, pp. 344-345. 2 C. Cerf and V. Navasky, “The Experts Speak“, Pantheon Books, New York, 1984, p. 215. 3 Ibid, p. 258. 4 Thomas Kuhn, “The Structure of Scientific Revolutions“, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1970, p. 6. 5 Ibid, p. 175. 6 Ibid, p.viii. 7 Ibid, p. 140. 8 Max Planck, “Scientific Autobiography“, translated by F.Gaynon, Philosophical Library, New York, 1949, pp. 33-34.
Allan, The Fallacy of Scientific Truth, June 1, 2015, 3:19 pm
As has been pointed out in earlier posts, the world that appears to exist outside of ourselves is an illusion. What seems to us to be a solid, physical and objective reality, is in fact an outward projection of images that exist subjectively in consciousness.
What this means is that the universe that appears to surround us is actually a projection of our minds. And because there is nothing physical outside of ourselves, there obviously cannot be any such thing as a Creator of the cosmos, or any “law” that governs the workings of the universe.
However, over the course of the last four centuries, our lives have become so dominated by the technological marvels bestowed upon us by science, that science has now become the accepted yardstick for determining what is real, as well as the final authority on what is true.
So if we want to understand how scientists have allowed themselves to be misled, and how the fallacy of a real, physical universe obeying various fundamental laws of nature has come to be accepted as scientific truth, we need to take a closer look at the way in which the history of science has actually unfolded.
The Quest for Knowledge
Science stands today as a monument to mankind’s insatiable curiosity for knowledge and understanding. The word science itself is derived from the Latin root Scire, meaning “to know”. In the words of the American physicist Henry Margenau, the aim of science is “to organize, to make rational and meaningful, all cognitive human experience.” 1
The success of science, and the reason why it has proved to be the dominant description of reality on the planet today, is due to its success in doing just what Margenau has described.
Science has enabled us to explain our experiences in this mysterious universe in terms which, if not clearly understandable to all, are at least meaningful to those who have devoted themselves to a study of those terms. No man or woman today is capable of grasping every aspect of physical science. It is an edifice that has grown too large to be encompassed by a single mind.
However, the various rooms of this edifice are not isolated from one another. They are connected by common pathways of thought which are rational and consistent in themselves. The vast complex that is modern science therefore presents itself as a coherent and uniform whole.
The history of Western science began some two and a half thousand years ago with the philosophical theories of the early Greeks, and the first scientists are considered to have been men like Aristotle, Archimedes, Hippocrates, Galen, Ptolemy and Euclid.
There is however, one way in which modern science differs markedly from that practised by the early Greeks. The early progenitors of science were content to derive an intuitive understanding of the universe based on philosophical reflection. Their laws of nature were invariably intuitively deduced.
The Greeks did not feel the need to prove their deductive laws by means of physical experiments, to see whether what they had theorised actually was a true reflection of the outer world.
It took almost another two millennia for the scientific method as we have come to know it today to reach full maturity. It did so primarily in the person of Sir Isaac Newton, who stressed the necessity for linking observation and experiment into a unified system of rational investigation.
The Need for Observation
For Newton, the basis of all science was observation. In order for anything to be explained, it had first to be observed. If something could not be observed it was pointless to discuss it, and science could contribute nothing to an understanding of its nature. Whatever was observed could be reduced to various mathematical expressions.
These mathematical formulae, however, meant nothing unless they could subsequently be confirmed by objective experiment. For Newton, it was not enough to arrive at various conclusions by means of mathematical analysis alone. These conclusions had to be tested by means of physical experiments, to ensure that they were valid representations of reality.
It was only through this winnowing process of trial and error that the kernel of truth could be found and separated from its surrounding husk of ignorance. Only in this way could science become a truly independent and self-enclosed system, which no longer rested upon superstition and blind belief.
Only those things in life were true which could be validated by the scientific method. It was because of the success whereby the inner secrets of nature were revealed by this scientific method that science increasingly came to don the mantle of authority in determining what was ultimately true and real.
While religion and the Church had previously dominated the outlook of mankind, they came in time to play an increasingly minor role, until ultimately, the Church was considered to have no authority at all in matters of physical reality. The final authority for all matters relating to the nature of the universe came to rest with physical scientists.
In their quest for an understanding of the physical universe, the first task which scientists undertook was to identify the observables. In this evaluation it was clear that the experiences of life fell into two broad categories.
The first of these groups was that of objective experience, characterised by physical objects and events involving these physical objects. The second category of experience was subjective, and was characterised by inward states of mind.
As every person knows, life unfolds as a series of encounters with physical objects located in space, that take the form of sequential events in time. However, these encounters also involve a category of experience that is clearly subjective and independent of outward form.
These experiences include various thoughts, values, ideas and judgements, as well as differing states of emotion. This inner world was seen to be personal, subjective and separate from the objects and circumstances that made up the physical universe.
The Cartesian Split
It was only natural, therefore, that scientists should have decided at the outset of their investigation to divide all observables into two separate categories. One of these categories was called “matter”, and the other was called “mind”.
The realm of matter was seen to be the proper preserve of science, while the realm of mind was considered to be something that should best be left to philosophy.
It was this fundamental division of the experience of life into two opposing categories that was formalised by the French mathematician and philosopher René Descartes, in a split that has come to be known as Cartesian dualism.
By the early eighteenth century, physical science had come to concern itself solely with those aspects of the world which could be identified and measured in a quantitative way.
It was the art of measurement that was used to decide into which realm any particular observable should be allocated. If something could be measured, it fell within the theatre of physical science. If not, then it lay within the realm of philosophy and religion.
The evaluation of the observations within these different realms was, however, subject to entirely separate methods of analysis. Science operated under the searching light of reason, while religion was considered to be a function of faith, operating within a specific climate of belief.
It was this resolute resort to reason which prompted scientists to exclude all subjective factors from the pursuit of science. All emotions, hopes, desires and fears were seen to be subjective states of mind which had no place in the scientific protocol.
This attitude of scientific dispassion, or reducing science to an exercise devoid of all emotion, has become a cardinal feature of the scientific method. In retrospect, however, it was a natural and predictable result of the Cartesian split between matter and mind.
It was only in the latter half of the 20th century that this primary fracture of the universe into two opposing camps of “matter” and of “mind” came to be re-evaluated, and cause a growing body of scientists to realise that this initial division was both arbitrary and artificial, and a barrier to deeper understanding.
While this separation had been useful at first in enabling scientists to gain an insight into the nature and interrelationships of physical objects, it did nothing to assist them in the ultimate purpose of the entire enterprise, which was to understand the true nature of “all cognitive human experience.”
The Growth of Specialisation
It was not long after the initial separation between physical objects and subjective states that science began to be further subdivided for reasons of convenience, and to allow scientists to specialise in areas of their choice.
Physical science was divided into different categories such as physics, chemistry, medicine, biology and others. Physics, in turn, was later compartmentalised into such specialised categories as electromagnetism, mechanics, thermodynamics, geology, geography, astronomy and astrophysics.
It was also inevitable that as these specialised pursuits developed, scientists would find the need to develop certain words to identify those specific islands which dotted their various streams of investigation. These descriptive terms became in time the technical jargon which today characterises all categories of modern science.
While the use of clearly defined terms to describe specific objects or conditions has proved to be useful in the communication of ideas within each specific avenue of science, it has served equally effectively in creating barriers between one subdivision and another.
In order to participate in any field of science today, it is necessary to understand the specific language which characterises that field. Membership of a specific scientific group is conferred by education and training and tends to be exclusive.
Members who have passed the necessary initiation are not only bound together by virtue of their common interests and language, but have tended, perhaps understandably, to be insular and to resist interference by specialists trained in other fields.
So while science as a whole has grown into a vast building comprising numerous different levels and a host of different rooms, the unity of the entire structure is almost never grasped. Instead, specialists tend to operate largely independently of others and to resent intrusion by practitioners of other disciplines.
Again it is only in recent years that the artificiality of these divisions has come to be recognised, and scientists have begun to share their insights via multi-disciplinary conferences and projects.
The Search for Scientific Laws
Each category of scientific investigation has proceeded according to an etiquette which has now become the crux of the scientific method.
The first requirement of any science is, as we have seen, to determine the observables. In any category of science there needs to be agreement as to what it is that needs to be explained. While there has been an inevitable blurring between categories at times, on the whole each division of science has been successful in staking out for itself a region of observables.
Linked with this question of observables is the intrinsic question of measurement. For any observable to be valid it has to be capable of being measured. If something cannot be measured in a certain way, it is not regarded as a legitimate scientific observable.
Once measurements have been successfully undertaken, scientists then investigate how these various measurements can be linked together. On the basis of their initial investigations, a theoretical hypothesis is formed. This hypothesis suggests a way in which the various observables may be bound together.
A hypothesis is seldom based upon any single measurement, but rests upon a number of observations. A scientific hypothesis, therefore, is at first mere speculation, based upon a sequence of observations. It is initially a thought construct, and is unverified.
For a hypothesis to become a legitimate scientific theory, it is necessary to verify it in practice. It is for this reason that various tests are made to see whether the hypothesis is supported by factual or empirical evidence.
This evidence is gained by undertaking specific physical experiments, which are conducted according to strict protocols of control. Whenever the results of such experimentation confirm the original hypothesis, this hypothesis is upgraded to the level of a scientific theory.
When a scientific theory has been proven to be in accord with physical reality, it then becomes possible to make certain predictions about the future behaviour of known observables. These predictions are then tested by means of further controlled experiments.
If the results of these predictions successfully uphold the scientific theory, and there are no results which effectively undermine its validity, then the theory is elevated to the status of scientific “law”.
(Continued in Part Two)
References
1 Henry Margenau and Lawrence LeShan, “Einstein’s Space and Van Goch’s Sky“, Macmillan, New York, 1982, p. 51.
Allan, The Fallacy of Scientific Truth, May 25, 2015, 7:40 pm
In tracing the process of vision to its source, we have seen how energy is converted from one form into another until it finally reaches the visual centre of the cerebral cortex. At this point, however, our scientific knowledge ends and we are left with pure surmise.
Science has so far been unable to explain exactly how a mental image occurs in our brains. It is obvious that no image can occur unless there exists something in which, or on which, this image can appear. This base, or substratum, is consciousness itself.
When we say that we see something, what we are saying is that the image of that something registers upon our consciousness. If it didn’t, we could never become aware of it. But the central mystery of vision is preceded by an even greater mystery.
Not only has science been unable to explain how a mental image comes to appear in consciousness, but it has also been unable to say how consciousness itself arises.
If consciousness is regarded as the product of a physical process within the brain, as psychologists still maintain, then some part of the brain must obviously be responsible for its creation.
So far, however, no evidence of any source of consciousness has yet been found to exist within the brain, nor is there any accepted explanation to account for its appearance.
So great has been the conviction of science that a real, objective universe exists “out there” in space, that physicists, psychologists and biologists have simply accepted that sensory feedback of this outer world, somehow does come to be registered in consciousness.
The fact that scientists have thus far been unable to explain how this occurs, has not deterred them from believing that it does take place, although in some as yet unexplained manner. Until it is explained, however, this traditional scientific belief is simply an article of faith.
But there is a way out of the dilemma that has confounded scientists for so long. It is a way that mystics have been pointing out for untold ages. As the Sages have consistently revealed, the objects which appear to exist “out there”, do not in fact exist “out there” at all.
The truth is that there is nothing outside of us, and everything that we see and sense is contained within consciousness itself.
The only thing that can be said to exist is consciousness itself. Images appear in consciousness, and it is these images that are then projected outwardly, in a way that makes it seem as if there is an outer universe.
This conclusion is also supported by the vast body of evidence contained in dreams, hallucinations, and other “alternate” states. Charles Muses speaks for this conclusion when he says:
“A salient fact of modern brain research should be stated here: The brain is not the source of its own primary motivational impulses.” (Original italics) 1
Put in a nutshell, consciousness does not arise as a result of any physical process within the brain. It is the brain that exists in consciousness. In fact the entire physical body is itself a projection of consciousness.
It is not the neural activity of the brain which leads to thoughts in consciousness. It is the thoughts in consciousness which are revealed in the form of neural activity. The brain does not produce consciousness. It is consciousness which produces the image of the body, along with its apparent centre of intelligence, the brain. As Ramana Maharshi explains:
“Where is the brain? It is in the body. I say that the body itself is a projection of the mind. You speak of the brain when you think of the body. It is the mind which creates the body, the brain in it, and also ascertains that the brain is its seat.” 2
Science has not only been unable to explain the central mystery of thought and consciousness, but the latest insights into Quantum Mechanics have brought science to the brink of incoherence. Physicist Richard Feynman, himself a Nobel prize winner, has written;
“I think I can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics.” 3
His reason for saying this is because the entire science of Quantum Mechanics ultimately consists of nothing more than a series of mathematical equations. When physicists get together to discuss what these equations really mean, they encounter almost insuperable difficulties, due to the limitations of human language.
What this means is that these equations cannot accurately be explained in words (of any language). They are beyond intellectual analysis. But if what is “out there” cannot adequately be explained, and the process of perception itself cannot adequately be understood, then the wonderful world of science has been reduced to a droll impasse.
As was pointed out earlier, it was the University of California professor George Stratton who, in 1896, performed an experiment that has proved to be of central importance to this question of perception. He made a pair of goggles, fitted with inverting lenses, which had the effect of turning everything that was looking at upside down.
He personally carried out an experiment over a period of eight days, during which he wore these goggles for periods of up to thirteen hours a day. When he was not wearing these goggles, he was securely blindfolded, so that he did not revert to his former habit of seeing.
At first Stratton felt profound disorientation accompanied by considerable physical distress, as he tried to manoeuvre himself around his inverted world, in which his feet now appeared where the sky used to be. As he persisted, he began to feel a gradual affinity for his strange new world, and to move about it with increasing confidence.
It was on the fourth day of his experiment that an extraordinary thing happened. Instead of appearing upside down as it had done thus far throughout the experiment, the world suddenly appeared to Stratton to turn itself the “right way up” again.
As he continued with his experiment, these sudden reversions to the “normal” way of viewing the world occurred with increasing frequency. As he pointed out:
“It is certainly difficult to understand how the scene as a whole could even temporarily have appeared upright when the retinal image was not inverted.” (Original italics) 4
Yet Stratton claimed, this was precisely what happened.
In 1964, another experiment was performed by a man named Kohler, in which selected volunteers were fitted with special goggles incorporating right-angle prisms. These goggles maintained the world the right way up, but they reversed the retinal images from side to side, so that objects that used to be seen on the left now appeared on the right, and vice versa.
Kohler found, just as Stratton had discovered, that his subjects began to have sudden glimpses in which the images reverted to their “normal” setting. Variations also occurred within the scenes that subjects were viewing, so that some parts of the scene were “normal”, while other parts of the identical scene remained reversed. 5
The traditional viewpoint of science has been that images of actual objects in space are reflected upon the retina of the eye. Each one of the one hundred and thirty million photoreceptor cells located in the retina, then send tiny electrical impulses via the optic nerve to the thalamus, and from there to the visual portion of the cerebral cortex, where the complicated process of vision is believed to take place.
But if each photoreceptor cell continues to send a signal to the brain of just that part of the retinal image for which it is responsible, we must ask ourselves how the brain can possibly scramble an image from left to right, or from upside down to right side up again.
The brain is frequently thought of as a sort of super-computer, serviced by a network of different nerve cells, with each neuron responsible for sending its own unique signal.
But if the physical network of signals from the eye to the brain remains unchanged, then how is it that the resulting image is able to change?
This cannot be due to a change in the network of communication to the brain, for no change has taken place.
Instead, we are faced with the inevitable conclusion that the visual images are actually projections of the mind. So when the mind finds itself thwarted in its customary relationship with its environment, it merely rearranges the visual images to suit its needs.
The experiments of Stratton and Kohler have provided evidential proof of the projecting power of the mind, as the mystics have long taught.
It is the category of mental imagery known as hallucination, that remains the key to the understanding of the functioning of the mind. Hallucinations are not merely temporary aberrations of an unsound mind, in which unexpected images happen to overshadow “normal reality”. They are in fact beacons illustrating the true nature of “normal reality”.
What we call “normal reality” is actually a projection of the mind, and our day-to-day waking world is just as much a hallucination as the unexpected images which are passed off as ephemeral visions.
There is another clue which should help us to understand this fact. Whenever any form of hallucination supervenes upon the waking state, there is never any awareness of the onset of this new vision, nor when it ends. Awareness remains unbroken.
For this reason, people who experience hallucinatory visions in the course of their waking state remain firmly convinced that what they experienced at the time, was still “normal reality”.
When told that what they had experienced was illusory, they simply refuse to believe that what they saw “with their own eyes”, was not actually real. Their confusion remains perfectly understandable.
For if it is the function of our eyes to reflect what is actually “out there”, as we have been conditioned to believe, then what is seen by our eyes in the course of waking consciousness, is inevitably taken to be a true reflection of what actually is out there.
However, the value of hallucinatory experience, for those who have the wit to perceive it, lies in the recognition that our experience of the world is just another variation of images projected by our minds. As Aldous Huxley has affirmed:
“And the experience can be very liberating and widening in other ways. It shows that the world one habitually lives in is merely a creation of this conventional, closely conditioned being which one is, and that there are quite other kinds of worlds outside. It is a very salutary thing to realize that the rather dull universe in which most of us spend most of our time is not the only universe there is.” 6
The truth defies the age-old reliance that we have come to place upon our senses. For the majority of us, we simply cannot bring ourselves to believe that what we have for so long thought of as “reality”, may not in fact be real.
This is a hard road to travel, and it is a path that is invariably rejected by those who first encounter it. But the idea that what we see “out there” in space is actually a projection of our own minds, is a discovery that has the power to transform our lives.
For in this revolutionary insight, there lies hidden the key to true creative freedom. Those who find it gain the power to mould their own reality. They learn to write their will upon the world, and to emblazon their thoughts across the stars.
References
1 Charles Muses, “Paraphysics: A New View of Ourselves and the Cosmos“, in “Future Science”, edited by John White and Stanley Krippner, Anchor, New York, 1977, p. 283. 2 “Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi“, recorded by Swami Saraswathi, Sri Ramanasramam, Tiruvannamalai, 1968, p. 296. 3 Richard Feynman, “The Character of Physical Law“, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press, 1967, p. 129. 4 George Stratton, “Vision without Inversion of the Retinal Image“, Psychological Review, Vol IV, No.4, 1897, pp. 341-360. 5 Charles Harris, “Perceptual Adaptation to Inverted, Reversed, and Displaced Vision“, Psychological Review, Vol.72, No.6, 1965, pp. 419-444. 6 Aldous Huxley, “Moksha – Writings on Psychedelics and the Visionary Experience”, edited by M. Horowitz and C.Palmer, Tarcher, Los Angeles, 1977, p. 178.
The mystics claim that the world we think of as real, is actually a subjective phenomenon appearing in the mind that we have learned to project outside of ourselves.
But this conflicting view of the world leaves us with a mystifying conundrum. For if the world we see and interact with has a subjective nature that is projected by our minds, then how is it that our senses are able to respond to the world as if it had an objective reality?
If the mystics are correct, then there must be some fundamental flaw in the scientific interpretation of the way in which our senses operate. In order to find this flaw, we need to investigate the scientific explanation of the process whereby the outer world comes to reveal itself to our minds.
For example, let us examine how our sense of sight conveys information about the outside world to our brains according to accepted scientific theory. When we look at a tree, we see it by means of our eyes, and the image of the tree is conveyed from our eyes to the brain. The brain then furnishes the image of the tree in our minds.
So we may illustrate this process in the following rudimentary fashion.
In order to see the tree, however, there must be sufficient light. If there was complete darkness, we would be unable to see anything at all. If we assume that the sun is shining, and that the tree is illuminated by the light of the sun in the form of various rays of light, then these light waves are reflected by the tree, and these reflected light waves penetrate the eye.
Once the light enters the eye, the lens of the eye causes an inverted image of the tree to be displayed on the retina, at the back of the eyeball. This inverted image is then conveyed to the brain by means of the optic nerve, and is then converted by the brain into the mental image of the tree, as shown below.
In order to see the tree, it is necessary for photons (electromagnetic particles of light) to strike the tree. These photons are then reflected by the tree, and when they enter the eye they are focused on the retina.
By a process of electrical and chemical transmission, the information registered upon the retina is conveyed to the brain along the optic nerve. These signals finally reach the visual control centre of the cerebral cortex, where they are converted into the final image of the tree.
It is important to recognise that between the sun, the tree and the eye, there exists only electromagnetic radiation, in the form of photons of light. There can be no question at this stage of any image of a tree. There are merely particles of light, or, as we have learned from their complementary nature, wave-particles of energy.
When this energy meets the receptor cells located in the retina, it is converted into electrical information by a process known as transduction, and is then routed via the optic nerve to the thalamus in the brain.
The thalamus is a type of relay station, which then passes the information received along the optic nerve, through another set of nerve fibres, to the primary visual cortex at the back of the brain. When these signals reach this portion of the brain, they still have to be deciphered.
It is the action of the visual cortex that finally creates the picture of the tree which then appears in consciousness. It is only when all the various signals are combined in consciousness, that a visual image of the tree becomes possible, and we actually get to “see” the tree.
This visual image is assumed to be a true reflection of the object that actually exists out there in space. We assume that the signals relayed to us by our senses have in fact been transmitted with true fidelity. But we have no way of knowing whether they have done so correctly or not.
The image which has formed itself in our consciousness is the only image we know, and it is this image in our consciousness which is then projected by our mind, as an actual object existing in three-dimensional space.
When we say that we “see” something, therefore, what we are really doing is identifying an image in our minds, and then projecting this image into space as a physical object.
We never therefore actually see anything “out there” at all. Everything that we see simply consists of various impressions registered upon our consciousness. Now let us examine a little more closely the process whereby the image of the tree is created in consciousness.
There are various stages in this process, which we can now identify as follows:
The signals from the tree to the eye are conveyed by electromagnetic radiation in the form of light waves, or photons. These signals form an inverted image upon the retina of the eye.
Embedded within the human retina are over one hundred and thirty million photoreceptors. The photoreceptors are tiny cells that convert light into neural activity, and this nervous energy then travels by way of various nerve fibres to the brain.
There are two basic types of photoreceptor cells, one known as rods and the other as cones. The rods are sensitive to dim light but provide very little detail, while the cones identify colours and sharp details.
When a photon of light strikes one of these photoreceptor cells, a process known as transduction takes place. The electromagnetic energy of light is converted into electrical information which is then relayed to the thalamus in the brain via the optic nerve.
When these signals reach the thalamus, they are then relayed again to that part of the cerebral cortex which is responsible for vision. It is only when these signals reach the visual centre of the cerebral cortex that they are finally converted into the mental image which then appears in consciousness.
We have now reached the heart of the process of perception, and it is at this stage that the nature of sight becomes extremely mysterious. The tree that we believe we see “out there” in space, is actually an image which exists in our own consciousness.
But how is this image created in our consciousness? How are the electrical signals, which are conveyed to the brain by means of the nervous system, converted into the mental image of a tree? The problem is simply this. How does an electrical impulse become an image in consciousness?
Since we believe that it is the action of the brain that creates the image of the tree, it is clear that there must exist some special cells within the brain that are responsible for this remarkable function. Furthermore, these cells must be the most wonderful and complex cells within the entire body.
But when we trace the network of nerve signals to their ultimate destination, we discover the extraordinary fact that the cells, which are apparently responsible for this amazing ability of creating thoughts from electrical energy, are no different from any other nerve cells in the body.
By some astonishing legerdemain, our exquisitely complex function of sight appears to be the product of the most common form of cellular life. As Charles Muses trenchantly observes:
“Even in the hypothalamus, often thought of as a prime ‘center’, what we have is not a source but only a concentrated bundle of fibres. When impulses have been traced further than even concentrated bundles, we end up with specific neurons. But these are specialised amoebas, and by accepted evolutionary theory, protozoan sensibility cannot be regarded as the executive suite of human intelligence!” 1
We are therefore faced with a mystifying riddle. How is it that these simple nerve cells, which have been found to comprise the visual centre of the cerebral cortex, are able to perform this stupefying trick of creating images in consciousness, as well as the thoughts that are associated with them? In spite of its accumulation of knowledge over four hundred years, science has still been unable to solve this riddle.
The fact is that we simply do not know how it is we really get to see, or hear, or smell, taste or touch!
(Continued in Part Three)
References
1 Charles Muses, “Paraphysics: A New View of Ourselves and the Cosmos“, in “Future Science”, edited by John White and Stanley Krippner, Anchor, New York, 1977, p. 283.
Allan, The Eye of the Mind, April 25, 2015, 2:31 pm
In order to understand the true nature of the world around us, we can use the example of a tree. The tree appears to exist as a real, physical object that exists outside of ourselves, and is part of the natural world that surrounds us on every side.
Yet according to Sages and mystics who express the wisdom of the ages, the tree that seems so real to us is actually an illusion. It is an illusion because what seems to be a real physical object is actually a projected image in consciousness emanating from the mind of the observer.
The fact is that we have allowed ourselves to be deceived by our senses. Most of us have never doubted for a moment the validity of what we see, hear, taste, smell and feel. Yet the truth is that we simply cannot trust our senses.
Anyone who has travelled over a flat surface on a hot day will have noticed an odd natural effect which appears to take the form of a shimmering expanse of water. It is a sight that is commonly seen in deserts and other sandy plains.
The appearance of water is an illusory effect caused by the refraction of light waves by layers of air having different densities. It is the presence of these different densities of air that produces the reflective effect that looks like water.
It is only when we discover that the water does not exist that we realise that our eyes have betrayed us. What looked like a real phenomenon, namely water, is then seen to be an illusion. Our eyes have conveyed to us the impression of something that was not really there.
But our eyes are capable of conjuring up far more exotic scenes than the mere presence of water on the desert sand. There is a vast body of evidence which falls into the category of experience that is referred to as hallucination.
Hallucinations are images or events which appear to be real at the time they are experienced, but which are later found to be unreal. What was thought to be a real object or event is found to be illusory, as may be seen from the following examples.
The physicist Fritjof Capra described such an occasion late one summer afternoon, when he was sitting by the ocean watching the waves roll in. As he gazed on this tranquil scene, he suddenly became aware of a startling transformation.
“As I sat on that beach my former experiences came to life; I ‘saw’ cascades of energy coming down from outer space, in which particles were created and destroyed in rhythmic pulses; I ‘saw’ the atoms of the elements and those of my body participating in this cosmic dance of energy; I felt its rhythm and I ‘heard’ its sound, and at that moment I knew that this was the Dance of Shiva, the Lord of Dancers worshipped by the Hindus.” 1
On that summer afternoon, Capra saw images and heard sounds that had a profound impact on him. Yet it is clear that what he saw and heard was not a part of the normal world that was in front of him at the time.
It is extremely unlikely that anyone sitting alongside of him would have experienced what Capra did. What he “saw” and “heard” was rather a projection of his own mind, a vision that was no doubt cleverly tailored to his education as a physicist, and to his deep interest in Eastern mysticism at the time.
Philosopher and teacher David Spangler had a similar visionary experience, although couched in somewhat different terms. It occurred when he was a child, living in Morocco, in North Africa.
“One day, we were driving into Casablanca and I was in the back seat of the family car. I remember we were passing a large roadway sign that was advertising an orange soft drink. And I was looking at the sign, and all at once, I had a physical sensation as if someone was pumping air into me.
I felt like I was expanding. And I realised that I was looking down at the car and at my body and at my parents’ bodies from a distance above the car. And immediately that perspective changed, and I had an experience that I describe as awakening from amnesia. I felt myself in a state of complete unity with the rest of creation.
And there was a visual component to that in the form of light and in looking through that light, of seeing almost like you see those photographs of a spiral galaxy, of seeing the universe spinning around me, and yet I was also doing the spinning. I was both observer and participant.” 2
David Spangler saw and experienced something that day that seemed vitally real to him. In the context of his everyday world, however, it is clear that what he experienced was not real at all.
While his body was travelling in that car in Morocco, he saw something that was very different from the actual scenes that were unfolding before his eyes at the time. His experience was an example of hallucination, an illusory vision, which psychology explains as a projection of the mind.
Hallucinatory experiences are not limited only to occasions when the observer is fully conscious. They may also occur when the physical body of the percipient is comatose and unconscious.
In 1944, Carl Jung broke his foot, and shortly thereafter suffered a heart attack. While he was lying unconscious in his hospital bed, he underwent a series of visionary experiences.
These visions were characterised by such intensity that Jung concluded that he must be dying. In one of these visions, Jung described how he suddenly found himself floating high above the earth.
“Far below I saw the globe of earth, bathed in gloriously blue light. I saw the deep blue sea and the continents. Far below my feet lay Ceylon, and in the distance ahead of me the subcontinent of India. My field of vision did not include the whole earth, but its global shape was plainly distinguishable and its outlines shone through that wonderful blue light.”
As his vision continued, Jung left the earth and soon thereafter felt himself drawn to a dark block of stone, like a meteorite, floating in space. He noticed that the stone block had been hollowed out into the form of a temple, which he approached.
“As I approached the temple I had the certainty that I was about to enter an illuminated room and would meet there all those people to whom I belong in reality. There I would at last understand – this too was a certainty – what historical nexus my life or I fitted into. There I would learn why everything had been thus and not otherwise. There I would meet the people who knew the answer to my question about what had been before and what would come after.”
Alas, Jung’s eager anticipation was to remain unfulfilled, for before he was able to enter the temple of stone he was drawn back to his body on the hospital bed, whereupon the vision ceased. In recalling this vision, however, Jung was particularly struck by its extraordinary vividness, which seemed to make all earthly experience pale by comparison. As he recorded in his memoirs:
“It is impossible to convey the beauty and intensity of emotion during those visions. They were the most tremendous things I have ever experienced. I would never have imagined that any such experience was possible. It was not a product of imagination. The vision and experiences were utterly real; there was nothing subjective about them; they all had a quality of absolute objectivity.”
So real and so objective did these visions seem to Jung at the time, that his return to normal consciousness seemed “gray” by comparison. He added: “The view of the city and mountains from my sick-bed seemed to me like a painted curtain with black holes in it.” 3
The intensity and conviction of utter reality experienced in these visionary states is also the hallmark of the hallucinogenic images produced by the ingestion of drugs and other psychedelic substances.
While the scenes themselves are later recognised to be images projected by the mind, at the time they are experienced they possess a shining purity which stuns the percipient with its force. As Doctor Sidney Cohen writes:
“One thing is certain. Under LSD one has the overwhelming feeling that it is the real reality.” Under the influence of drugs,” the world looks as it did on the morning of Creation.” 4
Aldous Huxley confirms the vivid sense of reality which characterises the drug experience:
“The most striking of these common characteristics is the experience of light. With this intensification of light there goes a tremendous intensification of color, and this holds good for the outer world as well as of the inner world. Along with light, there comes a recognition of heightened significance.
“The self-luminous objects possess a meaning as intense as their color. Here, significance is identical with being: objects do not stand for anything but themselves. Their meaning is precisely this: that they are intensely themselves, and, being so, are manifestations of the essential givenness and otherness of the universe.” 5
Despite their vividness of colour and meaning, however, drug experiences fail to fulfill their magical potential. As Sidney Cohen again points out:
“The question remains: Is it a psychochemical image or a priceless glimpse of reality? Now a dozen years later, I would suggest that it is another facet of illusion just as our sober state is.” 4
In April, 1976, Lauren Elder joined pilot Jay Fuller and a friend Jean Noller on a short flight from San Francisco to Death Valley. As they approached the crest of the Sierra mountains, their plane was unable to gain sufficient altitude to clear the pass through which they were headed, and it crashed some fifteen feet short of the rocky crest.
The wreckage of the plane hung precariously on the precipitous crags. All three passengers were badly injured in the crash, and they were forced to spend an agonizing night trying to survive.
When morning came, Lauren found that she was alone, and that her two friends had succumbed to their injuries. Knowing that she would not be able to survive another night on the peak by herself, she resolved to climb down into the desert which lay more than a mile below.
Finally, after eighteen hours of excruciating progress down sheer rock faces, waterfalls and across perilously balanced rocks, Lauren reached the safety of the small community of Owens Valley. After being hospitalised, she subsequently recovered from her injuries.
She later wrote a book about her experiences, in which she recounted her painstaking journey down the eastern face of the Sierras, during which she found herself confronted from time to time by unexpected apparitions, which blended in with the rocky landscape. She described one such incident:
“I sat on a rock to take a short rest and raised my eyes to scan the mountain. That was when I saw them. They were curved along a ridge of rocks directly across from me – a row of houses built of beautifully mellowed redwood, skillfully integrated into the landscape. They looked like chalets and I thought it must be a new resort area.”
When Lauren approached one of these houses, a man suddenly strode into view.
“I saw him and stopped short. A man with long, light hair was standing on the deck of the highest house, stretching. He was wearing a robe. His arms were out and a white robe billowed around him.”
Lauren called out to him but could get no response. She decided that he was, in fact, a statue. As she progressed further, she saw sled tracks in the snow. “Kids had been playing there recently. I could even hear them. The sounds of their laughter floated from beyond the houses like the ringing of clear glass bells“. A little while later, she spotted the figure of a woman.
“She was sitting on a rock ledge just above my head, in the shade of an overhanging boulder: a middle-aged woman with a sketchbook and a toolkit fitted out with paints. She was sketching wildflowers and she looked the part perfectly. Everything about her was no nonsense, from her blue denim slacks to her red checked shirt, stout Oxfords, and white ankle socks.” 6
Before reaching the sanctuary of Owens Valley, Lauren continued to see a rich miscellany of other phantoms, including Mexican farm hands, cyclists, young men in pickup trucks and tourists in Airstream trailers. She called out to them all, pleading for help. But her efforts were always in vain. Each apparition simply mocked her by its silence, until she realised that each new form was yet another vision projected by her mind.
Under the stress of life-threatening situations, the mind has the ability to create a dazzling array of images of people and objects, each impeccably crafted with intricate detail. While these images seem perfectly real to those who see them, they do not possess the normal characteristics of reality, and can provide no aid to those in need. Yet their very presence sometimes provides hope in the face of anguished despair.
But while the onset of hallucinatory images is generally attributed to stress, drugs, alcohol and other stimulants, the mind is quite capable of producing illusory images under conditions of complete normality.
All that is necessary to produce this flow of images is to deprive the senses of their customary environmental feedback for a while. The mind then readily substitutes images and events of its own.
In 1954, Dr John Lilly undertook a series of personal experiments in sensory deprivation, while he was working at the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, Maryland. Lilly devised a special isolation tank in which he could be completely enclosed.
In these tests, he immersed himself naked inside the tank, in water maintained at a constant temperature of 93º F (33.9º C), and used a head mask in order to breathe. The tank was totally dark, and no sounds from outside could penetrate this womb-like environment.
Although Lilly referred to these experiments as “sensory deprivation”, he found that, once immersed in his tank, he was quite unaware of any feeling of deprivation. In fact, he experienced an extraordinary state of inner well-being.
While he had expected that the absence of all outward sensory stimuli would induce a strong desire to sleep, he found instead that he enjoyed a heightened sense of awareness, and at no time did he lose his sense of conscious awareness. Much to his surprise, he found that he was soon able to create an artificial reality within the tank.
“I went through experiences in which other people apparently joined me in this dark silent environment. I could actually see them, feel them, and hear them. At other times, I went through dreamlike sequences, waking dreams as they are now called, in which I watched what was happening. At other times I apparently tuned in on networks of communications that are normally below our levels of awareness, networks of civilizations way beyond ours.” 7
Several years after Lilly had conducted his experiments in sensory deprivation, Jerome Bruner devised a similar series of tests in which volunteers were placed in isolation in sound and light-proofed rooms. While undergoing these tests, subjects wore velvet gloves and lay on foam rubber mats.
As Lilly had discovered in his isolation tank, Bruner found that after an initial period in this void-like condition, the subjects began to hallucinate. They not only heard voices, but were able to see, hear and touch the entities that sprang to life, and to conduct actual conversations with them as well.
It was clear to Bruner that subjects were able to create complete scenarios by drawing on their past experiences. Their entire sensory system became involved, and the resulting visions appeared so realistic and lifelike, that the subjects were completely unaware that they were hallucinating. The events they visualised seemed quite normal and in harmony with everyday events. 8
We have seen that the mind is capable of producing scenarios which involve the entire range of our senses as a result of many different stimuli. These mental pageants can arise in dreams, under the influence of alcohol, chemical or psychedelic agents, or else as a result of stress and trauma.
When they arise through the mere absence of normal sensory stimulation, it is significant that the mind is capable of projecting these illusions, whether the percipient is physically conscious or not, and regardless of whether the brain is damaged or intact. As Carl Jung has noted:
“There are certain astonishing observations in cases of profound syncope after acute injuries to the brain and in severe states of collapse. In both situations, total loss of consciousness can be accompanied by perceptions of the outside world and vivid dream experiences. Since the cerebral cortex, the seat of consciousness, is not functioning at these times, there is as yet no explanation for such phenomena. ” 9
Jung’s mystification is easy to understand. If the world exists as a three dimensional reality outside of ourselves, and if the function of the senses is simply to convey messages to the brain reflecting the content of this world, then how is it possible for impressions of the world to continue to be experienced when the brain is severely damaged, and the body physically unconscious?
According to Sages and mystics the answer is simple. The cerebral cortex is not the seat of human consciousness.
The reason why people continue to experience hallucinations, even when they are unconscious, or suffer from severe brain damage, is because the brain, the body, and the entire world exist within consciousness, and not the other way around.
Consciousness is not dependent on the brain, and is therefore not limited by the limitations of the physical body. Projections of the mind continue to occur, albeit on a different level from that of the normal waking experience.
Although consciousness is capable of projecting a vast range of mental panoramas under varied circumstances, we remain convinced that the experiences of our waking state represent the only “true” reality. We relegate all other states of mind to “alternate” categories – states that are presumed to possess less fundamental reality than that of the normal waking experience. Yet this conviction is widely challenged by those who experience these alternate states.
The overriding feature of every hallucinatory experience is that it seems to be completely “real” at the time it is being experienced. As Henry Margenau and Lawrence LeShan remark:
“One of the fascinating things about alternate realities is that at the time you are really using one it makes perfect sense to you, and you know it is the only way to view reality. It is only common sense.” 10
This is endorsed by John Lilly. Writing of his own experiences of these alternate realms, he states:
“One thing that does stick with me is the feeling of reality that was there during the experiences. I knew that this was the truth.” 11
(Continued in Part Two)
References
1 Fritjof Capra, “The Tao of Physics“, Bantam, New York, 1977, p. XV. 2 Quoted in “Voices and Visions: A Guided Tour of Revelation“, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Montreal, 1985. 3 Carl Jung, “Memories, Dreams, Reflections“, recorded and edited by A.Jaffe, Pantheon, New York, 1961, pp. 289-295. 4 Richard Alpert and Sidney Cohen, “LSD“, New American Library, New York, 1966, pp. 16-18. 5 Aldous Huxley, “Moksha – Writings on Psychedelics and the Visionary Experience”, edited by M. Horowitz and C.Palmer, Tarcher, Los Angeles, 1977, pp. 59-63. 6 Lauren Elder with Shirley Streshinsky, “And I Alone Survived“, Dutton, New York, 1978. 7 John Lilly, “The Center of the Cyclone“, Bantam, New York, 1973, p. 41. 8 Jerome Bruner, “A Study of Thinking“, (with Goodnow and Austin) Science editions, New York, 1962. 9 Carl Jung, op. cit., p. 322. 10 Lawrence LeShan and Henry Margenau, “Einstein’s Space and Van Goch’s Sky“, Macmillan, New York, 1982, p. 11. 11 John Lilly, op. cit., p. 58.
Allan, The Eye of the Mind, April 13, 2015, 12:33 pm
All that we know about our world is that, from our earliest recollection, we have become aware of a universe of which we are the centre. Everything that happens in our world involves us in some fundamental way, through our awareness of it.
Since we assume our own identity and reality, we confer equal status upon the beings that share our world. We become enmeshed in our relationships with these beings, and our lives form the drama with which these associations and relationships develop.
We become emotionally involved in the fate of these relationships. We do not for a moment doubt their existence in reality. When other people die, we are deeply affected by their demise and we grieve our loss. Yet we fail to see the inconsistency in our behaviour.
According to the Sages, when we come to wake up from this dream of consciousness that we call our waking world, we will come to realise that this entire universe, this dramatic saga, is nothing but a projection of our minds, just like the dream.
However, like the following questioner, we remain so entrenched in our conviction of the utter reality of our waking dream, that we fail to see the similarity.
Question: “Surely, wars and revolutions are not dreams. Sick mothers and starving children are not dreams. Wealth, ill-made and misused is not a dream.
Maharaj: What else?
Question: A dream cannot be shared.
Maharaj: Nor can the waking state. All the three states (of waking, dreaming and sleeping) are subjective, personal, intimate. They all happen to and are contained within the little bubble of consciousness called “I”. 1
Within that state we call waking reality we have projected a world which appears to us consistent and real. We interact with this world in a way which we find meaningful, and which allows us to fulfill our desires.
The description which we have of this world is determined by the nature of our beliefs. These beliefs not only determine what we see, they also decide what we experience in this world. They decide what we can and cannot do.
As John Lilly has pointed out, “What we believe to be true is true or becomes true, within limits to be found experientially and experimentally.” 2
The young child is still largely unaware of any limits to its powers of expression. It is only as the influence of its culture grows in the course of adolescence, that the child comes to believe that it is limited by a body, and that this body is limited in turn by such things as heredity and the laws of nature.
In fact the child is not limited by a body at all, nor by the forces of nature that surround it. It is limited by belief. The child is in truth an unlimited expression of creative freedom. For as Sai Baba, the Saint of Shirdi, West India, said to his disciples:
“Sai is not this three-and-a-half cubic feet of visible body residing in Shirdi.” 3
And in one of the great classics which reflect this eternal wisdom, we read:
“Each one of us is in truth an idea of the Great Gull, an unlimited idea of freedom. Your whole body, from wing tip to wing tip,” Jonathan would say, other times, “is nothing more than your thought itself, in a form you can see. Break the chains of your thought, and you break the chains of your body too.” 4
Young children who have not yet forged the chains of belief that will later bind them tight, are still able to do things which adults peremptorily dismiss as impossible, within their worlds of confined belief.
In May, 1974, a man bought a book to read to pass the time while he was travelling. He was sufficiently intrigued by its contents to extend a personal invitation to the author. The Book was Supernature and its author Dr Lyall Watson. This man invited Watson to visit him at his home in Venice, Italy, to witness a peculiar trick that his daughter Claudia was able to perform.
Watson travelled to Venice and in due course met Claudia, who was then eight years old. Shortly after dinner that evening, while the adults talked among themselves, Claudia lay on the carpet paging through a magazine.
Her father reached for a tube of tennis balls from a corner table, and casually rolled one across the carpet. It came to rest in front of Claudia. She picked it up, and held it affectionately to her cheek. Then, balancing the ball in her left hand, she gently stroked it with her right. What followed next left Watson stunned.
“One moment there was a tennis ball – the familiar off-white carpeted sphere marked only by its usual meandering seam. Then it was no longer so. There was a short implosive sound, very soft, like a cork being drawn in the dark, and Claudia held in her hand something completely different: a smooth, dark, rubbery globe with only a suggestion of the old pattern on its surface – a sort of negative through-the-looking-glass impression of a tennis ball.”
Watson examined the object closely. He found that the tennis ball had been turned inside out. Yet it still contained a volume of air under pressure. He squeezed the ball and it retained its former shape. He dropped it and it bounced.
Then he picked up a knife from the dining room table and pierced the rubber. The air inside came hissing out. He then cut right around the circumference, and was able to recognize the familiar fur which normally covered the outside of the ball.
Later that evening, Claudia performed the trick again. This time Watson kept the ball and took it back to his hotel, where he placed it on the mantelpiece in his room. As Watson described it, the ball stared at him as a mocking symbol. This enigmatic sphere defied his reasoned world of logic. It seemed to him to undermine the very laws of nature.
“It still disturbed me” he wrote. “I know enough of physics to appreciate that you cannot turn an unbroken sphere inside out like a glove. Not in this reality.”
When Watson returned to Venice three years later, he met with Claudia again. This time he found that things had changed dramatically. As he wrote at the time:
“Claudia is eight now and goes by herself to school. In the breaks between the classes, she and other children play around the old well head in the piazzetta, practising the lessons they have learned confirming the consensus.
Sometimes they throw and catch a tennis-ball, letting it bounce and roll between them; and now that it has a name and its function is fixed and defined, it doesn’t even occur to Claudia to offer it any other kind of freedom. She is one of us.” 5
Claudia had come to recognise that the world in which tennis balls could be liberated was not the world in which gondolas could glide along Venetian canals. She had come to adopt the beliefs of her elders and superiors, where such things were clearly impossible. Sadly, the freedom which her tennis ball had once enjoyed, had “faded into the light of common day.”
When Uri Geller burst upon an astonished and unsuspecting world in the 1970’s, he not only began to do embarrassing things to cutlery and clocks, but he was able to inspire other people to imitate him as well.
This ability, which came to be known as the “Geller effect”, was particularly marked with young children, who had not yet become bound by the trusses of belief. Geller was able to perform his “magic” because he believed he could, while others found that they could duplicate his feats because they didn’t know they couldn’t.
Lyall Watson reported an incident which occurred to him personally, which clearly demonstrated this “Geller effect”. He happened to be watching a video in which Uri Geller demonstrated how he was able to bend a key by passing his fingers lightly across it. While he was watching this video, Watson happened to have a three-year-old child sitting on his lap.
When the video ended, he casually gave the child a household key to play with. Operating on the basis of what she had just seen on the video, the child proceeded to bend this long-shanked key just as Geller had done. Taking the warped key from her, Watson found that he was unable to bend it back to its original shape.
Now this sort of display does not generate much enthusiasm in the world of orthodox science, for such events not only demonstrate bent keys, but bent “reality” as well. To be confronted with evidence which exposes the shortcomings of one’s own beliefs is profoundly unsettling, and invariably tends to be suppressed, for fear of encouraging similar excesses.
Time, however, is on the side of orthodox science, for as Watson concludes, “I sincerely doubt that she will be able to go on doing so when she is older and wiser in the ways of our world.” She will no doubt become, in time, like one of us. 6
So “shades of the prison-house begin to close upon the growing boy”, as he successfully learns to adorn himself with the coat tails of orthodox belief. For it is the very threat of being rejected as outcast, that is such a powerful motivator into acquiescing with the common view.
Being treated as an outcast, an outsider, is a harsh price for anyone to pay. It is harsher still for those young members of society, who see their future opportunities for success dependent upon their acceptance by the group.
Society strives continually to encourage, induce or punish its newest members into conforming with its accepted parameters of belief. It does this initially through the medium of the parents, who through their “love” for their children, ensure that they are accepted by society, rather than face persecution by their peers.
Furthermore, parents inevitably mould their children to be like them, the better that they may be able to relate to them, and the more “successful” their children may later hope to become within the narrow confines of accepted society.
The child, however, does not easily, or always, surrender to the powerful forces of conformity. Being as perceptive as they are, young children do not always welcome the invitation of society, or readily accept its virtues. Some are so shocked emotionally that they withdraw from the common level of consciousness altogether, preferring instead to roam around in other landscapes of the mind.
From the viewpoint of western society, these vagrant children, who can no longer be reached by normal contact, are labelled as “autistic”. They are considered to suffer from some pathological flaw which prevents them from accepting their due inheritance.
These children have withdrawn into a private world which can no longer be penetrated by others, and from which they do not care to venture forth. The act of the severely emotionally distressed child is similar to that process which takes place in sleep.
When people dream, they become immersed in a realm which those in the waking world cannot share. The dreamer is also unable to communicate with those who remain in the waking world. He or she is totally absorbed within a private world of experience.
From the point of view of the world, the dreamer continues to manifest in the waking world, but does so simply in the form of a comatose body, that is resistant to all forms of communication. The worries of the waking world do not exist for the dreamer, for the waking world forms no part of the dream.
It is the same with children whom society calls autistic. They have been induced to undertake a journey to another level of mind. What remains in our waking world is simply a physical shell which defies our urgent efforts of contact.
Because we are committed to our world of “normal reality”, we feel obliged to rescue these unfortunate children from their folly, and to restore them to their rightful estate. But it takes an enormous commitment of love to win back the allegiance of one of these young souls that has once been inclined to flee.
The emotional traumas which buffet us throughout our journey in life may occasionally jolt us out of our common description of the world altogether. We may then come to substitute our “normal reality” with a replacement which offers an escape from the profound anguish of our situation. As Scottish psychiatrist Ronald Laing has pointed out:
“In over 100 cases where we have studied the actual circumstances around the social event when one person comes to be regarded as schizophrenic, it seems to us that without exception the experience and behaviour that gets labelled schizophrenic is a special strategy that a person invents in order to live in an unbearable situation.” (Original italics) 7
In cases of schizophrenia and the like, some trauma or powerful emotional assault jars these people out of their habitual ways of thinking. They evade the painful circumstances of their “normal” world by journeying forth into a substitute world. We call this substitution “insanity”.
For the duration of this journey, we find ourselves confronted with human shells that have only a limited capacity to function in our world of waking reality. The minds of those who are thus affected are invariably locked into a private world which we can neither reach, nor share.
In some cases, through powerful chemical, electrical, or other stimuli, we are able to shock them back into an awareness of our level, and through various rewards and punishments, are able to coax them to return. If we are successful in these endeavours, we pronounce the patient “cured”.
But talk of illness and cure are value-judgements that are wholly dependent upon a single point of view. That is that our waking and customary state of consciousness is the only one that is “real”, and that being real, is the only desirable level on which a sane and healthy person would wish to function.
We might be kinder to these people if we allowed them to undertake their journeys with our sympathy and blessing, in the knowledge that if they did subsequently return to our level, it would be the result of their own personal choice, rather than through the pressure of our prodding.
So to summarise the foregoing, through the influence of our culture we learn to define our reality in a particular manner. This description of reality is based on those images which we learn as children to project and recognise, on the basis of specific names or symbols.
We divide these images into various categories, and we learn to relate to these groups of images in ways that are approved of by our culture. We learn, too, to separate our experiences into good and bad, according to the dictates of our society.
In making these decisions, we are guided by the influence of those around us. We learn to frame our description of the world in accordance with the views of others. In this way we come to share a common world of experience, based on our world of common description.
To be a member of a group is to accept the description which is the badge of that society. In order to operate effectively within that group, we must learn to subjugate our vast potential within certain designated limits. We must learn to paint a common picture of the world.
Within that picture, agreed upon by consensus, we act in accordance with our desires. These desires lead to experiences. The nature of these experiences is determined by our beliefs. Beliefs are the faith we place in certain modes of thinking.
Our beliefs are personal distillations of our interaction with what we call “reality”‘. Beliefs are central to our lives, and we cannot act without them. Whatever we believe, whatever we place our faith in, determines the character of our experiences. It matters not what we believe in, as our experiences in life will inevitably come to match the faith we have placed in our expectations.
Our beliefs are self-fulfilling, regardless of the nature of these beliefs. It is the very nature of life to produce circumstances which match our prevailing beliefs. This is the testimony of the sages.
“Thoughts are the content of the mind,” says Ramana Maharshi, “and they shape the universe.” 8
“What we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday, and our present thoughts build our life of tomorrow”, proclaims the Buddha. 9
“For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.” The Bible (Proverbs 23:7)
References
1 “I Am That“, Conversations with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, translated by Maurice Frydman, Book II, Chetana, Bombay, 1973, p. 23. 2 John Lilly, “The Center of the Cyclone“, Bantam, New York, 1973, p.xv. 3 Mani Sahukar, “Sai Baba: The Saint of Shirdi“, Somaiya Publications, Bombay, 1971, p. 25. 4 Richard Bach, “Jonathan Livingstone Seagull“, Pan Books, London, 1973, pp. 76-77. 5 Lyall Watson, “Lifetide”, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1979, p. 316. 6 Lyall Watson, “Beyond Supernature”, Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1986, p. 204. 7 Ronald Laing, “The Politics of Experience and The Bird of Paradise“, Penguin, Harmondsworth, 1967. p. 95. 8 “Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi“, recorded by Swami Saraswathi, Sri Ramanasramam, Tiruvannamalai, 1968, p. 93. 9 “The Dhammapada“, translated by Juan Mascaro, Penguin, Harmondsworth, 1973, p. 35.
Allan, Shades of the Prison-House, March 30, 2015, 10:59 am
We who have become fully-fledged members of our society, imagine that the world to which we have become accustomed, is not only real and substantive, but is the only world that exists.
We fail to see that in our process of acquiring the culture of our society, we have voluntarily surrendered rich possibilities of experience in other worlds. However grand we may suppose our present world to be, it is a world which, by comparison, is narrow, gray and drab, compared to the immense possibilities which attended us at our birth.
Young children live in worlds of experience which seem magical in comparison with the dull, constricted world which they later inherit. It is one of the continuing tragedies that their vivid worlds of free expression are termed “imaginary” by their parents.
Children are threatened, cajoled, rewarded and beaten into submission, until they are ready to reject the exquisite feast that lies before them, for the dry repast which society has prepared in its place.
The “reality” in which young children live and express themselves, is a kaleidoscope of multi-hued experience which vibrates with the spontaneous joy of the creative spirit.
Just how rich and rewarding this world of expression is, was revealed to Samuel Silverstein, a public school teacher in Torrington, Connecticut, when he conducted a research project involving a group of eight-year old children.
These children shared a world of common experience which was incomparably richer than the world which Silverstein had come to accept as real. On one occasion the children reported that they could hear ethereal music.
Since Silverstein was unable to hear this music, and since there was no one else around who was responsible for it, he asked the children to explain where it was coming from. Some said it came from the sky. Others said it came from heaven. The explanations of these children were recorded by Silverstein in his project notebook, dated May 6, 1954.
“Several children said the sounds came into their bodies through their heads and they could hear the singing inside their bodies. Others said it could also come in through the shoulder or other parts of the body. Cathy told me more about what happened to her.
“She said she heard singing up in heaven and it started first from a flash of light in the sky. From this flash of light a huge vibration of colours came down and the next thing she knew she saw flowing colours around her body and also inside her body. And this must have made the music because she had heard it in and around her body.” 1
Unfortunately in the majority of cases, experiences such as these are rejected by adults as illusory. But these experiences are not simply the imagined fantasies of childish minds. They form the very fabric of their daily lives.
These children actually experience these things as part of their extended world of consciousness, and these “illusory” sights and sounds have as much reality to them as those things which form the limited world of their parents.
Children who recount these experiences invariably become the butt of ridicule. As a result, they learn to shut these events out of their world of common experience. As the days pass, they learn to construct a view of the world which is more in keeping with the pattern of thoughts moulded by their society.
At last there comes day when these rich tapestries of sight and sound are lost altogether. They “fade into the light of common day”.
Childish experiences are not just limited to the realm of heavenly choirs. Many children share their childhood with other playmates. Since these playmates are not visible to their parents, they are assumed to be fantasies designed to satisfy their need for companionship. These children are frequently punished for their excessive imaginations.
When the noted psychic Eileen Garrett was a young girl, she recalled how she shared her childhood with three children – two little girls and a boy. These three children came to visit her daily.
Sometimes Eileen only spent a short time with them, while on other occasions they would spend the entire day together. Not a single day passed without her seeing them. They remained her constant companions until she was thirteen years of age.
Eileen never doubted the reality of her companions. When she touched them she found them soft and warm. There was one thing, however, that distinguished them from other humans.
While Eileen saw other people surrounded by a fringe of light, her three young companions were composed entirely of this light. Yet, like most other adults in similar situations, Eileen’s aunt and uncle ridiculed the existence of these playmates. They warned her that “God will surely punish you for telling lies.” 2
Children are not only able to traverse freely across a wide spectrum of experience, but they have potential powers which far surpass the limits of their later lives. Writing in The Crack in the Cosmic Egg, Joseph Chilton Pearce related how his young son became passionately attached to a soldier doll which he called “G. I. Joe”.
For almost two years the boy was totally wrapped up in this doll and played with nothing else. Then for a spell of four days Pearce noticed that his son was unusually withdrawn. He refused to leave the house, preferring to sit quietly with his doll.
Finally he explained to his father why he had been so “rude”. He said that it had suddenly occurred to him that he had the power to make G. I. Joe become alive, and that it was possible for the two of them to spend their lives together.
He realised however, that if his soldier-doll did become alive, it would only be alive for him, and that no one else in the family would be able to share in their exploits. He realised too, that by pursuing his dream of giving life to his doll, he would have to sacrifice his human family.
Pearce confessed that he did not know why the family had won out over the lure of G. I. Joe. What was more remarkable perhaps, was that the young boy had come to recognise the limits of his family’s world, and knew that by indulging his potential powers, he would thereby cut himself off from the narrow world of his family.
Pearce’s son was clearly aware that the earthly world inhabited by his parents was only part of a wider world which he was free to experience. It must have been a supremely sad moment for him to discover that the rich world which he was able to enjoy was not shared by his parents, and that what was perfectly real to him, was merely illusory to others, who could not open themselves to its reality. 3
It is usually only the impact of some traumatic shock, or else the influence of some psychedelic substance, that enables adults to rediscover this pure world of potential experience.
It was the rediscovery of this wider world which so impressed the American psychologist and philosopher William James, after his experiments with nitrous oxide led him to pen the following widely-quoted lines:
“Some years ago I made myself some observations on this nitrous oxide intoxication, and reported them in print. One conclusion was forced upon my mind at that time, and my impression of its truth has ever since remained unshaken.
“It is that our usual waking consciousness, rational consciousness as we call it, is but one special type of consciousness, while all about it, parted by the flimsiest of screens, there lie potential forms of consciousness entirely different.
“We may go through life without suspecting their existence; but apply the requisite stimulus, and at a touch they are there in all their completeness, definite types of mentality which probably have their field of application and adoption. No account of the universe in its totality can be final which leaves these other forms of consciousness quite disregarded.” 4
The young child is free to roam throughout these potential realms of consciousness. However, as it succumbs to the process of acquiring the culture of its society, this expansive world of experience becomes steadily constricted, until the child becomes confined to the consensus version of “reality”.
These cultural beliefs become the “shades of the prison-house” that begin to close upon the growing child. Young children are vividly aware of these wondrous realms of consciousness and move freely in them.
To the adult restricted to a world of “rational consciousness”, these wider realms have long since been consigned to the region of imagery and fantasy. The child’s witness to these states is all too often rejected, for they are considered to be a threat to the stability of the personality of the child.
Just as flights of fancy are not welcome in an adult, so too they are not encouraged in the child. By a process of threat and punishment, the child is all too often frightened into subjugation. It is then, as in the case of Eileen Garrett, that their companions “fade into the light of common day”.
For those who can traverse other realms, “reality” has a much wider connotation than it has for adults who are confined within their narrow boundaries of experience.
While Carlos Castaneda was being taught his new definition of “reality”, he was made to smoke a hallucinatory mixture of herbs which was called the “devil’s weed”. Under the influence of this psychedelic stimulus, and under the guidance of Don Juan, Carlos found himself turning into a crow. He described this extraordinary metamorphosis:
“I had no difficulty whatsoever eliciting the corresponding sensation to each one of his commands. I had the perception of growing bird’s legs, which were weak and wobbly at first. I felt a tail coming out of the back of my neck and wings out of my cheekbones.
“The wings were folded deeply. I felt them coming out by degrees. The process was hard but not painful. Then I winked my head to the size of a crow. But the most astonishing effect was accomplished with my eyes. My bird’s sight !” 5
When Carlos later experienced the sensation of flying through the air, he became obsessed with the need to discover whether what had occurred to him was “real” or whether it was imaginary. “Did I really fly, Don Juan?”
“That is what you told me. Didn’t you?” Not satisfied with the authority of his own experience, Castaneda pressed his mentor further. “You see, Don Juan, you and I are differently oriented. Suppose for the sake of argument one of my fellow students had been here with me when I took the devil’s weed. Would he have been able to see me flying?” 6
Castaneda was at the time still dominated by the consensual belief system of western culture, which held that it was impossible to fly. Since he felt that he had really done so, this must surely have been a hallucination of his mind. The classical way to determine whether or not he had really flown, seemed to him to depend on the corroboration of a friend who was there at the time.
In answer, Don Juan explained that whether or not anyone else would have seen him fly, would have depended upon the cultural conditioning of the person concerned. If he or she was capable of sharing Castaneda’s new description of the world, they would surely have seen him fly. If not, they would simply have continued to see him as he was.
The doubts expressed by Castaneda speak for the entire human condition. We constantly doubt the value of these paradoxical and philosophical explanations, for we remain convinced that there is some absolute standard whereby “reality” can be affirmed.
But the reality of what is seen always depends upon the observer, and draws its validity from that act of observation. As the Indian sage Sri Dattatreya remarked to his disciple:
“I will tell you the truth of the objective world, as it is. What is seen is absolutely nothing but sight.” 7
We not only learn to create the world around us by linking images together in memory, but at the same time that we create the world, we also create ourselves. The universe is nothing but a series of images in consciousness, that are renewed from moment to moment.
We derive our sense of personality through these self-same images in consciousness, and we reinforce our image of ourselves with every passing moment. When I look at a tree, its reality is based on a series of mental impressions registering upon my consciousness, and my reality is derived from the fact that these images occur to me.
Since the tree registers upon “my” consciousness, “I” interact with the tree. Every subsequent interaction serves to reconfirm “my” existence, as well as the existence of the world around me.
But we play this game in every mental state, whether we are dreaming, or engaged in a psychedelically induced vision, or subject to some other form of trance. We attribute reality to what we experience, and we derive our identity in that state from the fact that whatever is experienced presumes that there must be an “experiencer”.
But there is in truth only the process of perception, whatever sense or senses happen to be involved. By this process of perception, we infer our own reality from what we experience, while we attribute outward reality to the objects of our experience.
The only world we can possibly know is the world that appears before us in consciousness, which is then projected outside of ourselves by our consciousness. However the world that is projected upon my consciousness is a product of my thoughts, reinforced by my beliefs.
The world which appears to others is built up in the same way. There can in fact be no world that is common to us all. We all live in separate compartmentalised worlds of our own making. The enlightened being, by contrast, is freed from this identification with successive images, and so lives in the freedom of pure Awareness. As Maharaj points out:
“In your world you are truly alone, enclosed in your-ever-changing dream, which you take for life. My world is an open world, common to all, accessible to all. In my world there is community, insight, love, real quality; the individual is the total, the totality in the individual. All are one and One is all.” 8
We cannot share in this world of the One in all, until such time as we surrender our lives and the desires that bind us to the private world that we have made. To the questioner who asked whether his mind and the mind of Maharaj were similar, the latter replied:
“How can it be? You have your own private mind, woven with memories, held together by desires and fears. I have no mind of my own.” 9
We find it impossible to believe that this vast universe could be a product of our own individual minds. How could this be we cry out in amazement? Our world is populated by billions of other people who are born into our world, and who subsequently live, die and disappear.
Our common sense tells us that it is we who are born into the world. How then can the world be born in us? This question was put to Maharaj:
Question: “How can it be? A child is born into the world, not the world into the child. The world is old and the child is new.
Maharaj: The child is born into your world. Now, were you born into your world, or did the world appear to you? To be born means to create a world round yourself as the centre. But do you ever create yourself? Or did anyone create you? Everyone creates a world for himself and lives in it, imprisoned by his ignorance.” 10
As Maharaj points out, the fact that other people are born and die within our world of personal consciousness, does not mean that there is a real world outside of us, in which we appear to be but a tiny part.
The existence of other people, together with their apparent births and deaths, are movements within our own pageant of consciousness. These people do not have an existence that is separate from our consciousness.
They may be said to exist, but their reality as persons stems from the reality with which we have endowed them. Because we believe that we ourselves are “real” people, we assume that all other people who appear in our consciousness are equally “real”.
But if the reality of our own identity is brought into question, then the fate of all the others hangs in the balance as well. For as Maharaj stresses:
“When you believe yourself to be a person, you see persons everywhere. In reality there are no persons, only threads of memories and habits.” 11
(Continued in Part Three)
References
1 Samuel Silverstein, “Out of the mouths of babes“, Fate magazine, May 1979, pp. 128-129. 2 Eileen Garrett, “My Life“, Rider, London, 1939. 3 Joseph Pearce, “The Crack in the Cosmic Egg“, Pocket Books, New York, 1973, p. 29. 4 William James, “The Varieties of Religious Experience“, Mentor, New York, 1958, p. 298. 5 Carlos Castaneda, “The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge“, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1968, p.189. 6 Ibid, p. 147. 7 “Tripura Rahasya“, op.cit., p. 78. 8 “I Am That“, Conversations with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, translated by Maurice Frydman, Book I, Chetana, Bombay, 1973, p. 20. 9 Ibid, Book II, p. 150. 10 Ibid, Book I, p. 238. 11 Ibid, Book I, p. 42.
Allan, Shades of the Prison-House, March 15, 2015, 2:33 pm
As was explained in the previous instalment (Our Magical World), the world that we see around us is completely different from what we have imagined, as well as what we have been taught. And the reason is this.
We are not born into this world….. It is the world that is born in us.
What this means is that the world that appears so vividly to our senses is not an objective reality that exists independently of us in space. Instead, it is a subjective manifestation in consciousness that we have created and then learned to project outside of ourselves.
The entire universe that appears to surround us and dwarf us with its immense majesty and size, is actually a tiny microcosm that has been created within our own minds. The process of this creation begins from the time that we are born.
When a child first begins to experience the world, it does so in the form of a series of fleeting images. These images register upon the child’s consciousness, but they leave no trace at first in the child’s memory.
An infant’s attention is easily diverted from one object to another. As each new object is seen, it becomes the total focus of attention. No residue of the previous image remains, and the child has no recollection of the previous object.
As the young child grows, it learns not only to recognise images, by repeated observation and the faculty of memory, but also to objectify them – literally, to make “things” out of these images, and to project these things into a specific location in space.
We can get an idea of the way in which the young child learns to objectify images, from an unusual experiment that was conducted in 1896 by George Stratton, a professor at the University of California.
Stratton fitted himself with a pair of goggles with inverting lenses, which had the effect of turning everything upside down. At first, Stratton was extremely disoriented, as the objects that he was looking at were not only upside down, but appeared to float in space. As he wrote at the time:
“It did not feel as if I were visually ranging over a set of motionless objects, but the whole field of things swept and swung before my eyes.” 1
It took Stratton several days before this gyrating field of images began to stabilise, and he could begin to recognise objects located at specific points in his visual field. What Stratton had to learn to do, was to project these images into three-dimensional space, and then stabilise them there as solid-looking objects.
Henry Margenau and Lawrence LeShan call this ability, this talent for creating a “thing” out of a series of mental impressions, “reification”, based on the Latin term “res” meaning thing. 2
In his extensive research into the behaviour of infants, initially with his own children, and later at his Centre of Genetic Epistemology in Geneva, the Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget found that this process of reification takes place over a period of about two years from the time of birth.
During the first few months of life, the infant has no concept of objects. After several months, however, it becomes able to recognise images and follow them with its eyes. By six months, the infant can anticipate the future position of a moving image.
If it passes behind a screen, the infant turns its eyes towards the far side of the screen, and waits for the image to re-appear. If a baby is given a solid object, it will grasp and hold it. If this object is then taken away from it and hidden under a blanket in full view of the child, it will not attempt to find it.
For a child of this early age, any object that is out of sight is out of mind. It still leaves no permanent impression on the mind. It is as if the object simply ceased to exist. By the age of one year, however, the child has acquired a sense of permanence.
If an object is now hidden from its gaze, the child knows that the object still exists, and will try to find it. If it is unsuccessful, it will frequently burst into tears of frustration.
By the age of two years, the idea of physical permanence of objects in space is fully established, and the child begins to classify these objects into various categories, and to differentiate between itself and these other objects.
Because these names and the objects to which they are related are shared by all, the child comes to adopt a view of the world that is in common with the consensus view of its society. It is in this way that the child’s view of reality becomes a description of the world which is shared by the community.
The images and events which the young child learns to project and identify, are not only common to those around it, but are also “real” to the child concerned. This “reality” stems from the fact that these occurrences are not only things that are experienced by the child itself, but are also things which are experienced by others with whom it associates.
They become accepted as “real” because there is agreement on the nature and validity of these experiences among all members of that community. So, for example, I call an object “real” because I can see it and experience it, and because other people are able to see it and experience it in a similar fashion.
If I claim to see or experience something that is also seen or experienced by someone else, then, for the two of us, what was seen or experienced forms part of our shared “reality.” But if I see can something that my friend beside me cannot see, then we have a difference of opinion.
While in my opinion what I see is “real”, in the opinion of my friend it is “unreal”. If I am the only person who claims to see something, and all my friends are unable to see it, it is clear that what I claim to be “real” is out of step with their experience. If I wish to share their world, I have to learn to link my view of “reality” to theirs.
Common “reality” then, is purely a matter of consensus. Although I may personally be convinced that something that I see is “real”, it remains an individual experience, a personal hallucination, unless it can be shared by others. The larger the group that comes to share my experience, the more convincing is the proof of its “reality”.
Now the universe which the child comes to inhabit, and which nurtures its experience, is a world of objects bearing common names, and consists of events that are commonly experienced. This universe comes to be regarded as “real” by virtue of the consensual acceptance of the group to which the child belongs.
The child does not awaken to a world of outward objects that is uniform for all. Instead, it learns to create a universe of objects, referred to by commonly accepted names, and to interact with these objects in commonly accepted ways.
The child thus learns to create a world that matches the common description of its society.
As we have already seen, however, the universe that we believe to be real does not exist “out there” objectively in space, as something that is the common matrix of everyone’s experience.
Whatever we see, in fact, is what we project with our minds, and what we project with our minds is what we have learned to project, according to the beliefs of our society.
Our universe appears real to us and permanent, simply because we have become convinced that it is so. Our world has become so real and solid because we believe it to be real, and it is this conviction that has been confirmed by the opinion of others.
We are all, in fact, constantly reinforcing our description of the world every moment of our waking lives. Its reality is confirmed by our moment to moment conviction of this reality.
This vindication of experience, through the persistent belief that these experiences represent the true reality, is explained in the ancient Vedantic classic, the Tripura Rahasya, in the following way:
“One starts imagining something; then contemplates it; and by continuous or repeated association resolves that it is true unless contradicted. In that way, the world appears real in the manner one is used to it.” 3
The world appears so convincingly real to us as an objective reality because we have convinced ourselves, through a life-long process of conditioning, that it really is so. As Nisargadatta Maharaj points out:
“The world appears to you so overwhelmingly real because you think of it all the time; cease thinking of it and it will dissolve into thin mist.” 4
Similarly, the Yaqui man of knowledge, Don Juan Matus, describes the process by which we create our world of reality as follows: “We maintain our world with our internal talk”.
He explains further that “the world is such-and-such or so-and-so because we tell ourselves that that is the way it is. If we stop telling ourselves that the world is so-and-so, the world will stop being so-and-so.” 5
The world which we experience is not only maintained by our internal flow of thoughts, it is moulded by these thoughts, and so it comes to reflect a character in keeping with these thoughts. For as the TripuraRahasya states:
“The world becomes for one whatever one is accustomed to think of it.” 6
Once we can grasp the idea that the world that appears so vividly to our senses has no objective reality, but is actually a series of subjective images in consciousness that we have learned to project outwardly into space, then we are ready to recognise that our life is like a dream.
And just as different people have different dream experiences, so not everybody around us shares our concept of the world, or experiences the world in exactly the same way that we do. It follows that a society which describes the universe in different terms will experience that universe in different ways.
The aboriginal peoples of Australia have learned to describe their universe according to a description that anthropologists have called “dream time”. According to this description, natural phenomena can be charged as power objects, which can then be utilised to fulfill desires.
The gulf that exists between western man and the animal kingdom does not exist for the Australian or the North American aboriginal. They are able to communicate freely and easily with all creatures, as well as with the spirits of those who are classified, according to the western description of the universe, as “dead”.
These differing descriptions of the universe have been investigated by cultural anthropologists, who have characterised them as primitive variations of the western model of reality.
But the experience of these differing world descriptions remains closed to outsiders. They are worlds in which the westerner cannot share, as long as he or she clings to the western cast of mind, or description of the world.
In order to participate in these other worlds, the westerner must be prepared to submit to the mental reformation necessary to attain a new view of the universe, couched in new descriptive terms. The westerner must literally be born again.
When Carlos Castaneda began his apprenticeship to the Yaqui sorcerer don Juan, he was forced to relearn his description of the world. It proved to be an agonising process, as anyone who has undertaken such a precarious venture will tell.
As Castaneda became increasingly committed to his new description, he became of necessity more and more remote from the world he had left behind. The challenge that confronted him, and which therefore called for an accomplished guide, was to retain his sanity while he oscillated between these two contradictory versions of the world.
His personality, which had hitherto been built upon interactions with a universe couched in western terms, had to be torn apart and rebuilt in an entirely new pattern of relationships.
The more Castaneda succeeded in adopting his new description of the world, the more he was obliged to alienate himself from the old. Judged from the standpoint of the western milieu, therefore, he was perceived to be an increasingly shadowy and inexplicable figure.
The more unpredictable his behaviour became in western terms, the more uncomfortable his former associates became. Since his behaviour continued to be judged according to the western convention of thought, it was hardly surprising that various articles and books came to be published portraying Castaneda as a fraud, and his mentor don Juan Matus as an imaginary figment of his imagination.
But in his adventure into the world of Yaqui sorcery, Castaneda had done more than adopt a new description of the world. In his success, he served to undermine the comfortable assurance of the uniformity of the western mould of reality.
Among his more perceptive readers, the awesome doubt began to grow that the accepted western image of the universe might not be as fixed and as assured as they had previously imagined.
It was inevitable therefore, that Castaneda’s works would be subject to a barrage of criticism, and his veracity and integrity impugned. For it is the mark of the conviction with which every society clings to its own description of the world, that prompts it to reproach another.
Those who most strongly defend their own view of reality are quickest to attack the claims of another, and in the most strident of terms. They rest their defence upon their knowledge of the known.
But the knowledge on which they base their concept of the world is fundamentally flawed. What they claim to be the foundation of true knowledge, has been moulded by their belief. The knowledge which they claim to be true is itself delusory. As Sri Dattatreya explained to his pupil Bhargava:
“The greatest of all delusions is the conviction that knowledge is not a delusion.” 7
Throughout its process of growth in the world, the young child is encouraged by every means available to conform to the accepted outlook of the world. The primary force in this moulding process is “love”.
Drawn naturally to its parents by this primal bond, the infant strives to match its behaviour to the expectations of its parents, on whom it is totally dependent for the satisfaction of its needs.
Throughout its long apprenticeship towards the accepted viewpoint of its society, the child is continually motivated to conform. The alternative is isolation, a prospect that is terrifying to the vulnerable child.
Meaning, in all life, stems from association. The stronger the child’s association is with those around it, the greater the meaning and satisfaction which those relationships provide.
The child is thus not moulded by circumstance alone, for it chooses to comply with the consensus view because of the very real emotional benefits which this compliance brings.
But the child pays a heavy price for this affiliation, for, in adopting the view of reality imposed upon it by its society, it almost always irrevocably limits its freedom to experience life in other ways. Much of the spontaneity and joy of youthful expression is surrendered.
The child succeeds in winning full membership of the adult group, but in so doing it sells its birthright of creative freedom. As the English poet William Wordsworth wrote:
“Shades of the prison-house begin to close
Upon the growing Boy.
But he beholds the light, and whence it flows,
He sees it in his joy;
The Youth, who daily farther from the east
Must travel, still is Nature’s priest,
And by the vision splendid
Is on his way attended;
At length the Man perceives it die away,
And fade into the light of common day.
(Ode – Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood.)
(Continued in Part Two)
References
1 George Stratton, “Vision without inversion of the retinal image“, Psychological Review, Vol IV, No.4, 1897, p. 344. 2 Henry Margenau and Lawrence LeShan, “Einstein’s Space and Van Goch’s Sky“, Macmillan, New York, 1982, p. 58. 3 “Tripura Rahasya“, translated by Swami Saraswathi, Sri Ramanasramam, Tiruvannamalai, 1962, p. 100. 4 “I Am That“, Conversations with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, translated by Maurice Frydman, Book II, Chetana, Bombay, 1973, p. 276. 5 Carlos Castaneda, “A Separate Reality“, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1971, pp. 263-264. 6 “Tripura Rahasya“, op.cit., p. 88. 7 “Tripura Rahasya“, op. cit., p. 157.
Allan, Shades of the Prison-House, March 2, 2015, 3:21 pm
The final instalment of the Blog posts entitled “Creatures of the Mind” ended with the following words:
“Our world is not the product of some supernatural creator. It is instead a magical kaleidoscope of form that is ever linked to the creative power of thought. And we who sojourn in this wondrous world of form, are actually the true makers of its magic“.
It is likely that most readers of this paragraph dismissed these words as a florid example of intellectual speculation that bore little relevance to the world of pots and pans, and the realities of cruelty, hardship and hunger that bedevil our planet at this critical time.
The idea that our physical world, consisting of things that can be seen, touched, smelled, tasted and heard; that appears to be the same to everyone, could be created by something as evanescent and variable as the mind, seems to defy all rational logic.
The tough-minded realist scorns such an idea. For him, or her, reality is self-evident. The reality of anything is determined by its impact on their senses.
Suppose, for example, I stand in front of a large tree. I can see the tree clearly in front of me. By touching the trunk, I can feel that it is solid. I can feel the particular texture of the bark and leaves. I can smell it and note its distinctive scent. If I take a leaf and chew it, I can taste its flavour, whether pleasant or otherwise.
If I break off a branch, I can hear it snap, and feel the force with which it resists my effort. But that isn’t all. I can also ask a friend to describe the tree to me. When they describe its height, colour, shape and so on, I find that we both agree on our descriptions.
From this I gain additional information about the tree. I know that it inhabits my friend’s world in the same way that it exists in mine. We both agree that the tree exists, and that it has character and substance.
This combination of sensory experience together with the evidence of those around me, confirms for me the reality of the tree, and that it exists in space as a real physical object, separate from myself.
I can also, if I wish, climb the tree. If I then decide to jump out of the tree, I will fall to the ground with a considerable impact. It is this impact that further confirms for me the reality of the tree, and the world of which it is a part.
My subjective experience, or rather the sensations which the tree inspires in me, serves to define the nature of the tree. It seems obvious to me that the tree exists quite independently of myself and that it is totally separate from me. There seems no link between me and the tree.
And that is the way I come to relate to everything around me. My world appears to exist as an assortment of physical objects located separately from me in space, while my life consists of my interactions with these objects in a separate dimension called time.
So when Western scientists began to examine the world around them, one of the first things they wanted to know was what this “real world” was made of. They little realised at that time that this would be a journey that would last over five hundred years, and would lead them from the solid ground of physics, to the ethereal world of mysticism and metaphysics.
When Galileo developed his telescope, he was convinced that the world he was investigating consisted of solid, physical matter that moved in empty space. The wonder of his telescope was that it permitted him to discover just how vast that macrocosm of space really was.
The scientists who succeeded Galileo continued to build their theories upon this foundation of solid matter. The entire edifice of scientific thought in the classical (or pre-twentieth century) era, was founded upon the unchallenged evidence of the senses.
With the coming of the atomic age, scientists began to unravel the secrets of those tiny particles of matter that had hitherto been too small to investigate experimentally. As the inner secrets of the atom came to be revealed, so the awesome doubt began to grow that the essential fundamentals upon which the whole of classical science had been built, might actually be false.
Galileo and his colleagues had believed that everything in nature could be investigated in an objective and neutral way, and that the experimental data derived by any single scientist could be replicated by any other scientist who was prepared to adopt the same scientific protocols.
The discoveries of Quantum Mechanics in the 20th century proved that this was not so. When reduced to its essential nature, all physical matter was found to be a manifestation of energy. However, this energy did not consist of separate, indivisible bits, which could subsequently be re-combined to form the whole of the phenomenal universe.
Instead, this energy was found to manifest in particular patterns, and these patterns showed an amazing capacity for transforming themselves into yet more patterns. Scientists found to their dismay that all physical matter was composed of particular patterns of energy that were constantly being created and destroyed. (The Embarrassing Menagerie)
Furthermore, it was found that these patterns of energy could not be investigated independently. In some strange but infuriating fashion they were found to be inextricably bound up with the nature of the observer.
The scientist could no longer view nature in an objective and impartial manner, as men like Galileo, Newton and Kelvin had imagined. In fact the result of any scientific experiment was seen to be crucially dependent upon the expectations of the person conducting the experiment.
Nothing could be observed in nature without that act of observation fundamentally altering the very nature of what was being observed. It became clear that it was impossible, even in theory, to examine nature “as it really was”. It could only be investigated in that form in which it appeared in consciousness.
In the new world of Quantum Physics, Nature could no longer be thought of as something that existed independently of consciousness, but was something that was moulded and shaped by consciousness itself. As the physicist Henry Margenau has succinctly explained:
“There is no purely objective way to perceive something, to perceive it as it is before consciousness shapes it into something we can perceive. What looks objective to us is what we construct and are accustomed to see.” 1
The witness was no longer the neutral observer of what was seen, but was now an active participant in the creation of what was observed. The impact of this discovery served to shatter forever the concept of the universe operating as a sort of Giant Machine.
The devastating blow which the discoveries of Quantum Mechanics dealt to the world of classical science, was that the idea of a separate, objective universe, independent of the observer, was seen to be illusory. The universe was no longer something that existed apart from the witness, but was something which resolved itself ultimately into consciousness itself.
All that could be said about the universe was that it existed, and that it did so in the form of various impressions in consciousness. The world of physics, the study of outward natural phenomena, had led to the world of metaphysics, the study of the mind.
Physicists had now begun to glimpse the world of matter as a manifestation of mind. This was a discovery which was to become increasingly in harmony with the experiences described by mystics.
To the mystics, consciousness was the basic source of all manifestation. Not only was matter a manifestation in consciousness, but it was actually shaped by the nature of that consciousness.
According to the mystics, the universe was not some aggregate of objects located independently in space, but was a series of images projected upon consciousness. In this bio-centric view of the universe, the testimony of the Sages served to restore the medieval belief in man as the centre of the universe, albeit on a more exalted level of thought.
The individual was no longer an inconsequential cog in the Giant Machine, but was in fact the actual creator and sustainer of the universe. The shape in which the universe manifested was moulded by his or her thoughts. And as these thoughts changed, so the experience of the observer and the nature of the universe changed as well.
In this new view of the universe, the search to understand the true nature of reality has taken a dramatic and unexpected turn. Attention has now become focused on ourselves. Since everything that is seen and experienced in the universe is a reflection within consciousness, there can be no objective “reality” in the universe itself.
Not only are these images of the universe not real, but they vary from individual to individual. What this means is that there is no single universe that is common to all minds, and which is experienced in the same way by every person. Different people experience the universe in different ways
Each of us conjures up in consciousness our own unique world in which to function. However, as we grow, we are taught, initially by our parents, and then by all the other people with whom we come in contact, to shape our world so that it is similar to that which is experienced by the people around us.
In this way, we learn through a process of cultural conditioning to create our own personal universe in terms which are common to those people who share our own particular culture. However, different cultures experience the world in different ways. So the world of an Australian aborigine or of an African bushman is strikingly different from our own.
But whatever sort of world we learn to create in consciousness, the “reality” with which these images appear to be endowed is not an intrinsic feature of the images themselves. Instead, they manifest a character which is derived from the inherent nature of the projecting consciousness.
Nothing that is witnessed is or can be real, for all images in consciousness are transitory and illusory. It makes no difference what level of consciousness is involved. After-life images have no greater reality than those of waking consciousness, hallucination or dream.
The truth is that the world that appears so outwardly real to our senses, is in fact a subjective creation of our own minds.
Because the universe that we have created for ourselves is a subjective projection in consciousness, rather than the outward manifestation of an external Creator, it follows that this universe of ours cannot be bound by restricting rules and laws.
The so called “laws of science” to which the universe appears to bow in homage, are simply the manifestations of our codified thinking. Our world expresses order and law because we have chosen to make it so. Our universe has come to be revealed to us in the manner that we have come to think of it.
If we should happen to change our way of thinking, our universe will reveal itself afresh, in ever new and wondrous ways. The limits of the universe are in fact the limits of our minds, for as we believe it to exist, so it comes to manifest. This is the message of the Sages.
In our daily lives we are free to express ourselves in unlimited ways. The thoughts that we generate in our minds are the seeds which germinate in the form of our experiences. We are free to tailor our experiences in life therefore, by deliberately choosing those thoughts which give birth to the creatures of our desires.
We truly are the creators of our lives, free to follow the longings of our heart-felt hopes. The major barrier which prevents us from achieving our desires is simply the belief that we are bound. But as we find recorded in the ancient Hindu text Tripura Rahasya:
“The strongest fetter is the certainty that one is bound. It is as false as the fearful hallucinations of a frightened child.” 2
In projecting a universe that is in accordance with the consensual views of our society, we inevitably come to impose upon ourselves the limitations which are inherent in our group beliefs. Our universe comes then to reflect these limitations in ways which curtail the free expression of our desires.
It is the nature of our beliefs, rather than of any inherent shortcomings in the universe, which then prevent us from experiencing our full potential. The universe in which we live reflects the current thinking of our times. It is not static, but changes as the underlying thoughts themselves change.
Every individual therefore, is not only bound by a comprehensive description of the world, but continually contributes to it as well. Any individual who, perhaps through intuitive inspiration, comes to view the world in a novel way, may ultimately come to influence the combined world view of an entire society.
Our western scientific description of the universe has in fact been moulded by such singular individuals as Galileo, Newton and Einstein. In experiencing the universe as they have taught us to describe it, we imagine that we have come to see the universe “as it really is”. All we have done in fact has been to change our thoughts. The universe, which mirrors these thoughts, has then modified itself accordingly.
When we seek to fulfill our desires, we do so within the framework of our accepted patterns of belief. Within the constraints imposed upon us by our world description, our desires become fulfilled in direct proportion to the energy with which they are invested.
When we recognise that the limits imposed upon us by our world are actually the reflections of our own beliefs, we then become capable of redefining our description of the world, and by so doing demolish our former limitations.
Since the universe is always a personal projection of our minds, we are always free to redefine the terms of our personal universe, whether or not this meets with the collective approval of our society. We may then be able to act in ways which seem impossible according to the world-view of the group.
Let us suppose for example that I have been injured in an automobile accident. My neck is broken and I find myself paralysed from the head down. It may be that the collective medical opinion which contributes to my description of the world, decides that nothing further can be done for me, and that I am doomed to remain a quadriplegic.
If this is the case then I have two options before me. I can either accept my handicap as bravely as I can, as an unfortunate “fact” of life, and learn to adapt my life to the severe limits which this handicap entails. However, I also have a second option which, although revolutionary, rests upon impeccable grounds, attested to by the Sages.
I can if I wish, and if I have the courage, simply alter my description of the world.
I can choose to create a new description of the world in which my injury is able to be healed, allowing me to walk again and to recover the complete use of my body. Of course my physician, schooled within the traditional description of the universe, will assure me that I am mad.
But my paralysis is not an irremediable “fact” of nature, but only becomes so when I believe this to be true myself. If I can replace my former belief with the new belief that it is possible to overcome my physical handicap, then I can certainly achieve the impossible and overcome my paralysis.
In order to do this I need three requirements. First of all I need an intense desire to be healed. Secondly I need the concentration of mind necessary to visualise this desire, the image of the body healed. Finally I need the faith, the inner conviction that it will be healed, and the commitment to continue holding to this new belief until my healing is complete.
I need to be careful however not to underestimate the challenge which lies before me. In order to succeed, I not only need to energise my new belief to the point where it reaches physical manifestation, but also to overcome my old belief which suggests that what I am attempting to do is impossible.
My efforts will also fly in the face of those around me who are still committed to the old belief, and who will attempt, no doubt out of “love” for me, to persuade me that what I am doing is hopeless and doomed to failure.
I have, however, one trump card in my favour. My ultimate success in redefining my world of thought may encourage them to do the same, and in so doing, may help them to break down their own barriers of unbelief.
We tend of course to be trapped into thinking that what is possible in life is limited by various “laws of science” or “laws of nature”, and that these laws impose irrevocable limits on our capabilities. Yet according to the mystics there are no such laws.
It is worth recalling the words of Jesus, who told his disciples that anyone who possessed the faith of a tiny mustard seed would be able to move mountains, and that “nothing shall be impossible to you”. (Matthew 17: 20)
Jesus didn’t qualify this statement by saying that nothing was impossible as long as it didn’t conflict with the laws of nature. In fact all of his miracles proved that it was possible to do things that modern science deems impossible, as long as one had the necessary faith.
What we consider to be “laws of nature” are merely those beliefs within which we have chosen to imprison ourselves. The truth is blindingly simple. The universe is a product of thought. The sole purpose of the universe is to mirror our thinking. It does not matter what these thoughts are.
As Maharaj has pointed out, “Space is neutral – one can fill it with what one likes.” 3 There is no limit to what we can achieve, as Maharaj has confirmed:
“The desirable is imagined and wanted and manifests itself as something tangible or conceivable. Thus is created the world in which we live, our personal world.” 4
In spite of the wonders which the prescriptive thoughts of science have wrought in our world, they remain a constricting web of belief which limits our freedom of expression. The “laws of science” do not pose ultimate limits on what we can or cannot achieve. They simply represent the codified thinking of the scientific community.
Our scientific beliefs are chains which deny us the fulfilment of that inherent potential which is our birthright. If we can bring ourselves to transcend the limits of our own beliefs, we can inherit a world of wonder that dwarfs our imagination. In fact, wonder is that vital ingredient in life that has been vanquished by the materialism of modern science.
The constricting mould which presently dominates scientific thinking is that our world is ultimately law-abiding and predictable. It is this basic predictability and conformity that has robbed us of something essential to the spontaneity of life.
The narrow confines of the scientific description of the universe have stripped life of much of its intrinsic majesty and worth, and have deprived us of that sense of mystery and delight which is so much a feature of the outlook of the child. As Carl Jung wrote in his memoirs:
“It is important to have a secret, a premonition of things unknown. It fills life with something impersonal, a numinosum. A man who has never experienced that has missed something important.
” He must sense that he lives in a world which in some respects is mysterious; that things happen and can be experienced which remain inexplicable; that not everything which happens can be anticipated. The unexpected and the incredible belong in this world. Only then is life whole.” 5
The universe is ever free and unfettered. It is a place of mystery and wonder. Events continually occur which are unplanned and unexplained. No theory of the universe can hope to circumscribe all its contents. The universe will always be too rich for any theory.
It is at heart an unfathomable and exhilarating place. In its free and untrammelled expression the universe constantly defies our understanding. In the words of the Yaqui sorcerer don Juan:
“The world is incomprehensible. We won’t ever understand it; we won’t ever unravel its secrets. Thus we must treat it as it is, a sheer mystery!” 6
To the mystic the world is at once mysterious and profound. In the ebb and flow of its expression it continues to defy analysis. Those of us who have adopted a scientific description of the world take comfort in the fact that science has helped to render our world reliable and predictable.
In so doing it has served effectively to banish the phantoms of our fears. We have become sufficiently emboldened by this success to believe that we can challenge the insight of the Sages. For as one visitor to Nisargadatta Maharaj remarked:
Visitor: “The sciences have made much progress. We know the body and the mind much better than our ancestors. Your traditional way of describing and analysing mind and matter is no longer valid.
Maharaj: But where are your scientists and their sciences? Are they not again images in your mind?
Visitor: Here lies the basic difference! To me they are not my projections. They were before I was born and shall be when I am dead.
Maharaj: Of course. Once you accept space and time as real, you will consider yourself minute and short lived. But are they real? Have you ever investigated?” 7
It is the investigation into the world of space and time that reveals the inexpressible wonder and power that lies at the root of all manifested life. In tracing the origin of matter to its source, the world is seen to be a creature of the mind, shaped by the swirling waters of thought.
Our fragile egos are built upon sequential experiences in a world which we have learned to shape in ways that are in consonance with others of our culture. When this consensual description comes to be threatened, we react with dread at the threat it poses to our very personalities.
Our personalities have been built upon a pyramid of fears, and ignorance of our real nature has served to enshrine these fears. It is only when we come to see that we ourselves have spun the web of circumstance which now imprisons us, that we may discover that our fears are groundless. They are impediments to joy. As Maharaj reveals:
“Once you realize that all comes from within, that the world in which you live has not been projected onto you, but by you, your fear comes to an end. It is only when you fully accept your responsibility for the little world in which you live and watch the progress of its creation, preservation and destruction, that you may be free from your imaginary bondage.” 8
It is through the investigation of our own internal being, shining within us as the “I Am” sensation, that the path to Ultimate Reality can be found.
This Reality, the sun of pure Awareness, is not a product of consciousness, nor can images in consciousness lead us to it. It transcends all images, and the only way to experience it is to transcend all images and all levels of consciousness.
Only those who are prepared to transcend the limited worlds of consciousness can come to know the unlimited expanse of the true, unblemished Reality.
The call of the mystic, the good news of the Sage, ever beckons us to the rediscovery of our ancestral home. The joy that lies in the welcome of that home-coming is beyond all telling. It is the measureless depth of eternal Awareness, freed from the boundaries of experience, exulting in its blissful nature.
It is the perception of this goal, and the quest for its attainment, that lends new meaning to our lives. Our steps are then marked with value, verve and grace. When, like the prodigal son of old, we return at last to our own true home, there is great rejoicing.
We who have for so long sought our comfort, wealth and pleasure in a myriad different things, and pursued them down the course of a myriad different lives, now rest at peace in the splendour of Our Father’s Mansion. The purpose of our lives is finally fulfilled.
The nature of this victory is captured in the words of the American naturalist and philosopher Henry David Thoreau:
“I am from the beginning, knowing no end, no aim. No sun illumines me, for I dissolve all lesser lights in my own intenser and steadier light. I am a restful kernel in the magazine of the universe.” 9
References
1 Henry Margenau and Lawrence LeShan, “Einstein’s Space and Van Goch’s Sky“, Macmillan, New York, 1982, p. 189. 2 “Tripura Rahasya“, translated by Swami Saraswathi, Sri Ramanasramam, Tiruvannamalai, 1962, pp. 153-154. 3 “I Am That“, Conversations with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, translated by Maurice Frydman, Book I, p. 100. 4 Ibid, Book I, p. 11. 5 Carl Jung, “Memories, Dreams, Reflections” recorded and edited by A.Jaffe, Pantheon Books, New York, 1961, p. 356. 6 Carlos Castaneda. “A Separate Reality“, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1971, p. 264. 7 “I Am That“, Book I, op. cit., p.287. 8 Ibid, Book II, p. 42. 9 Henry Thoreau, “Essays, Journals and Poems“, edited by Dean Flower, Fawcett, Greenwich, 1975, p. 598.
Allan, Our Magical World, February 16, 2015, 8:28 am
The idea that physical objects, and even enigmatic creatures like lake monsters and hairy anthropoids could be created by human thought seems to defy all rational analysis. However, the mystics of old insisted that this was actually possible, and they demonstrated the truth of their words by their actions.
Many instances of this are recorded in Paramahansa Yogananda’s Autobiography of a Yogi, in which he describes such extravaganzas as Babaji’s materialisation of an entire palace in the Himalayas.
He also quotes examples of such saints as Lahiri Mahasaya, Yukteswar Giri and Swami Pranabananda, who were able to materialise physical doubles of themselves in other places, even though their bodies remained in full view of their devotees.
Sathya Sai Baba
Other mystics, such as Ganda Baba, were able to materialise food and other delicacies. More recently, the South Indian saint Sathya Sai Baba was renowned for his ability to materialise at will such things as sweets, watches, jewellery and other trinkets.
As Yogananda explains, “The actual form of the projection (whatever it be: a tree, a medicine, a human body) is determined by the yogi’s wish and by his power of will and of visualization.” 1
Yogis are not only able to create projections of any form they desire, but they are also able to animate objects which are normally considered to be inert. Yogananda recalls occasions when the great sage of Dakshineswar, Sri Ramakrishna, would converse with a stone idol, which was observed to come to life and communicate with him. 2
In a similar fashion, St Theresa talked to a statue of the Madonna, which came to life through the power of her devotion. Commenting on this ability, Ramana Maharshi remarked: “The animated figure indicates depth of meditation. There is a process of concentration of mind on one’s own shadow which in due course becomes animated and answers questions put to it. That is due to strength of mind or depth of meditation.” 3
While Westerners seldom create thought forms consciously, largely because they have never taken the trouble to develop their minds in this way, they often create doppelgangers unconsciously, in times of great emotional trauma.
As we have seen, the emotions are able to provide a powerful animating force for any particular form of thought. This is particularly so at times of violent death.
Activated by a momentary burst of intense emotion, a phantom is created which reflects the nature of its creator. The doppelganger which is then formed is what we commonly call a ghost. This phantom image varies in clarity according to the strength of energy that created it.
This image tends to become associated with the physical environs at the scene of death, leading to what we normally think of as “haunting”. The ghost is merely a shell of thought. It is not a source of being, but a reflection of that source.
Yet it takes on the character of that person, and acts in a manner that is appropriate to that person. If the phantom is sufficiently energised, it may even talk to others, in a voice which is identical to that of the deceased person.
An Eastern Airlines Tristar
When a Lockheed Tristar operated by Eastern Airlines crashed tragically in the Florida Everglades on December 29,1972, the captain Bob Loft and Second Officer Don Repo were among those who died of injuries sustained in the crash.
Shortly after this event, rumours began to circulate that the ghosts of these two men were being seen aboard other Eastern aircraft. It was the persistence of these rumours which attracted the interest of John Fuller, and led to an investigation which culminated in the publication of his popular book The Ghost of Flight 401.
With the aid of other airline personnel, Fuller was able to record many of the accounts of these witnesses.
On one particular flight from New York to Miami, an Eastern Airlines Flight Attendant pulled back the compartment door to an overhead bin during a pre-flight check of the first class cabin, and found herself looking directly into the face of Captain Loft, a man she had known and flown with on numerous occasions in the past.
Bob Loft was seen again in the first class cabin by a Flight Captain and two Flight Attendants during a pre-flight check at Kennedy Airport in New York. These three people saw and talked to Loft, who suddenly disappeared from their sight.
During a Miami turnaround on a flight to New York, a Vice-President of Eastern Airlines boarded the plane, a Lockheed Tristar, prior to embarkation by the regular passengers. As he entered the first class cabin, he saw that it was empty except for a man occupying one of the seats, who was dressed in the uniform of an Eastern Airlines Captain.
The Vice-President stopped to speak to the man, and recognised him as Captain Loft, who then disappeared in front of his eyes. An immediate search of the plane revealed no sign of any other person.
When a crew of Marriott Caterers were placing food-trays aboard another Tristar of the Eastern Fleet, several of them confessed that they had seen the figure of a Flight Engineer standing in the galley. As they looked at the man he simply disappeared.
On another occasion, an Eastern Airlines Flight Engineer who was performing his usual pre-flight inspection aboard a Tristar, was surprised to see a man dressed in the uniform of a Second Officer sitting in his seat at the instrument panel. The Engineer immediately recognised him as Don Repo. Repo turned to him and told him not to bother with the pre-inspection as he had already done it. With that, the three-dimensional image of Repo abruptly vanished. 4
The apparitions that were witnessed in these cases looked completely real and, on occasions, even spoke to the witnesses before disappearing from their sight. These phantoms behaved in characteristic fashion, and looked, acted and spoke exactly as the real persons would have done had they still been alive.
These phantoms were, however, tulpas of their makers, who did not survive the crash. They were created out of the emotional psychic force which accompanied the trauma of the crash. Similar phantoms have been created by numerous other victims of violent death.
Again, these images often appear to be perfectly real to those who see them. If the creative force which generates them is strong enough, phantoms may even appear to have animate existence, talking to others and acting in life-like ways.
Although some tulpas or phantoms may appear to be fully-fledged three-dimensional beings, interacting with their environment exactly as real persons would have done, it is more common for them to be less substantial.
Ghosts are frequently described as transparent wraiths, apparent in outline, yet lacking the solid features of three-dimensional form. In these cases the energy which generated them was significantly less.
In other cases phantoms may appear outwardly real at the time they are seen, only to be revealed later as incorporeal because they failed to leave physical evidence such as footprints. We have already noted the incident of the bigfoot that left no footprints even though the ground was soft and muddy.
Snow Hiking in Colorado
Another example of phantom beings occurred in the Hall valley region of Colorado in the western United States. Earl Mortimeyer, Dale Howes and Dave Dallas had arranged to hike into this remote region of the Rocky Mountains, in order to stake out a uranium claim.
Although it was late in May, deep snowdrifts still filled the valley. As the three men made their way to their prospective claim site, they often had to plunge deep into the moist snow, leaving their trousers soaking wet up to the knees.
After having reached the site at the top of a steep incline and taken the necessary rock samples, the three were preparing to leave when they spotted two men accompanied by two women coming towards them. What seemed particularly surprising was the fact that the newcomers looked like two prosperous suburban couples out for a Sunday stroll.
Except for their footwear, none of them were dressed in outfits suitable for mountain climbing, but instead wore light summer garments. One of the couples seemed to be in their mid-thirties, while the other looked to be well past sixty. The men found it astonishing that two such elderly people should be trekking in such arduous country.
The two groups exchanged pleasantries, but the men were somewhat bemused by the strange answers they received from the two couples. When asked where they had left their car, one couple indicated that they had left it at the highway, while the other said that it had been left at the campground. What was odd was that these two places were five miles apart.
When asked whether they had come up on the road past the campground, one of the four responded that they had passed the “two-wheeled vehicles”. When Dale Howes asked him if he was referring to the motorcycles he had seen parked down below, the man looked puzzled, and then repeated “the two-wheeled vehicles”.
After a short conversation this man announced, “Well, a storm’s coming, so I guess we’ll go on up the ridge and across the mountain to Montezuma“. The three men were astounded. Montezuma lay more than five miles away across some of the most forbidding country in the Rockies, and necessitated a crossing of Red Cone mountain at an altitude of 12800 feet (3900 metres).
The two couples then took off up the ridge while the three men set off on their return journey. Having gone several hundred yards downhill, they looked back to see how the two couples were faring. To their amazement the four had covered almost twice the distance.
They continued to watch as the distant figures surged up the steep mountain slope until they were lost to sight. The three men carried on through the deep snow until they reached the log where they had stopped earlier for lunch.
It was at this point that Dave Dallas said very quietly. “Their legs weren’t wet!” There was one other feature which none of them could explain. The four strangers had not left any tracks in the snow. 5
Every thought that we think appears as a real manifestation upon a particular plane of consciousness. As Thomas Bearden puts it, thoughts are “real, physical objects in their own world domain.”
In this subtle world frame domain they are initially indiscernible. Yet if they are sufficiently energised, these thoughts come to manifest themselves upon that level of consciousness that we call our waking world of reality. When they do so, they arrive complete with their own milieu and validity.
Joseph Pearce
Joseph Pearce calls this arrival the Eureka! insight. When our thoughts suddenly appear in form before us, we are startled by the shock of recognition. “Why, of course”, we say, “that is the way things really are. That is the way things always were, but we just never realized it before“.
We imagine in this discovery that we have gained a new and deeper understanding of the universe, as it really is. What the universe has actually done, however, has been to reflect our own thoughts back to us in form. It has moulded itself according to our belief.
Thoughts take shape according to the underlying landscape of belief, and bring to each generation a reflection of its own psychology. We are the sole architects of our universe, for, as Pearce remarks, “We are the determinant, the prism that shapes inner and outer into a meaningful pattern that is the only reality we shall ever know.” 6
The more a thought form or tulpa is reinforced through repetition, the easier it becomes for that form to manifest on the physical plane, and the more likely it is to reappear.
As Bearden explains, “As interest in sasquatch/bigfoot grows and the effort to discover him intensifies, the kindling of the tulpoidal form intensifies. With this intensity of kindling it is getting easier to evoke a bigfoot type tulpoid, and as it continues, sasquatch is going to be tuned in and stabilised.
“If so the past will just be changed, and we will be able to dig up ancient bones of sasquatch, and find his lairs, and track him down with dogs and capture him. In that case sasquatch will become a respectable animal and will stabilize in our reality.” 7
If what Bearden has suggested should actually occur, and bigfoot come to take its place among the accepted species in our menagerie of life, we will have remade our own reality in accordance with our beliefs. Bigfoot will then be revealed to us as a new Eureka! experience.
Anthropologists will confirm its place in the hierarchy of species, pointing to its role in the developing saga of human speciation. This new creature will be catalogued according to its diet and behavioural characteristics, which will no doubt show a remarkable fidelity with other ape-like forms known to science.
We will wonder why we never discovered its existence earlier, since the evidence will now be obvious for all to see. Scientists trained within the “normal” paradigm of science will then point to those very anecdotal reports which are rejected by scientists today, as evidence that bigfoot always was with us.
Yet they will inevitably miss the subtle way in which our “reality” will have come to rearrange itself. For as Pearce points out, “The normality into which it will be translated will be a reality that has itself been translated, or transformed into terms compatible with the new desire.
“The ‘ecological’ satisfactions demanded by the new idea and its radiating contingencies will somehow be met. The vast network of our reality will make adjustments for inclusion of the new concept. The infinite process of change will have its logical, normal, and reasonable working out. The action of psyche and physis will have gone full circle.” 8
The universe represents a continuing manifestation of our thoughts, hopes and dreams. It constantly renews itself according to whatever paradigm of ideas currently holds sway. The universe is not a fixed array of objects grinding their way remorselessly to extinction.
It is instead an unbelievably coherent yet complex reflection upon the screen of consciousness of whatever thoughts and desires we hold dear. Because we have become indoctrinated by the sophistication of the current scientific paradigm, we tend to laugh today at the legends of past centuries, and ridicule beliefs that characterised past generations.
When we read tales of vampires, fairies and werewolves, we consider them to be the superstitious folly of unreasoning folk, the stuff of human fantasy. Yet at a time when vast numbers of people believed implicitly in the reality of werewolves and vampires, tulpoidal phantoms which bore out these beliefs would have been as certain to appear as those tulpoidal creatures which appear to us today.
The vampires which are linked in legend to Transylvania and other parts of eastern Europe undoubtedly existed. To those people who were unfortunate enough to encounter them, they must have appeared as real and as terrifying as bigfoot encounters are today.
Furthermore, as each new grisly occurrence was reported, it would have helped to stimulate belief, which would in turn have added yet more kindling to these tulpas. The only reason why they are not rampant to this day is because our underlying patterns of belief have changed.
In our modern world, it is our own lack of belief in their existence that has robbed them of their power. Yet they could re-emerge again at any time if the weathervane of belief should happen to swing again in their direction. As it was with vampires and werewolves, so it is with fairies.
As Thomas Bearden remarks, “When enough human unconsciousnesses have the idea of fairies deeply ingrained in them, occasionally a real, living, breathing fairy pops out of the collective unconscious.” 9
Fairies may no longer be as common as they once were, due to the overall decline in belief, but occasionally a real, living fairy still does pop out into our reality.
In 1960, when Dale Martin was a young child, she was living in Picton, near Kingston, Ontario. One summer evening around half-past seven, Dale was in bed but was unable to sleep. At that hour the sun was still in the sky and dusk had not yet fallen. As she lay in bed, Dale was astonished to see a tiny creature fly in through the open window. She looked at it in amazement.
“My eyes widened at the shock of seeing this beautiful, fairy-like creature. It was almost translucent. I’d say it was about two to three inches high. It floated around my bed and landed on the dresser beside me. I couldn’t believe it and reached out to try and touch it.
“As I put my hand out it landed on my hand – effortlessly. I sat up in bed looking at it with awe. It was just beautiful. I was smiling at it and it looked at me. I wanted to touch it and stroke its wings, but it flew off in a semicircle out of the window. I’ll never forget it!” 10
Our universe of “reality” is far richer than we have hitherto imagined. Not only does it encompass creatures which conform to our conditioned view of nature, but it also contains an astonishing array of anomalous manifestations which appear to defy our accepted understanding of reality.
While these anomalies are difficult to explain according to the classical viewpoint of reality, they derive validation and meaning in terms of the tulpoidal thesis of form. For these unusual creatures, whether they are lake monsters, bigfoot, fairies, angelic or demonic beings, are not real creatures as we have come to know them.
Instead, they are creatures of the mind.
These tulpoidal creations are visitors from more subtle realms of consciousness. Tulpas, being drawn from the collective unconscious of humanity, are free to draw upon anything that exists within this collective bank of images.
Just like dream creatures, which are similar emanations from a subconscious source, tulpas are free to manifest in unlimited ways, without being restricted to accepted laws of physics or to the normal standards of behaviour.
Yet the hairy anthropoids that lurk in lonely forests, or the aquatic creatures that loom unexpectedly out of solitary tarns, are not simply visitors that tantalise us with their fleeting and enigmatic form. Their very appearance is fraught with meaning.
Though disguised in mystery, they nevertheless beckon us towards a deeper understanding of nature and of ourselves. For behind these strange manifestations of mind lies a vital clue to the real meaning of the universe.
Our world is not the product of some supernatural creator. It is instead a magical kaleidoscope of form that is ever linked to the creative power of thought. And we who sojourn in this wondrous world of form, are actually the true makers of its magic.
References:
1 Paramahansa Yogananda, “Autobiography of a Yogi“, Self Realization Fellowship, Los Angeles, 1977, p. 316. 2 Ibid, p. 241. 3 “Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi“, op, cit., p. 362. 4 John Fuller, “The Ghost of Flight 401“, Berkley, New York, 1978, pp. 150-152. 5 Earl Mortimeyer, “Four Solid Hiking Ghosts“, Fate magazine, October 1977, pp. 80-84. 6 Joseph Pearce, “The Crack in the Cosmic Egg“, Pocket Books, New York, 1973, p. 102. 7 Thomas Bearden, “Excalibur Briefing“, Strawberry Press, San Francisco, 1980, p. 71. 8 Joseph Pearce, op.cit., p. 103. 9 Thomas Bearden, op.cit., p. 189. 10 Dale Martin, personal communication.
Allan, Creatures of the Mind, February 1, 2015, 3:44 pm
Thomas Bearden believes that manifestations of bigfoot and other crypto-zoological phenomena are, in fact, materialisations within our physical world of thoughts which reside within the collective unconscious of humanity.
These thoughts are able to materialise themselves temporarily into physical form whenever they are sufficiently energised – a process Bearden calls “kindling”. “We will discover”, he writes, “that thoughts and thought objects are real, physical objects in their own world frame domain.
“As such, thoughts or thought objects, or thought constructs can be and are functional devices within the thought world domain. In that domain they are as physical as a rock. We will also discover that thought energy can be turned into electromagnetic energy by kindling, and can even be materialized if kindling is of sufficient intensity.” 1
According to this concept of reality, all physical matter has its origin in subtle dimensions of consciousness. For anything to appear in the physical realm, it must first be preceded by its subtle equivalent in the non-physical realm. This subtle counterpart of matter always antedates the appearance of form in the physical world.
Within this frame of reference, thoughts manifest initially on subtle planes of consciousness. If these thoughts are sufficiently energised, or kindled, these non-physical creations of mind subsequently manifest on the physical plane of existence which we call the “real” world.
However, these forms are not necessarily permanent creations. At first, they merely pop into the physical realm, stay awhile, and then slip back into the more subtle planes of experience. It is only when kindling grows to a particular level of intensity that these thought creations come to stabilize themselves, and appear then to be genuine physical creatures.
As John Keel points out, while they are in their physical mode of manifestation, these thought forms are “temporary transmogrifications”. For as long as they appear in the physical realm, these temporary transmogrifications are indistinguishable from “real” creatures.
In their appearance and disappearances, they appear to the observer to materialise suddenly out of empty space, and then to dematerialise again just as swiftly and mysteriously into nothing. This symmetrical feature of manifestation between non-physical images and their physical counterparts appears to be finding increasing favour in the world of science.
One of its proponents is the Stanford University professor William Tiller. Tiller regards the universe as a conjugate system consisting of both positive and negative space-time frames. In the course of manifestation, Tiller argues that creation takes place initially in negative space-time, a realm which cannot be discerned by the senses, and which therefore appears invisible and undetectable.
With increasing energy, however, the negative space-time construct appears in positive space-time, where it takes on the form of a “real” physical object. From the viewpoint of the physical world, this construct appears to be a sudden materialisation into physical reality.
For as long as it continues to manifest in positive space-time, this thought construct is accepted as a genuine “fact” of nature. When it returns to the negative space-time frame, it appears to vanish instantaneously.
From the viewpoint of the physical world, matter appears to have been created suddenly out of nothing. Yet as Tiller points out, matter is neither created nor destroyed, it merely alters its level of manifestation.
“We see further that dematerialization and materialization phenomena are accounted for and note that matter does not actually disappear from space but it changes its character to become a non-observable relative to the physical sensory system and all apparatus based on that logic. It only appears to be dematerialized, the object only appears to change its form.” 2
The creative force for all manifested form, whether in the negative or positive space-time frame, is thought, and all physical forms are ultimately thought clothed in energy.
As Bearden goes on to describe, these thoughts, which reside within the collective unconscious of humanity, occasionally conspire to produce three-dimensional forms which appear, for as long as they manifest in positive space-time, to be real physical creatures.
These creatures may take on any shape or form, and may appear to be either evil or benevolent. As he remarks:
“Angels, imps, Virgin Mary’s, UFO’s, sasquatches, Loch Ness monsters, lake monsters, sea monsters, mystery lights, fairies, elves, devas, devils, ogres, Mothman, men in black, goblins, large monster birds, etc., are all kindled by the same process.
“Any tulpoidal materialization may be physically real during its stable period. It may make large tracks in the ground, operate ship-like space vehicles, break tree branches, take human specimens on board, examine human specimens, etc.
“The tulpoid may appear benevolent or harmful, and it may actually be so in the stably materialized mode. The full content of the human consciousness is there to be materialized in physical form – all the good, all the bad, all the noble, all the sly aspects.” 3
In making reference to tulpoids, Bearden has drawn upon a system of belief which has existed in Tibet for centuries, and from whose culture the word tulpa is derived.
Alexandra David-Neel, who spent fourteen years living in Tibet absorbing its culture and religion, was given a document by the then Dalai Lama, whom she met in 1912, which described the nature of the tulpa. She quoted from this document in her book Magic and Mystery in Tibet.
“A Bodhisattva (Being of high spiritual attainment) is the basis of countless magic forms. By the power generated in a state of perfect concentration of mind he may, at one and the same time show a phantom (tulpa) of himself in thousands millions of worlds.
“He may create not only human forms, but any forms he chooses, even those of inanimate objects such as hills, enclosures, houses, forests, roads, bridges, etc. He may produce atmospheric phenomena as well as thirst quenching beverages of immortality. In fact, there is no limit to his power of phantom creation.” 4
David-Neel goes on to add, “The power of producing magic formations, tulkus or less lasting and materialized tulpas, does not, however, belong exclusively to such mystic, exalted beings.
“Any human, divine or demoniac being may be possessed of it. The only difference comes from the degree of power, and this depends on their strength of the concentration and the quality of the mind itself.” 5
The creation of tulpas, or the materialisation in the physical realm of phantom forms, constitutes a unique feature of Tibetan, or Tantric, Buddhism. It serves to reveal their deep insight into the illusory nature of the phenomenal universe.
In order to convey this insight to the neophyte, the Tibetan pupil is isolated in a tiny cell and ordered to devote his or her entire energy to meditation. The object chosen for this meditation is the Yidam, or tutelary deity. Examples of Yidams can be seen adorning the walls of Tibetan monasteries. They can be either fearsome deities or angelic gods.
A Typical Tibetan Kyilkhor or Magic Diagram
At first the novice is taught to concentrate his or her thoughts upon the particular Yidam selected, imagining it in the shape and form illustrated on the temple walls. Together with this, the disciple is required to repeat certain mystical formulae, and to construct particular kyilkhors or magic diagrams.
These rituals are structured pathways of thought which have traditionally been followed throughout the centuries, and they assist the pupil in the attainment of the goal. After many months of this solitary practice, there comes a day when the student succeeds in obtaining a glimpse of the chosen Yidam.
At first it is nebulous and fleeting. As encouraging as this is, the disciple is ordered to continue his or her efforts until the image attains complete clarity of form. Even when this achievement is reached, the pupil is entreated to proceed further, to the point where the Yidam actually becomes animated. David-Neel describes this stage of ultimate success.
“The successful disciples see the Yidam taking on life. They distinctly feel the touch of his feet when, prostrated, they lay their head on them. They feel the weight of his hands when he blesses them. They see his eyes moving, his lips parting, he speaks and lo! he steps out of the kyilkhor and walks in the tsamskhang (isolated cell).” 6
This prolonged exercise in concentration is not mere mental diversion. The sublime purpose of animating a thought form is to teach the disciple that the chosen image, which has finally reached complete physical reality, is nothing more than a creation of the disciple’s own mind.
This leads finally to the realisation that all the forms of the physical universe are similar constructs of the mind. As David-Neel explains:
“However it is not to amuse the hermits that these exercises have been invented. Their true aim is to lead the disciple to understand that the worlds and all the phenomena which we perceive are but images born from our imagination. They emanate from the mind and into the mind they sink. In fact this is the fundamental teaching of Tibetan mystics.” 7
It is also the central teaching of all other mystics, of whatever outward culture or religious affiliation. Men and women of high spiritual degree, as well as those who have learned to focus the power of their minds, possess the ability to create the physical counterpart of any mental form they wish.
But whereas the student may take years to animate these forms and manifest them on the level of physical reality, for the master this process is immediate. Although these forms are in fact phantoms, there is nothing unreal about their manifestation.
They appear as solid and material as any other object. Furthermore, each phantom form exhibits a character and behaviour that is appropriate to that form. David-Neel comments:
“These phantoms do not always appear as impalpable mirages, they are tangible and endowed with all the faculties and qualities naturally pertaining to the beings or things of which they have the appearance.
“For instance, a phantom horse trots and neighs. The phantom rider who rides it can get off his beast, speak with a traveller on the road and behave in every way like a real person. A phantom house will shelter real travellers, and so on.” 8
Alexandra David-Neel was not just content to take these teachings at face value. Being a pragmatic student, she was determined to try out these ritualistic procedures for herself, to see if she too could conjure up one of these phantoms of the mind.
She therefore withdrew into a cell for an extended period, in order to achieve the necessary concentration of thought. She chose for her experiment what she described as “a most insignificant character: a monk, short and fat, of an innocent and jolly type“.
After several months of intense effort, she reported that the apparition of this monk began to manifest in her cell. The monk gradually assumed a life-like character, and became a kind of guest, living in her apartment.
Later, when she broke seclusion, and undertook a tour on horseback, she found to her surprise that the monk included himself in her party.
“The phantom performed various actions of the kind that are natural to travellers and that I had not commanded. For instance, he walked, stopped, looked around him. The illusion was mostly visual, but sometimes I felt as if a robe was lightly rubbing against me and once a hand seemed to touch my shoulder.” 9
It was at this point that what had started out as an innocent experiment in mind control, assumed a more sinister aspect. David-Neel found that the character of the monk began to change.
It no longer manifested in its “jolly” aspect, but began to grow leaner, and its face assumed a sly, malignant look. Alarmed by this disturbing transformation, she decided it was time to dissolve the phantom completely, lest it escape her control.
However, this task proved to be more difficult than she had imagined. She found to her consternation that, once a mental creation has stabilized in our world of “normal” reality, this creature clings to life with all the zeal of a “real” person.
“I succeeded, but only after six months of hard struggle. My mind-creature was tenacious of life”. 10
The crucial element of the tulpoidal thesis is that physical matter can be created by the direct agency of human thought. Unfortunately, we tend instinctively to reject this idea because it runs counter to our customary ideas of reality.
Yet this outrageous thesis rests upon impeccable grounds, supported by the Sages of every generation. The revelation of the mystics is that everything that we experience as the “real” world is actually a projection in energy of those thoughts present in the collective mind.
Not only is this “real” world a product of thought, but as our thoughts change, so our personal universe comes to change as well. This is what the Buddha referred to when he said:
“What we are today comes from the thoughts of yesterday, and our present thoughts create our life of tomorrow: our life is the creation of our mind.” 11
This same message has been conveyed by the modern Sage Sri Ramana Maharshi:
“The thoughts are the content of the mind and they shape the universe.” 12
His words echo the teachings of the ancient Rishis who wrote:
“The world becomes for whatever one is accustomed to think of it.” 13
These statements are the natural consequence of the unification of matter and mind. For, as Nisargadatta Maharaj has explained:
“Matter and mind are not separate, they are aspects of one energy. Neither comes first, for neither appears alone. Matter is the shape, mind is the name. Together they make the world.” 14
(Continued in Part Five)
References:
1 Thomas Bearden, “Excalibur Briefing“, Strawberry Press, San Francisco, 1980, p. 144. 2 William Tiller, “The Positive and Negative Space/Time Frames as Conjugate Systems“, in “Future Science“, edited by John White and Stanley Krippner, Anchor Books, New York, 1977, p. 262. 3 Thomas Bearden, op.cit., pp. 188-189. 4 Alexandra David-Neel, “Magic and Mystery in Tibet“, Penguin, New York, 1971, pp. 120-21. 5 Ibid, p. 121. 6 Ibid, p. 285. 7 Ibid, p. 267. 8 Ibid, p. 298. 9 Ibid, pp. 314-315. 10 Ibid. p. 315. 11 “The Dhammapada“, Translated by Juan Mascaro, Penguin, Harmondsworth, 1973, p. 35. 12 “Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi“, Recorded by Swami Saraswathi, Sri Ramanasramam, Tiruvannamalai, 1968, p. 93. 13 “Tripura Rahasya“, Translated by Swami Saraswathi, Sri Ramanasramam, Tiruvannamalai, 1962, p. 88. 14 “I Am That“, Conversations with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, Translated by Maurice Frydman, Book II, Chetana, Bombay, 1973, p. 164.
Allan, Creatures of the Mind, January 18, 2015, 10:29 am
As reports of sightings of various anomalous creatures continued to accumulate from around the world, it began to dawn on seasoned veterans of bigfoot investigations, that their quarry might not be “normal” primates after all.
These creatures seemed to be able to appear mysteriously in various places, often in quite inappropriate terrain, and then disappear equally mysteriously. While they might leave evidence in the form of tracks in the earth, there was never any additional corroborating proof of their physical existence.
Furthermore, there were disturbing reports, such as the one from Rochdale, Indiana in 1972, of a bigfoot that was seen at close quarters, but which left no footprints, even though the ground was muddy.
Another witness claimed that she could see right through the animal. Others reported footprints which simply vanished into thin air, or appeared suddenly, in the middle of a field.
These hairy ape men seemed to be as tantalising and elusive as the omnipresent lake monsters referred to in Part One. Yet these enigmatic accounts are not confined to reports of anthropoids and lake monsters. They also include a host of other mysterious creatures.
Not only do strange monsters appear to be inhabiting numerous lakes around the world, and ape-like beasts roaming the forested regions of the earth, but bizarre creatures have been observed flitting in the heavens as well.
In 1976, some very odd things began to happen in the state of Texas. They started on New Year’s day, when two young girls saw something strange in the town of Harlingen. Jackie Davis (14) and Tracey Lawson (11) told their parents that they had seen a “bird” that was five feet (1.5 metres) tall, that had “shoulders” three feet (90 centimetres) wide.
It was black in colour, with a bald head, sharp beak, dark red eyes, and a face like that of a gorilla. Their parents naturally reacted with considerable skepticism, but when they investigated the area of the alleged sighting the following day, they found three-toed tracks in the ground that were eight inches (20 centimetres) across, and one-and-a half inches (4 centimetres) deep. 1
On the evening of January 7, 1976, Alverico Guajardo was at home in his house-trailer at Brownsville, Texas, when he heard the sound of something heavy hitting the house. He went outside to investigate, and switched on the lights of his station wagon to illuminate the scene.
Guajardo was shocked to see a large, bird-like creature staring at him with red, glowing eyes. It was four foot (1.2 metres) high, had a beak that was several feet long, and possessed bat-like wings. The creature made an alarming sound as it backed away. Guajardo was still terrified when he spoke to newspaper reporters the following day. 1
Just one week later, Armando Grimaldo was attacked by a mysterious bird-like creature. Grimaldo was sitting in the backyard of his mother-in-law’s house at Raymondville, Texas, when he heard a strange whistling sound together with a flapping noise.
He looked around, and was grabbed by something that had huge claws. Armando was somehow able to wriggle out of the creature’s clasp and, as he fled, he looked back to see what had attacked him. He saw something as big as a man that had a wingspan of about twelve feet (3.5 metres). It had a face like a bat or monkey, with big red eyes, and had dark, leathery skin. It had no beak and no feathers. 1
The Mothman of West Virginia
In the 1960’s, residents of the American state of West Virginia were plagued by a series of encounters with a creature that appeared to be half bird and half human. It came to be known by the locals as “mothman”.
This extraordinary creature made one of its first appearances before two couples on the evening of November 15, 1966, as they were driving through an abandoned explosives factory at Point Pleasant. Roger Scarberry, Steve Mallette and their wives saw two bright, red circles, which looked like eyes, peering at them through the darkness of an old generator plant.
The couples took a closer look and saw a human-shaped figure some seven feet (2 metres) tall. It was greyish in colour and had huge, folded wings. It seemed to them to be shuffling along on two legs. The four young people decided that discretion was the better part of valour, and sped off in their vehicle.
As they drove off, they saw a similar creature standing near the road. As they passed it, it spread its wings and began to follow them. Although they accelerated to one hundred miles an hour (160 kmh) the “mothman” kept pace with them. Yet the amazing thing was that the creature never once flapped its wings.
Later, when they reported this incident to the Police, Mrs. Mallette said that she could hear it “squeaking like a mouse.” 1
Some years after the citizens of West Virginia were terrorised by this red-eyed “mothman”, a transatlantic cousin was busy whooping it up in Cornwall, England, under the name of “owlman”.
On July 3, 1976, two teen-aged girls, Sally Chapman and Barbara Perry, were out camping in the woods. About ten o’clock in the evening they were startled by a strange hissing noise. It was coming from a large figure standing among the pine trees. Sally described this peculiar apparition.
“It was like a big owl with pointed ears, as big as a man. The eyes were red and glowing. At first I thought it was someone dressed up, playing a joke, trying to scare us. I laughed at it, we both did, then it went up in the air and we both screamed. When it went up, you could see its feet were like pincers.” 1
Sally’s friend Barbara described it as a horrible creature with an owl’s face, big ears, and enormous glowing, red eyes. Its body was covered with grey feathers, and it had black claws on its feet. When it flew off, it simply went straight up and disappeared among the treetops.
The following day it was seen again. This time it was described as having red slanting eyes and a very large mouth. Its black feet were likened to the claws of a crab. This weird creature continued to make sporadic appearances in the area for several years and then, like so many other creatures of its kind, was never seen again.
Regular reports continue to circulate of odd creatures that simply appear in certain areas, and then after a few encounters with people, disappear without trace. These cases seem, at first glance, to involve familiar animals. Yet they seem to be peculiarly inappropriate to the regions in which they are spotted.
Thus sightings of panthers and alligators have been reported from New York City, African lions on the loose in California, kangaroos in Chicago and Wisconsin, and Nile monitor lizards in Florida. These mysterious animals were never caught, despite intensive searches.
When authorities felt obliged to comment on these sightings, they were generally attributed to exotic pets that had escaped suburban custody, or else to the escape of zoo or circus animals. But no zoo or circus ever came forward to announce its loss, and no citizen confessed to having in his home African lions, panthers or alligators.
Some of the creatures that are reported do not seem to be identifiable animals at all. Instead they seem to be mixtures of different species. One such, known as the “Dover Demon” of Massachusetts, was described as “a small gnome-like entity with an enormous head, large round glowing eyes, and long spindly limbs,” by four teenagers who spotted it in April 1977.
In October 1986, a mysterious animal was sighted in Lochaber, Nova Scotia. It was described by several people who saw it as being over a metre tall, having short forearms, large legs, and a long tail.
To biologist, Bob Bancroft, who examined its tracks, the three-toed imprints left by the animal looked like those of a kangaroo or wallaby. Yet he was forced to admit, “I don’t know what kind of animal native to Nova Scotia would make these tracks.” 2
Residents in Old Lyme, Connecticut, found themselves confronted, in mid-July 1986, by an animal that seemed to be a cross between Bugs Bunny and Rin-Tin-Tin. Witnesses claimed that it had the body of a dog and the head of a rabbit with long floppy ears.
Although about the size of a medium-sized dog, this creature apparently hopped like a rabbit on its hind legs. Witness John Hubbard said the creature was as thin as a greyhound, with short grey hair and a long thin tail. He indicated that it moved its front paws forward in pacing fashion when it jumped. “It was a funny looking sight“, he exclaimed.
To Paul Rego, wildlife biologist for the State Department of Environmental Protection, it was clear that there could be no such thing as a cross between a rabbit and a dog. Noting that there existed no animals native to Connecticut that would fit the description of this extraordinary beast, Rego concluded, “Maybe it was just someone’s ugly dog.” 3
Serious investigators remain bemused by this cornucopia of creatures that cannot be identified in terms of known animal species. Yet it is impossible to write off all these reports as hoaxes, misinterpretations, or the meanderings of unsound minds.
Clearly, something very strange is happening on this planet, and it is something that defies conventional explanation. Crypto-zoologists who have studied the enormous variety of these reports have been forced to turn to unconventional solutions.
When New York investigator John Keel was confronted by these anomalies, which included reports of living dinosaurs that had been seen in various parts of the United States, Italy and France, he asked: “Where does a dinosaur hide? or a ninety-foot serpent? or an eighteen-foot tall hairy humanoid? Do they creep into a hidden network of deep caverns, as some of the believers claim?” 4
Another investigator, Thomas Bearden, noted that ape-like creatures of the Bigfoot variety constantly managed to elude their pursuers. “But Bigfoot cannot be caught by packs of hounds”, he wrote. “This has repeatedly been tried. His lair is never uncovered, nor can he be tracked to it. He has never been found dead of old age or injury. The bones of sasquatch have never been uncovered in caves or elsewhere.” 5
For John Keel, the solution to the origin of these enigmatic creatures which appeared to riddle the globe, lay in a re-evaluation of our concepts of reality. Just because they could be seen and heard, and leave footprints in their wake, did not mean that they were necessarily physical creatures like you or I.
“It is more probable”, Keel argued, “that these are not actual animals but are distortions of our reality, inserted into our space-time continuum by the mischievous forces of the super spectrum.”
As he explained, “Since energy masses in the super spectrum can alter their frequencies and move up and down the electromagnetic spectrum, we can assume that they can also manipulate atomic structure and enter our plane of reality by creating atoms compatible with our atomic structure. The ancients called this process transmogrifications.” 4
Thomas Bearden reached a similar conclusion. But while Keel attributed the appearances of these temporary transmogrifications to the agency of “mischievous forces of the super spectrum”, Bearden considered their source to lie in the hidden layers of the human subconscious.
“Bigfoot-like creatures are materialisations from the collective human unconscious”, he argued, “shaped and formed by the layers (race, culture, nation, territory, state, religion, family, etc.) between the collective unconscious and the individual unconscious minds of the observers“. 5
The vital clue for Bearden came with recognition that there was no common character to the bigfoot phenomenon. He found that no single type of creature was consistently being described. These creatures were found to have feet of varying sizes, types and shapes, with the number of their toes ranging from three to six.
Furthermore plaster casts taken of bigfoot footprints were found to vary considerably in definition. While some were precisely formed, with clear indentations in the ground, others were found to be vague, amorphous shapes, lacking clear definition.
“This is one particular clue”, he wrote, “to the fact that we are not dealing with a species of shy and elusive wild man, but instead with a tulpoid.” 5
(Continued in Part Four)
References:
1 Janet and Colin Bord, “Weird Winged Creatures“, in “Creatures from Elsewhere“, op.cit., pp. 26-31.
2 “Province“, Vancouver, British Columbia, October 9, 1986.
3 “Gazette“, East Hartford, Connecticut, September 4, 1986.
4 John Keel, “The Cosmic Question“, Panther Books, London, 1978, p. 107.
5 Thomas Bearden, “Excalibur Briefing“, Strawberry Press, San Francisco, 1980, p. 71.
Allan, Creatures of the Mind, January 5, 2015, 9:38 am
Paul Freeman was a United States Forest Service Patrolman assigned to the Umatilla National Forest in the Walla Walla area of Washington State. On the morning of June 10,1982, Freeman, then aged 39, was driving alone through the forest.
Spotting some elk on a nearby ridge, he stopped his truck and got out to see if he could observe signs of any young elk among the group. As he was walking up an old logging spur, he caught sight of something stepping off a bank about ten feet (3 metres) high, down on to the road ahead of him.
“I saw him about the same time as he saw me“, Freeman recalled. “He looked like all the pictures I’ve seen of prehistoric man. He was real hairy – reddish-brown hair. It was so thick you couldn’t see through it on his shoulders, arms and legs. But on his face and chest it was thin enough to see his skin, the colour of brown leather.
“I was about 65 yards away from him and I just stood there looking at him and he looked at me. I could hear him breathing real heavy as though he’d been running and I could see the muscles in his stomach moving.
“But that was the only noise he made. I was scared and I started backing away a few feet. He made the hair stand up on his neck and shoulders just like a dog does when it tries to frighten someone. When he saw I wasn’t coming any further he turned and walked up the road.”
Freeman described this hairy anthropoid as about eight and a half feet (2.6 metres) tall, and with a very heavy build. Later, when he was joined by several of his colleagues, he photographed and took plaster casts of the footprints left by the creature.
Its footprint measured 14 inches (36 centimetres) long by seven inches (18 centimetres) wide. The footsteps were set about six to eight feet (1.8 – 2.4 metres) apart, and were imprinted to a depth of about an inch (2.5 centimetres) in the moist ground, from which Freeman calculated its weight to be about six hundred pounds (272 kilograms).
Being thoroughly conversant with the usual denizens of the forest, Freeman was adamant that what he had seen was not a type of bear. He also discounted the possibility that he might have been duped by a man wearing a gorilla suit, as he could clearly see the creature’s muscles moving in its legs, arms and shoulders.
Recalling the incident Freeman confessed, “I’ve been working in the wilderness for years and never seen anything like it.” 1
In October 1955, William Roe came across another hairy animal while he was hiking on Mica Mountain in British Columbia. Roe watched in astonishment as this ape-like creature slowly made its way toward him, unaware of his presence. Roe estimated its size as around six feet (1.8 metres) tall, three feet (.9 metres) wide, with a weight of about 300 pounds (136 kilograms).
The animal came to within twenty feet (6 metres) of the bush in which Roe was hiding, and squatted down on its haunches. Roe was able to study its features closely. It had flexible lips, even, white teeth, a broad and flat nose, human-like ears and small, black eyes.
Although the face was covered in short hair, it was bare around the mouth, nose and ears. The neck was shorter and thicker than that of any human being he had ever seen. The creature must then have caught Roe’s scent, for it suddenly looked directly at him through an opening in the bush, backed away several paces, then straightened up to its full height, and walked rapidly away. 2
In 1973 seventeen year-old Cheryl Ray was sitting in the breezeway of her parents’ home, situated on the western edge of Murphysboro in southern Illinois. Sitting with her was her friend Randy Creath.
The dusk was deepening when Cheryl heard the sound of something moving in the bushes at the end of the yard. She immediately stepped indoors to switch on the yard light. When she came out she saw Randy at the edge of the brush facing an enormous hairy creature, seven feet (2.1 metres) tall.
Randy picked up a stone and flung it at the creature. It did not react with any sign of fear, but continued coolly to inspect them both. Then it turned on its heels and walked unhurriedly back into the undergrowth. Randy described the creature as covered with tan or dirty- white hair, with the exception of its face, which was smooth.
Its eyes glowed red in the lamplight. But what affected Randy most was its smell, which was unspeakably foul. When Sheryl later described how the beast moved she was asked if it shambled like a bear. “No, not like that”, she replied. “It walked the way a person walks, arm’s swinging at the side.” 3
In March, 1978, another hairy biped made an appearance on the other side of the world, this time in Australia. A National Parks worker was cutting timber in the Springbrook area of the Queensland Gold Coast when he heard a grunting sound. Thinking it might be a pig that was loose he went into the forest to investigate.
“Then something made me look up and there, about twelve feet in front of me, was this black hairy man thing. It looked more like a gorilla than anything. It had huge hands and one of them was wrapped around a sapling. It had a flat, black shiny face, with two big yellow eyes and a hole for a mouth.
“It just stared at me and I stared back. I was so numb I couldn’t even raise the axe I had in my hand. We seemed to stand there staring at each other for about ten minutes before it suddenly gave off a foul smell that made me vomit – then it just made off sideways and disappeared.” 4
In the Broederstroom region of the Transvaal, South Africa, not far from the capital city of Pretoria, there were persistent rumours of a large ape-like creature that was known locally as a “Kowyn”. In 1977 Etienne Smith had a close encounter with this man-beast on the farm Ouplaas, where his house was being built. It was an experience that he says he will never forget.
“It was the most horrific night of my life”, Etienne recalled. “I was camping out with friends on the farm while our house was being built. The night was pitch black. There was no moon and even spookier was the total absence of night noises like buzzing insects which you always hear in the bush.
“There was a tenseness in the atmosphere that was inexplicable. I was trying to brighten things up with idle chatter when suddenly the valley below us erupted with the most bloodcurdling screams I’d ever heard. We froze. Our hair stood on end. The screams were indescribable, supernatural almost. We couldn’t understand them.
“There was no logical explanation for them. They didn’t seem to be part of this world. Though it was frightening, we decided to investigate. The further we moved into the valley, the more terrifying it became. I was walking in front and at one stage I could literally feel the stinking, hot breath of something blowing in my face.”
At that point the group was too petrified to investigate further, and they retired up the hill to their campsite. It was then that Etienne walked over to the house that was being built.
“I had only a candle with me. As I got to the doorway of a makeshift storeroom I walked slap bang into something very shaggy. I felt as though I had been kicked in the chest by a powerful horse, or hit by a car. My breath was knocked right out of my body.
“I looked up and saw an enormous man at least half a metre taller than me. He was covered from head to foot in long, matted black hair and his arms hung to below his knees. The most distinguishing thing about him was that he stank. The stench around him was disgusting.
“He smelt like putrid, rotting meat. We both jumped back from each other. I think he was just as frightened as I was because he tried to cower behind the door of the storeroom. Then I got a better look at him. His face was dog-like and sort of squashed in.”
Etienne shouted in alarm and the beast ran off into the darkness. By this time the group was thoroughly terrified and decided to head back to Johannesburg. When they reached their cars they discovered that they were covered with dusty palm-prints. The prints were the size of a man’s hand, but the fingers were short and stubby, with long claws attached to each. 5
Yeti footprint photographed in Nepal
Among the most famous of these man-apes is the Yeti, or Abominable Snowman, who is reputed to inhabit the mountainous regions of Nepal. Numerous sightings of these beasts have been reported over the years, and photographs of their enormous footprints have been taken by various mountaineering expeditions, notably by Eric Shipton at Menlung Glacier on Mount Everest in 1951.
Like the ubiquitous lake monsters, the Yeti seems to be alive and well in all parts of the world, and reports of sightings have continued to surface from various regions throughout the twentieth century. In the Caucasus Mountains and the Pamirs of Russia this creature is known as the “Alma”.
In eastern Siberia it is referred to as “Chuchunaa”. It is called “Hiba-gon” in the region of Mount Hiba in Japan, and the “Yowie” in Australia. There is also the “Chemosit” in East Africa, the “Maricoxi” of Brazil, the “Ucu” of Argentina, as well as their North American cousins “Bigfoot” in America and “Sasquatch” in Canada.
In the United States, in addition to the heavily forested states of California, Oregon and Washington, sightings of Bigfoot have been reported from such unlikely places as the cities of Cleveland, Ohio; Fort Worth, Texas; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Vernon, Kansas; Madison, Indiana; Clanton, Alabama; and Monroe, Michigan.
In Florida the creature is known to be a visitor to the Sunshine State, where it sports the title of “Skunk-ape”, on account of its less than wholesome aroma.
Based on the reports which have been gathered from around the world, these hairy primates tend to be around eight feet (2.4 metres) in height, but have been reported to be as tall as sixteen feet (4.8 metres).
While plaster casts of their footprints have generally revealed a foot with five toes, tracks have also been found showing three-toed prints, as well as others with four toes, and even six toes. These creatures are invariably covered in a thick coat of hair which ranges from a dirty off-white colour to jet black.
Their eyes are frequently described as red in colour, but other reports exist of eyes coloured yellow, green, amber, white and black. Furthermore, the eyes are often said to be luminous and glowing.
Although reports of close encounters with these creatures often mention their particularly disgusting smell, this tends to reflect a minority of cases. Out of two thousand cases collected by Canadian researcher John Green, only about one hundred referred to an abhorrent odour.
Clearly, something remarkable is happening on the face of this planet. It appears to abound with hairy bipedal primates who appear suddenly before startled observers, and then vanish without trace into thick forest or undergrowth.
While their appearances are suggestive of some early form of man, which has somehow managed to survive until modern times in obscure regions of the earth, their repeated sightings in densely populated cities seem to defy all logic. Creatures of this size would certainly require a vast intake of food.
If they were herbivorous they would be bound to leave extensive signs of defoliation. If they were carnivorous they would require considerable quantities of flesh, which again, should leave evidence in a residue of bones, to say nothing of the rapid depletion of certain types of game.
Yet no such signs are ever found in the quantities which their continued survival would demand. When reports of Bigfoot have surfaced from residential areas in America, armed posses of men have been assembled to scour the surrounding countryside. Yet no sign of these creatures is ever brought to light. They simply vanish into thin air.
It is no surprise, therefore, that people such as B. Rigby, professor of anthropology at Queensland University, have announced: “There is no reliable recurring evidence for yowies, abominable snowmen, yetis, big foots or wild men of the woods or whatever they are called. I believe you simply won’t find a human primate of this sort in Australia.” 6 Or any other country for that matter.
The basic riddle of these mysterious primates is that one never finds any carcasses which science can evaluate. There are any number of personal anecdotal reports which are accompanied by sounds, smells and footprints, but no observer ever comes forward with a skeleton or dead body of the creature.
This is particularly surprising in view of the long tradition of recreational hunting throughout the forested regions of North America. One would have supposed that by now, at least some of these chance encounters in the wild would have led to an armed confrontation between man and beast.
Yet in spite of the thousands of hunters who annually roam the wilderness of North America armed with powerful rifles, there has never been a single case where one of these anthropoidal creatures has ever ended up as a trophy, either accidentally or by design.
Yet there are numerous reports on record, demonstrating that these creatures have indeed been shot at, but somehow or other they have always managed to escape.
Sam Frew spotted a ten-foot (3 metre) big foot-type creature prowling around the outskirts of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He fired at it with a rifle. “I know I hit it”, claimed Frew, “I even heard it whimper after the shots – like it was injured. But when I went over to look, nothing was there.” 7
In April, 1979, Tim Meisner saw a nine-foot tall (2.7 metre) creature near Barriere, British Columbia. On seeing the beast his first reaction was to shoot at it with his rifle. Although Tim was convinced that he had hit it, since it dropped down on one knee, the creature got to its feet again and ran off at high speed, leaving no trace of blood or spoor.
In October, 1973, a twenty-two year-old farmer’s son was approached by two tall ape-like creatures with green, glowing eyes in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. The man fired three rounds straight into the largest creature. It merely turned and walked slowly into the nearby woods and disappeared.
In May, 1977, a hairy beast appeared at a farm at Wantage, New Jersey. The owner, a man named Sites, opened fire with his .410 shotgun, hitting it three or four times. The creature growled and walked away, again showing no apparent sign of injury or discomfort.
One woman who fired a 16 gauge shotgun at the midriff of a tall ape-like creature which appeared at the front door of her home in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, received a nasty shock. As she pulled the trigger, the creature disappeared in a flash of light! 8
(Continued in Part Three)
References:
1 Janet and Colin Bord, “The Evidence for Bigfoot and Other Man-Beasts“, Aquarian Press, Wellingborough, 1984, p. 21. 2 Janet and Colin Boyd, “Mysterious Man-Beasts“, in “Creatures from Elsewhere“, op.cit., p. 15. 3 C. W. Gusewelle, “Sounds in the Night“, “Star“, Kansas City, Missouri, February 5, 1984. 4 Janet and Colin Bord, “The Evidence for Bigfoot and Other Man-Beasts”, op.cit., pp. 71-72. 5 Caroline Hurry, “The Beast of Broederstroom“, “Sunday Times Magazine“, Johannesburg, April 26, 1987. 6 Quoted from “The Evidence for Bigfoot and Other Man-Beasts“, op.cit., p. 75. 7 “Press”, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, December 11, 1983. 8 Janet and Colin Bord, “The Evidence for Bigfoot and Other Man-Beasts“, op.cit., p. 114.
Allan, Creatures of the Mind, December 21, 2014, 1:54 pm
In August 1975, I joined over ten thousand pilgrims, drawn from all parts of the Indian sub-continent, on the annual pilgrimage to the holy cave of Amarnath. This cave is situated at a height of 12,730 feet (3880 metres) in the western Himalayas of Kashmir, and lies at the head of a narrow valley, scoured by receding glaciers.
The cave itself is a huge vault of rock, open to the valley, which retreats some fifty feet (15 metres) into the face of the mountain. A trickle of water emerges from the rear of the cavern which freezes once it is exposed to the frigid air. As it freezes, it forms a column of ice set upon a natural pedestal of rock.
Since this column of ice is reminiscent of a lingam, a vertical pillar of stone which is used throughout India to symbolise the Absolute, it is revered as a natural manifestation of this cosmic principle. This lingam, which rises and wanes as the flow of water increases or decreases, has drawn pilgrims to this revered cave for more than two thousand years.
The four-day pilgrimage to the cave starts from the Kashmiri hamlet of Pahlgam in the Lidder valley and proceeds, in a series of daily stages, to the cave itself. The enormous throng of pilgrims, ranging from naked sadhus to rich ladies of society carried in sumptuous palanquins, forms a colourful serpent of humanity that sinuously winds its way over the snow-fields, rivers and precipitous ridges that mark the pathway to the cave.
On the morning of the fourth day, I had risen in the pre-dawn darkness and washed myself, as is the custom, in the freezing waters of the Pantsatarni stream, before making my way up the rocky defile to the cave.
Glad as I was to have reached my goal, the surging tide of humanity that pressed into the mouth of the cave made the last few steps to the lingam a terrifying experience. I feared that I might well terminate my pilgrimage as a crushed offering to Siva, the Hindu God of destruction.
It was with considerable relief that I found myself outside again in the crisp Himalayan air, and began the long trek back to Pahlgam. Some hours later, as I was negotiating a narrow path high above a glacial lake, my attention was drawn to a commotion among the sadhus in front of me. They were gesticulating enthusiastically, and pointing down to the lake, crying “Naga! Naga!”
As I looked down towards the water some five hundred feet (150 metres) below, I could see an enormous disturbance in the middle of the lake. A large creature was moving at considerable speed through the water, leaving in its wake a series of V-shaped waves.
Although at that distance I could not make out the nature of the creature, it was clearly too large to be any form of duck or goose. It seemed rather as if a horse was surging powerfully through the water. I watched the creature for perhaps a minute or so before it disappeared beneath the surface of the lake.
To the watching pilgrims this was undoubtedly the naga, or serpent from which the lake itself, Sheshiram Nag, had derived its name. The sadhus regarded the sight as an omen of good fortune, and I counted myself duly blessed by this unexpected vision.
Yet my curiosity was piqued by this unusual spectacle, and I later tried to establish just what sort of creature could have been swimming in such inhospitable conditions on that day in August.
Sheshnag Lake near the Amarnath Cave
Sheshiram Nag, or Sheshnag as it is more commonly known, is a solitary tarn lying in a depression surrounded by mountain peaks. The lake lies at an elevation of 11,700 feet (3566 metres), with its overlooking ridges soaring to about 16,000 feet (4877 metres).
The lake, which is silted up on its western flank, is fed by two small glaciers. For almost nine months of the year it is completely frozen, and subject to the harsh conditions which characterise the high Himalayas. It is extremely unlikely that sufficient sources of nutrition would exist in the lake to support a creature of the size I had seen.
I was certain that the creature was not a horse or mountain pony, for it moved through the water with a snake-like motion, far faster than any four-legged creature could have managed under the circumstances. I finally had to confess that what I had seen remained a mystery, and that perhaps I really had been granted a view of the serpent God.
In the course of the last century, however, strange serpentine creatures have been seen in numerous lakes around the world. Similar tales have been recounted by thousands of witnesses who professed to be just as baffled as I had been. These strange lake-bound creatures continue to be reported every year, much to the delight of avid monster-watchers, and editors of the sensational weekly magazines.
In October 1974, Walter Wojewodzic saw something which he did not expect or recognise in the waters of Lake Champlain in New York State.
“We were out duck hunting,” he later told reporters, “and we were pulling the boat ashore when I see this thing out in the bay, Bulwagga Bay. A great big thing with three giant black humps. It thrashed around for a good minute or so. Had to be 40, 50 feet (10-20 metres) long. Then it went under water and the wake, when it splashed on shore, looked like a yacht just went under.” 1
Wojewodzic’s weird encounter became yet another sighting of “Champ” the legendary lake monster of Lake Champlain. To date, over two hundred people claim to have witnessed something strange in the waters of this lake.
On May 31, 1982, Robert Frew was enjoying a meal with his family and a few friends, while holidaying at his house on Love Point, overlooking Chesapeake Bay on the eastern seaboard of the United States. His attention was suddenly drawn to a large object that was moving against the tide, about one hundred feet (30 metres) offshore.
Fred examined the object closely through binoculars, and saw a sinuous, humped creature, over twenty foot (6 metres) long, swimming lazily in the sea. While his family and friends kept watch on this creature, Frew grabbed his video camera and taped a three minute record of its movements. Frew’s videotape was considered by many to be hard evidence of yet another well-known monster of the region, known as “Chessie”. 2
Early one morning in June, 1982, police officer Kris Beebe happened to be water-skiing along the surface of Lake Tahoe, situated on the border between the American states of Nevada and California.
After skiing about half way across the lake, Beebe dropped into the water to rest. As he was bobbing in the early morning swell, a black, slimy shape broke the surface of the water about twenty-five feet (7.6 metres) away from him.
Beebe yelled to his friend and fellow policeman Jerry Jones, who quickly brought the speedboat around. As he did so the creature suddenly re-appeared. Thoroughly alarmed by this unusual spectacle, Jones revved up the motor, and Beebe rose up on his skis and sped away.
Beebe later told members of the press, “We saw it. We didn’t think we saw it; we saw it. It wasn’t threatening us. It was just gliding right past us. Scared? I believe I went into a state of shock. We checked into everything – dives, subs, everything – and we’re convinced it was some very, very large creature.” 3
On the other side of the Atlantic, equally enigmatic creatures were being observed in inland lakes. In the four mile (6.4 km) long Bala lake, known by its Welsh name of Llyn Tegid, a strange creature that had been dubbed “Teggie” was frightening local residents.
Lake warden Dewi Bowen claimed to have seen this strange aquatic monster himself, and described it as looking “a bit like a crocodile”. Other local fishermen had also spotted the creature. Said Bowen, “It scared the living daylights out of them.” 4
In 1954, a young Irish girl by the name of Georgina Carberry was out fishing with three of her friends on Lough Fadda, situated in County Galway, Ireland. Having caught several trout, the girls pulled their boat to the shore, and the four of them were enjoying a tea break, when they noticed something that looked at first like a man swimming in the water.
As it drew closer they realized that it was like nothing they had ever seen before. Georgina described it as a “wormy” creature with a huge mouth. Its head stood high above the water on a long neck. As the creature moved up the lake, Georgina saw two humps appear out of the water behind the head. As it dived around a rock she could see a forked tail.
The sudden appearance of this alarming monster caused Carberry to have nightmares for weeks afterwards. Yet what was surprising about this sighting was that Lough Fadda was a mere 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometres) long, and only six hundred yards (550 metres) at its widest point. The size of the lake seemed hardly capable of supporting so large a creature. 5
Even more startling was the strange sighting of Irish farmer Stephen Coyne in Lough Nahooin, County Galway, on February 22, 1968. Coyne was gathering peat at the lakeside at the time, accompanied by his eight-year old son and their dog, when he saw a black object in the water.
Thinking that it was his dog he whistled at it, but was surprised to find that his dog came running up to him from behind. The object moved slowly closer until it came to within ten yards (9 metres) of where he was standing. Coyne described it as about twelve feet (3.5 metres) long, black and hairless, with an eel-like texture to its skin. Its neck was pole-like and about twelve inches (30 centimetres) in diameter.
The mouth of the creature was pale, and it had two “horns” on top of its head. This eel-like monster had selected an even more improbable habitat in which to survive, since Lough Nahooin is only about one hundred yards (90 metres) long, eighty yards (73 metres) wide, and twenty-three feet (7 metres) deep.
Yet when heavy polystyrene nets were drawn across the entire area of this lake in July 1968, no trace of any eel like creature could be found. 6
“Nessie” the famous Loch Ness monster
Undoubtedly the best known of all lake monsters is to be found across the Irish Sea, in the dark waters of Loch Ness, Scotland. “Nessie”, as the beast has come to be called, was first reputed to have been seen by St. Columba, in the year 565 A.D.
In recent years numerous investigators have focused upon Loch Ness in an effort to determine the nature and origin of this elusive creature. Photographic surveillance has been conducted, both from the shore as well as under water, and extensive sonar recordings have been made in the waters of the loch.
In one exotic experiment, two engineers from Rochester, New York, Rikki Razdan and Alan Kielar, deployed sonar transducer devices that were designed to fire tiny biopsy harpoons that would be electrically triggered when a large creature swam within range. Razdan and Kielar hoped by these means to acquire small samples of the creature’s skin, which could then be subjected to scientific analysis.
Alas “Nessie” did not oblige. Apart from enigmatic photographs, and odd sonar results, no convincing evidence has yet been produced to support the existence of a large underwater creature living in the reaches of the loch. However, people still claim to see “Nessie”, and the record of visual sightings continues to grow from year to year.
Although “Nessie” can perhaps claim pride of place among lake monsters in terms of media coverage, it is but a single example among a large number of strange aquatic creatures reported from around the world.
Apart from “Nessie” in Loch Ness, Scotland also boasts a creature known as “Morag”, that is reported to exist in Loch Morar. Other reports have originated from Loch Assynt and Loch Arkaig.
We have already noted the existence of “Teggie” in Llyn Tegid, Wales. Irish lake monster reports have come from every corner of that island, including such lakes as Lough Muck in County Donegal, Lough Auna in Limerick, Lough Attariff in Cork, Lough Brin in Kerry, Lough Derrylea and Lough Crolan in Connemara, and Loughs Dubh, Fadda, Nahooin, Abisdealy and Shanakeever in County Galway.
Chesapeake Bay has its “Chessie” and Lake Champlain its “Champ”. In Canada, even these notables are dwarfed by the popularity of “Manipogo” in Lake Manitoba, and “Ogopogo” in Okanagan Lake, British Columbia, to say nothing of “Igopago”, who resides in Simcoe Lake, Ontario. Lake Utopia in New Brunswick and lake Pohenegamook in Quebec are also proud hosts of these weird eel-like creatures.
In America, lake monsters have been reported from Bear Lake, Utah; Folsom lake, California; Walgon Lake, Nebraska; Payette Lake, Idaho; Flathead Lake, Montana; Iliamna Lake, Alaska; Silver Lake, New York; and Red Cedar Lake, Pewaukee Lake and Elkhart lake in Wisconsin.
In the People’s Republic of the Congo in Africa, a creature known locally as “Mokele-Mbembe” graces Lake Tele, and “Lukwata” is said to a resident of Lake Victoria in East Africa. Strange serpentine creatures have also been reported from Lake Suldal and Lake Storsjo in Scandinavia.
If there still remains some prehistoric species, hitherto unknown to biologists, that lurks within the water-courses of the world, it has shown an amazing capacity to survive in lakes large and small, in every part of the planet.
Not only has this species taken a liking to the temperate regions of the globe, but it is also partial to the tropics, and seems capable of surviving at high altitudes in trans-Himalayan lakes which are burdened with ice for the major part of the year.
Lake monsters must be extraordinarily versatile creatures, as their descriptions seem to vary, not only from region to region, but also from one sighting to another in the identical lake.
Furthermore, these creatures seem capable not only of surviving, but of thriving in the midst of inhabited communities, seemingly resistant to the depredation of chemical effluent and pollution, all the while covering their tracks and leaving no signs of their activities or passing.
It is little wonder, therefore, that the majority of scientists have come to regard these creatures as apocryphal, and the men and women who report them as deluded, where they are not outright frauds. Until the carcass of one of these strange creatures can be produced for laboratory analysis, scientists prefer to reject the authenticity of these sightings.
But if strange things are going on in the watery glens of our planet, something even stranger seems to be happening in the mountainous and forested regions of the earth.
(Continued in Part Two)
References:
1 “Holiday Press“, Binghampton, New York, December 26, 1983.
2 “Sun“, Baltimore, Maryland, July 11, 1982.
3 “Bee“, Sacramento, California, July 31, 1983.
4 “Courier and Advertiser“, Dundee, Scotland, August 19, 1983.
5 Janet and Colin Bord, “Irish Lake Monsters“, in “Creatures from Elsewhere“, edited by Peter Brookesmith, Orbis, London, 1984, p. 81.
6 Ibid, pp. 84-86.
Allan, Creatures of the Mind, December 8, 2014, 3:28 pm
Scott: My name is Scott Paton. I am joined today by Allan Colston. He is the author of the book “The Last Days of Tolemac”. This is a book dealing with prophecy.
For those listeners who may be new to this topic, this Podcast is another in the series “Signs of the Times”. Hello Allan and welcome to the Podcast.
Thanks Scott, it’s good to have the opportunity to talk to you again.
Scott: So Allan, what do you plan to talk about today?
Well Scott, I thought it was about time I returned to a topic that I have not addressed for over a year now. Back in June of last year you and I talked about affairs in the Middle East in a Podcast entitled “Arabian Entropy“.
Scott: Yes, I recall that conversation. Didn’t you talk about how the situation in Egypt and other countries in Northern Africa had deteriorated since the onset of the “Arab Spring”?
You have an excellent memory Scott. Well since that time, the situation in the Middle East has changed dramatically, and in ways that seem to me ever more likely to confirm that the prophecies of the Old Testament prophets are coming true before our eyes.
Scott: Perhaps you could begin by reminding us what the Old Testament prophets predicted would happen in the Middle East during the “End Times”.
Certainly Scott. As I explained in my book “The Last Days of Tolemac“, the “Latter Days” described by the prophets refer to a period of seven years which they call the “Great Tribulation”. Jesus himself said that this time would be the greatest period of human suffering since the beginning of the world.
It is important to note that Israel is central to an understanding of the “End Times”, not only because it was the land where Jesus lived and taught, but because Israel was the place where the prophets predicted that the events of the final days would begin and end.
We need to remember that the Mount of Olives, located just outside the ancient city of Jerusalem, was the place where Jesus ascended into heaven, and that it was also the place where angels told the disciples who looked on in wonder, that Jesus would return.
The Old Testament prophets said that this seven year period of tribulation would begin with an event that would involve the land of Israel. They referred to this event as, and I quote, the “Great and Terrible Day of the Lord”. And they went on to describe what this event would be.
This seven year period would end with the battle of Armageddon that would take place in the valley of Jezreel in Israel, followed by the return to earth of the long-awaited Saviour, who would lead the world into a new Golden Age of peace, that was predicted to last for a thousand years.
As I explained in my post entitled “The Invasion of Israel“, the tribulation would begin when Israel was threatened by a coalition of nations, and the armies of these nations would surround Israel on every side. These armies would come from, and I quote, “the north parts”, and from countries like “Persia, Libya and Ethiopia”.
So you can see Scott why Israel is so important in “End Time” prophecy, and why Old Testament prophets focused on the events of the Middle East. And if they are correct, we may only have a few years left before the entire world is plunged into chaos and misery.
Scott: How do we know that Israel will be surrounded by the armies of its enemies?
Well if you will just bear with me Scott, in case some of our listeners think that I am making this up, or that I am misinterpreting the words of Biblical prophecy, I’d like to quote from the relevant parts of Chapters 38 and 39 of the Book of Ezekiel.
“Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog, thus saith the Lord God; in that day when my people of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it? And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army.”
“And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.”
According to Ezekiel, this vast mechanized army would assemble on the borders to the north, south and east of Israel. Their goal would be to wipe out the Jewish nation once and for all, and take over their land. The Jews would be powerless to stop the mighty forces that would be arrayed against them on every side.
But just when all hope seemed to be lost, and the entire nation seemed to be doomed, the Jews would be saved by a supernatural event. A comet would appear in the skies of earth that would cause earthquakes throughout the land, as well as “hailstones, fire and brimstone” that would rain down on their enemies. Ezekiel goes on to write:
“And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord God, that my fury shall come up in my face. For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken. Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel.”
Scott: Does Ezekiel say what will happen to these armies?
According to Ezekiel, the armies that are gathered on the borders of Israel will be caught on the open plains. They will be defenceless, and will be exposed to the full fury of the meteorites and the fiery hail that will descend on them from the sky. As Ezekiel writes:
“And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire and brimstone.”
As a result of the earthquakes on the land, and the aerial bombardment from the skies, the armies that gather on the borders of Israel will be decimated. Those few who survive these disasters will either be unable, or unwilling, to pursue their assault.
Ezekiel writes that only “a sixth part” of the invading armies will survive the onslaught of the comet.
“Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, thus saith the Lord God; behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal: And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee.”
“And I will smite the bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand. Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands, and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beast of the field to be devoured.”
Ezekiel goes on to write that, after the comet has passed, the countryside will be littered with the wreckage of the armaments and the bodies of the dead. So many people will die on the open plains that it will take the Israelis seven months to bury them all.
Anyway Scott, the main point I want to emphasize here is that the “hailstones, fire and brimstone” that Ezekiel predicted would destroy the armies gathered on the borders of Israel, will not be confined to the land of Israel. They will cause destruction all over the world.
Scott: What makes you say that, Allan?
In Chapter 8 of his Book of Revelation, John describes a vision in which he saw seven angels with seven trumpets. As each angel sounded their trumpets, so the earth was assailed by a specific disaster. Verse seven of this chapter begins (and I quote):
“The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of the trees was burnt up, and all the green grass was burnt up. “And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood; and the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.”
So what John is describing here is a global disaster emanating from the sky, which not only causes “hail and fire” to rain down from the heavens, but also an asteroid to plunge into the ocean, destroying “a third part of the ships”, as well as “a third part of the creatures in the sea.”
I have written about this in greater detail in my Post entitled “What is Wormwood in the Book of Revelation?“. And it is because of the world-wide destruction caused by the asteroid slamming into the ocean that the prophets called it “the Great and Terrible Day of the Lord”.
So based on the Biblical passages that I have quoted from here, the attack on Israel by the armies of its enemies is the key to understanding the time-line of events of the “End Times”, because it is this attack that sets in motion the final seven years of tribulation leading up to the return of the Christ.
So as you can see Scott, the events that are unfolding in the Middle East at this time have a crucial bearing on predicting the last days of the world as we know it. Jesus also warned his disciples that the Day of the Lord would come suddenly, “like a thief in the night”, when people least expected it.
Scott: So Allan, do you think there will be a land invasion of Israel any time soon?
Well Scott, that’s the 64,000 dollar question. But when you look back on the events that have happened in Israel over the last year, together with events that have taken place in neighbouring countries, they seem to be making such a confrontation not only likely, but inevitable.
When President Obama was elected to his second term in office, he made a concerted effort to try to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that had been festering pretty much ever since Israel became a nation in 1948, by getting Secretary of State John Kerry to set up a series of negotiations.
These negotiations between the government of Israel on the one hand, and the Palestine National Authority on the other, were hamstrung right from the start by the fact that the Palestine National Authority was split into two opposing groups.
There was the Fatah group headed by Mahmoud Abbas which governed the West Bank, and there was the Hamas group which ruled the territory of Gaza. The basic problem was that Israel, as well as the United States and most of the European countries, regarded Hamas as a terrorist organization.
Nevertheless, John Kerry was instructed to go ahead without Hamas, and he ordered both Abbas and Netanyahu to authorise a series of secret negotiations over a nine month period ending in April of this year, using the pre-1967 borders as a basis for negotiation.
The hope was that, with the assistance of the United States, both parties would come to an agreement on the boundaries of their respective countries, as well as their capital cities. Kerry’s view was that West Jerusalem would be the capital of Israel, with East Jerusalem the capital of Palestine.
Although it had already become clear to outside observers that nothing of any consequence was likely to come of these negotiations, affairs came to a head when Abbas suddenly announced that there had been a reconciliation between himself and Hamas, and that in future he would be negotiating on behalf of both groups.
Israel immediately pulled out of these negotiations, and as a result of a crackdown on Hamas in the West Bank, tensions soon boiled over leading to the third Israeli-Gaza conflict in eight years. The fighting, which caused extensive damage in Gaza, continued for forty days until Hamas finally agreed to a ceasefire.
Scott: So was anything substantial agreed upon during those nine months of negotiations?
Unfortunately Scott, nothing significant was achieved, even though both parties appeared to be motivated by similar goals. They both wanted to have a defined territory, bound by secure borders, with capital cities that would be recognised by each other, as well as by the international community.
In reality, however, there never was any hope of an agreement on any of these issues. For starters, Abbas was never in a position to guarantee the security of Israel following the creation of a Palestinian state, despite John Kerry’s assurance that the United States would act as the protector of Israel.
After all, the Israelis had already learned the hard way that peace with the Palestinians was no guarantee of their own future safety. They learned this lesson in the Gaza strip, which they had captured from Egypt during the Six-Day War in 1967.
Israelis occupied and ruled Gaza until 1993, when it was agreed that Gaza would be governed by a new administrative body called the Palestinian Authority, while Israel would retain control over airspace, territorial waters and all border crossings except the one between Gaza and Egypt.
This arrangement continued until 2005, when Israel decided unilaterally to withdraw all of its people from Gaza. When elections were held and Hamas became the newly elected government in July 2007, the first thing they did was to expel their rival party Fatah from Gaza.
From the start Hamas refused to accept the existence of Israel, and committed itself to the extermination of the Jews. With funding obtained from the Arab state of Qatar, and armaments provided by Iran, Hamas soon began the first of its many wars with Israel.
So the net result of handing over control of Gaza to the Palestinians, was to find themselves under constant threat of artillery and rocket fire. So as you can see Scott, there is no appetite in Israel today to negotiate a new Palestinian state where similar hostilities could break out much closer to Jerusalem.
Scott: Why is the city of Jerusalem so important?
Well Scott, as I have already pointed out, John Kerry had hoped that he could persuade both parties to share the city of Jerusalem, with the Western part being the capital of Israel and the Eastern part the capital of Palestine, largely because of its historical association with both countries.
What he failed to take into account was that Jerusalem remains at the core of the conflict between the Arabs and the Jews, and has been pretty much ever since the state of Israel was first created. At that time it was an independent city administered under the mandate of the United Nations.
When the Israeli war of independence broke out in 1948, the Jews seized the western part of Jerusalem as well as certain areas originally allocated to the Arabs, while Jordan took control of the old city of Eastern Jerusalem, along with what is today known as the West Bank.
During the Six-Day War of 1967, Jordanian forces attacked West Jerusalem. After hand-to-hand fighting on the Temple Mount, the Israeli army repelled this attack, and went on to capture East Jerusalem along with the entire West Bank of the river Jordan.
When the war ended, Jordan was allowed to retain control of the Islamic holy sites located on the Temple Mount, such as the Dome of the Rock and the Al Aqsa Mosque. However, Israeli troops guarded all of the entrances and controlled who could obtain access to the Temple area.
Then in July 1980, the Knesset, or Israeli Parliament, passed the “Jerusalem Law” which declared that Jerusalem was the capital city of Israel and the seat of its government. Although this has never been accepted by the international community, it remains the Jewish capital to this day.
So the present reality is that despite nine months of negotiations overseen by John Kerry, nothing has changed. The Palestinians are no nearer to having their own country with designated borders, nor do they have a capital city. In their day-to-day affairs they still remain under the control of Israelis.
Scott: So where does this leave the present state of negotiations?
Well Scott, at present there are no ongoing negotiations, and Mahmoud Abbas has been left with little choice but to appeal to the United Nations and the international community to intervene on their behalf. However, there is little that either group can do to change the existing stalemate.
Of course President Obama was infuriated by what he saw as Israeli intransigence coupled with a refusal to negotiate in good faith. Israel in turn countered by blaming the United States for the breakdown in negotiations, by refusing to accept the realities of the region, and by making demands on Israel which their people would never accept.
So Israel continues to thumb their noses at the Palestinians, by approving new housing projects throughout East Jerusalem as well as increasing areas of the West Bank. But this is a policy that carries great risk, and makes it ever more likely that the predictions of the prophets will come to pass.
Scott: Why do you say that Allan?
Well Scott, the immediate outcome of the breakdown of negotiations will be to isolate Israel from the international community. Already Sweden has decided to recognise the State of Palestine, declaring that this is the only way to end the conflict.
Soon, the Parliaments of France, Denmark and the European Parliament in Belgium will vote on similar resolutions, because of the increasing frustration felt by these nations at Israel’s disregard for their protests about the expansion of Jewish settlements in areas set aside for the Palestinians.
Furthermore, the Swedish resolution urges all European Union member states to recognise the State of Palestine on the basis of borders that existed before the 1967 war, and with the City of Jerusalem as the capital city of Palestine.
It is also likely that this movement to recognise the State of Palestine will spread to the United Nations, where other nations hostile to Israel will no doubt choose to follow the lead of the European Union. But far from improving the present situation, it will only serve to inflame it.
International support for an official State of Palestine will not help in bringing Mahmoud Abbas and Benyamin Netanyahu closer together, but will only drive them farther apart, leaving both to withdraw into ever more extreme positions. More and more acts of violence will follow.
Besides, the reality is that no matter how many resolutions are passed by these various bodies, neither the European Union nor even the United Nations have the power to resolve this Middle-Eastern impasse. Even the threat of international sanctions will prove ineffective.
The United States will find itself equally handicapped. Since the breakdown of official negotiations orchestrated by John Kerry, two things have changed in Washington. First of all, President Obama’s focus has switched from Israel to the challenge of fighting the forces of the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, as well as the ongoing nuclear talks with Iran.
And secondly, the Democratic Party has just suffered a resounding defeat in the mid-term elections, leaving the Republican Party in complete control of Congress and the Senate. Any move by Obama against Israel now will be met with fierce opposition from those who are staunch supporters of Israel.
The threat to Israel will come not from the West, but from the East.
Scott: What sort of threat are you referring to?
Well Scott, the reality is that Israel is sitting pretty at the moment. It is true that they face continuing threats of violence from Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon. But essentially they are ensconced once more in their own ancestral land, exactly as the prophets of old predicted.
The threat that I am talking about is something that could not even have been imagined just a few short months ago. It is the threat of ISIS, or ISIL as President Obama prefers to call it. Whereas ISIS refers to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, ISIL refers the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
And it is the Levant that we all need to be aware of right now. The Levant is a word of French origin that was used in the Middle Ages to refer to the lands of the Eastern Mediterranean, including Cyprus, Southern Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan and Israel.
The difference between ISIL and other terrorist groups spawned by the civil war in Syria, is that they formed an alliance of Islamic extremists that unleashed a war of undreamed of brutality under the banner of religion. They have begun a new crusade designed to recapture the glory of the past.
The goal of ISIL is to create an Islamic Caliphate, or Islamic State, that will stretch from Southern Turkey all the way down to the borders of Egypt, including all of Israel and Palestine. So from their point of view, the present impasse between Netanyahu and Abbas is of no consequence.
According to their plan, they will both be swept away when the all conquering forces of ISIL sweep over the land. And they have a rallying cry that unites all who fight for them, and that is to recapture the ancient city of Jerusalem and make it the Capital City of their new Islamic Caliphate.
This is the threat that hangs over the land of Israel. And because of their coming isolation as a result of their continuing incursions into Palestinian territory, when the Islamic armies appear at their gates, they will find that they have no one to help them defend their country but themselves. The prophecies of the Old Testament will be vindicated.
So while the world watches and waits to see how the events of the Middle East will turn out, the wheels of Fate are grinding remorselessly towards their long prophesied conclusion, exactly as the prophets of old foretold.
Finally Scott, if anyone has any comments or questions on this or any other subject, they are welcome to email me at tolemac@shaw.ca
Scott: Thanks Allan. This has been a fascinating insight into the complexities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and how this fits in with ancient prophecies of the “End Times”.
You have been listening to Allan Colston, author of the book “The Last Days of Tolemac”. Do join us for our next Podcast in the series titled “Signs of the Times”.
Allan, AUDIO, Signs of the Times, November 17, 2014, 9:31 pm
In my last Blog post I referred to a Poll conducted recently by the Barna Group, a research firm that focuses on matters of religious faith. In this Poll, they asked a selection of American churchgoers if they thought they were living in the “End Times” as prophesied in the Bible.
The Poll found that 54% of Protestants and 77% of Evangelicals answered “Yes” to this question, while 73% of Catholics said “No”. This is hardly surprising, since the Catholic Church actively discourages speculation about End Times. Evangelicals and Protestants are far more open to this idea.
Many Christians question whether it is even possible to know if we are living in the End Times, or whether there is any Scriptural evidence that would indicate that this is the case. Fortunately, for those who are willing to investigate, the Bible offers many clues that could help us to decide.
Are we living in End Times?
According to the gospel of St. Matthew, as Jesus sat upon the mount of Olives, his disciples came to him and asked him to tell them when the end of the world would be, and what would be the sign of his coming. He replied that it would be a time of “wars and rumours of wars”.
He went on to say that it would be a time when “nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.” (Matthew 24: 7)
However, during the two thousand years since Jesus died upon the cross, there has hardly been a time when nations have not been at war with one another, or when pestilence, plague, hunger and want have not afflicted humanity, along with earthquakes and other natural disasters.
So the fact that all of these conditions happen to be present in the world at this time is not in itself compelling evidence that we are living in End Times. But Jesus did not just point to outward phenomena alone, he also talked about a falling away of faith at the time of the end.
“And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold“. (Matthew 24: 10-12)
Again, although many would agree that this is a fair assessment of the current state of the world, others might argue that the above words of Jesus are too vague to be of help in clarifying whether or not we are actually living in the End Times prophesied in the Bible.
However, a far more definitive answer to the question of how people would behave at the time of the Last Days has been offered by the apostle Paul, in his second epistle to Timothy, when he wrote:
“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
“Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
“Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.” (2 Timothy 3: 1-5)
While it is difficult to generalise about behaviour in a world with a population of over seven billion people, we should ask ourselves whether there is any correlation between what is going on in the world today, and the types of behaviour outlined by St Paul in the above epistle.
People will be lovers of themselves
Paul is referring here to people who place their own interests ahead of the needs of society at large, particularly in the way they spend their money and prioritise their resources. They will also be people who like to draw attention to themselves, by striving always to be first.
People will be covetous
Covetous people are those who want to acquire as many possessions as possible, believing them to be the mark of success in life. Wherever possible, they look for the latest and best of everything, and are jealous of those who have more than they do.
People will be boastful and proud
Boastful people are those who consider their own talents and achievements to be better than others, and who enjoy pointing out the shortcomings of other people. Proud people are those who are haughty and arrogant, and who reject any form of self-criticism.
Children will disobey their parents
This speaks of a time when children in general will disobey their parents, and resent their attempts to educate them and guide their behaviour. They will lack respect for their elders, and flaunt their rejection of the accepted customs and standards of society.
People will be ungrateful
These are people who believe that whatever hardships they experience in life are the fault of others, rather their own shortcomings. They expect society to provide. They take things for granted, are quick to criticise, and show no gratitude for the many blessings they enjoy in life.
People will be unholy
During the End Times few people will be drawn to living a “holy” life, or one that is devoted to understanding and practising the things that have always been central to a holy way of life. They will be distracted by a host of other things, and turn away from “the straight and narrow path”.
People will lack natural affection
At the time that Paul wrote this epistle, “natural affection” was regarded as the love between a man and a woman. So according to St Paul, the time of the end would be characterised by the widespread practise of homosexuality, and its acceptance within the wider framework of society.
People will be trucebreakers and false accusers
This will be a time when a person’s word will no longer be their bond. They will break their word whenever it suits them. People will hide behind legal jargon, and use the Courts to get what they want. They will also be quick to accuse the innocent whenever they get in their way.
People will despise those who are good
During the End Times, those who devote their lives to a virtuous life, living simply and humbly and devoted to the common good, will be despised by the majority. Humility will be dismissed as weakness, and simplicity as being out of step with the modern world.
People will be lovers of pleasure
At the time of the end, the quest for inner happiness, discipline and denial will be supplanted by the desire for pleasure. Everything that people do will revolve around food, fashion, products, social activities and recreation that bring them instant gratification and superficial pleasure.
Using the above criteria given by St. Paul as a guide, there seems little doubt that we are now living in the End Times. For as Dr. Chuck Missler, noted Christian evangelist reported in a recent article entitled “The Encroaching Darkness“:
“We continue to see corruption everywhere: throughout the highest levels of government, in our entertainments, in our schools, and even in many of our churches.
“Many of those in the corridors of power should be incarcerated for treason—legislators that sign bills they haven’t read; executives who are allowed to ignore the laws; judges who reverse juries, amend laws, and indulge in social engineering; and, leaders who fail to exhibit the most elementary ethical conduct.
“The entertainment industry celebrates every imaginable evil and attacks all the family values which God has established for our welfare. And the educational establishment deliberately dumbs down and corrupts our youth.
“There was a day when you could rely on the fiduciary posture of your advisors, counselors, and professionals. Today that would be naïve and hazardous. Every day the litany of unconstitutional abuses continues unabated. Every day self-destructive polices extend their reach. Every day it grows darker.” (View Source)
What St. Peter had to say
Another indicator of the End Times was given by St. Peter, when he said that it would be a time when people would reject the words of the Bible, and scoff at those who talked about the return of the Christ, as well as such things as the coming judgement and tribulation.
“That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour:
“Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
“For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:
“But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.” (2 Peter 3: 2-7)
We are reminded of Peter’s words whenever critics dismiss talk of End Times by saying that people have been predicting the end ever since the death of Jesus, only to be proved wrong again and again over the centuries. They contend that since nothing bad happened then, no harm will happen now.
However, talk of End Times today is not simply a matter of theoretical debate. The Book of Revelation makes it clear that when the End Times do finally occur, the world will be afflicted by such terrible trials, that even the most hardened sceptics will find them impossible to ignore.
The Book of Revelation
In the first verse of the Fifth Chapter of his Book of Revelation, the apostle John had a vision in which he saw a book “in the right hand of him that sat upon the throne”, which was “sealed with seven seals”. He then went on to describe what would happen as each seal was opened.
“And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.
“And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.
“And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see.
“And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.
“And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
“And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.
“And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
“And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.” (Revelation 6: 1-8)
The various horses and their riders described by St. John in the passage above have come to be known as the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, because they will appear in the period of time leading up to the return of the Christ. These four horsemen have been interpreted in the following way.
The first rider on the white horse is described as a “Conqueror”. Although this passage is usually believed to refer to conquest in war, when used in a wider sense it could also be interpreted as “Pestilence” or “Plague”, that “conquers” or ravages entire regions of the planet.
The second rider on the red horse is directly linked to war, with the power to cause different countries all around the world to rise up against one another, and to kill each other by means of weapons and munitions, described by St. John as “a great sword”.
The third rider on the black horse has “a pair of balances in his hand”. Because this was the customary way of selling food at that time, this is interpreted as referring to hunger and drought, because the prices quoted by John were so much higher than those commonly paid at the time.
The final rider is described as riding upon a “pale horse”. It is worth noting here that the actual Koine Greek word used by St. John was khloros, which has the same root as the English word “chlorophyll”. So it seems likely that what John was actually referring to here was the colour green.
The name of this rider was “Death”, and he was given the power to destroy a quarter (the fourth part) of the human population on the earth at the time, which at current numbers would be close to two billion people. They would be killed as a result of war, famine, and the “beasts of the earth”.
So in the vision described by St. John in his Book of Revelation, it is evident that at the time of the end, the earth will be assailed by a series of disasters which will lead to widespread destruction, as well as the death of one in every four people alive on the planet at that time.
What evidence exists today?
So in light of the above predictions made by St. John, we need to ask ourselves whether any of these signs of the End Times are evident in the world today. In other words, is there evidence of these four horsemen, bringing with them “Drought, Disease, War and Death”?
As has been mentioned previously, since there has hardly been a time during the last two thousand years when nations have not risen up against one another, leading to the death of literally millions of people, it could well be argued that the existing state of the world is little different from the past.
And as far as disease is concerned, a case could well be made that, as a result of scientific progress over the last few centuries, humanity is better prepared to handle outbreaks of deadly disease (of which the current crisis with Ebola is a suitable example), than it has ever been before.
However, it is a different story when it comes drought. People may argue over whether or not the world has become a more violent place. They may bicker over whether there are more wars today than ever before, or whether disease is a greater threat today than it was in the past.
But there can no longer be any difference of opinion when it comes to drought. Over the last three or four decades it had become evident that the climate of the world is changing.
At first a world-wide debate ensued around the topic of “global warming”, discussing whether or not this was a reality, and if so, whether this was attributable to human activities, particularly carbon emissions and their impact upon the surface temperature of the earth.
Lately however, scientists have begun to focus their attention on the central issue of our time, which is the change in our environment as a result of the phenomenon of “climate change”.
Researchers everywhere are finding out that “climate”, which can be summarised as the combined effects of heat, cold, moisture and dryness, is changing all over the planet, and that more and more extreme weather events are being experienced all over the world.
And nowhere has this been more noticeable, or more threatening to the future survival of humanity, than the changes in rainfall patterns around the globe. Instances of extreme flooding in some areas are matched by cases of extreme drought in others, and for prolonged periods.
The growing spectre of drought
In a world where the annual growth in population is equivalent to the entire population of the country of West Germany (80 million people), any threat to the future production of food is a matter of the gravest concern. Yet the threat of starvation not only exists now, but is growing worse by the year.
According to statistics published recently by UNICEF (United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund), an estimated 8 million people in Ethiopia (out of a population of 60 million), are at immediate risk of starvation, as are over a million people in the neighbouring country of Eritrea.
Elsewhere in Africa, continuing years of poor harvests have led to deteriorating food production in countries like Somalia, Sudan, Uganda and Morocco, which have experienced extremely dry conditions for the better part of a decade. But the problem of drought is not limited to Africa.
In the northern Shanxi province of China, nearly three million people don’t have enough water to drink, and the area has suffered from massive drought, affecting one-third of the province’s wheat crop. According to UNICEF, more than 60% of its soil lacks water.
The same is true of Afghanistan, where large parts of the south have been affected by severe drought, where up to 80% of the livestock have died. While in Iran, the government is looking for international aid to provide water tankers for drought stricken areas.
In India, the government has had to provide relief in regions like Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya and Andhra Pradesh, where about 130 million people have been seriously affected by what local officials have termed the “worst drought in a hundred years”.
In Pakistan hundreds of thousands of people have fled the southern Thar desert region due to the drought that has devastated crops and livestock. The government estimates that nearly three million people. mostly villagers, face possible starvation. (View Source)
Tales of drought, crop failure and starvation in Africa and Asia tend to attract little publicity in the Western Media. However, they now do not need to look far to find evidence of even greater threats that are located very much closer to home.
The Great North American drought, which began in 2012 in the midst of a record-breaking heat-wave followed by consecutive years of low winter snowfall, now affects most of the United States, as well parts of Mexico and central and eastern Canada.
According to Wikipedia, this drought is now on course to be the costliest natural disaster in American history. And nowhere have its effects been more pronounced than in California’s Central Valley, known as the “bread basket of America”. (View Source)
Central Valley, covering an area the size of Scotland, normally produces over 50% of all the fruit, vegetables and nuts consumed in the United States, including 90% of strawberries, olives, celery, broccoli, nectarines, garlic, canned tomatoes, cauliflower and pistachio nuts.
The valley also used to produce 90% of the world’s almonds. But due to the fact that some parts of the valley only got about 20% of its usual rainfall, some 500,000 acres of land have been left fallow, while thousands of withered almond trees have had to be bulldozed. (View Source)
The situation is so bad that the Governor of California has already declared a state of emergency, and called on everyone to cut their water use by 20%. Restaurants now only serve water when specifically asked, and homeowners “paint” their lawns green because they are forbidden to water them.
In the last year, several California cities have received less rain than Death Valley, and state reservoirs have now been reduced to little more than a third of their total capacity. The largest, Lake Shasta, is at 25%, and Lake Oroville, the second largest, is at 28%.
Taken as a whole, these signs are surely evidence that the world is on the threshold of calamity. In fact, recent research published by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences warns that we are now at risk of simultaneous droughts, famines and epidemics, just as St. John foretold. (View Source)
Truly, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are beginning to ride.
Allan, Articles, Signs of the Times, October 25, 2014, 8:52 pm
In 1983, shortly after arriving in Vancouver, I was invited to a Hallowe’en party. Having spent all of my growing years in South Africa, this was a tradition that was new to me. I was not exactly sure what this would entail, or what I should wear for the occasion.
Since it was going to be a costume party, I decided to wear a mask. But when I visited the local party store, I found that I had left it much too late, and all they had left was a mask of the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who had recently gained notoriety by capturing US hostages in Iran.
And so, girded up in flowing robes, and completely hidden under the formidable mask of the Ayatollah, I made what I imagined was a suitably menacing entrance at the party. Since all that could be seen through the mask were a few holes in strategic places, I was confident of my ability to remain incognito.
Imagine my surprise therefore, when within a short time of arriving, I was greeted by a vivacious young lady whom I had never seen before, who came up to me and said: “I know you“. She then proceeded to regale me with what I still regard as the most amazing story I have ever heard.
The Hallowe’en Story
The story that she told related to an incident that had occurred to her on the night of Monday, October 23, 1978. At that time, she was living on the thirteenth floor of an apartment building, in a gated community overlooking the Capilano River in West Vancouver.
The incident began shortly after 11:30 pm. The lady, whom I shall refer to as Elise in order to protect her identity, was in the habit of watching the “Johnny Carson Show”. On this particular night, she found that there was nothing that particularly interested her, so she switched off the TV and walked across to the window.
As she gazed out of the dining room window facing toward the East, the sky suddenly appeared to light up, and the stars seemed to shine with unusual brightness. Astonished at this unexpected sight, she phoned a friend and asked her to look out at the night sky.
Her friend was not interested, however, as she had just retired to bed. She told Elise to forget about the sky, and go to bed herself. But returning to the dining room window, Elise was struck by the fact that she could see the texture of the plaster on the outside of the building with incredible clarity.
Then, as she looked out towards the horizon, she saw a series of small clouds begin to drift across the sky, coming from the West. As she continued watching, these clouds began to take shape into recognisable objects. And as she recognised them, so they dissolved and moved off to the East.
The first cloud formed the object of a dove, closely followed by a serpent. Then came an upturned hand, followed by a racing car. Elise said she noticed that the driver’s hair was flowing in the wind. Finally, there came the image of a lamb followed by two little lambs.
As Elise was trying to make sense of it all, she became aware of a voice within herself. The voice spoke in clear English, saying: “You are protected by the hand of God, and driven by the lamb“.
The voice then told Elise to look at the sky and memorise the positions of the stars. When she found it difficult to remember the positions of them all, the voice told her to write them down. So she got a pen and paper and marked down the positions of the visible stars in the northern sky.
Vancouver in Turmoil
The voice then told her to look towards the downtown area of Vancouver. As she did so, a warm, red, misty glow settled over the city. The voice then directed her to look closely at a series of “markers” which now appeared. Elise was told that these “markers” outlined “safety zones”.
Without warning, Elise found herself floating high above the entire Lower Mainland area of Vancouver. As she looked out towards the sea, she became aware of two enormous masses of rock beneath the ocean that were pushing against one another with unbelievable pressure.
Suddenly these two masses of rock split, and she saw a crack in the ocean floor that seemed to curve towards the city of Vancouver. It was then that she saw the entire region being convulsed by a gigantic earthquake. Violent winds sprang up that tore the roofs off buildings.
Elise could see the Lions Gate Bridge shaking and then collapsing completely. In the downtown area, she could see tall buildings begin to crumble under the forces unleashed by the earthquake. She could also hear the cries of people caught up in the mayhem.
It was then that the voice inside her said: “You have twenty minutes to escape to safety“. And as she looked towards the West, she could see gigantic Tsunami waves pounding the cliffs of the University of British Columbia at Point Grey.
These waves then swept around the cliffs, engulfing the low lying suburbs that flanked the city. In particular, Elise noticed automobiles being swept along the rooftops of houses in Kitsilano, extending down to False Creek and surrounding areas.
Looking down, Elise said that she could see no sign of Stanley Park. Further afield, the suburbs of Richmond, Tsawwassen, and low lying areas of Delta, White Rock and Surrey were swamped by the towering waves. The international airport of YVR was nowhere to be seen.
On the North Shore, large swathes of commercial and residential buildings all along the shore were swept away, including the North end of the Second Narrows (Ironworkers Memorial) bridge, meaning that the North Shore was entirely cut off from the rest of the Lower Mainland.
In addition, Elise could see rocks tumbling down the North Shore mountains, as landslides demolished those house that had been built higher up on the mountain slopes.
Further up Howe Sound, the highway from West Vancouver to Garibaldi Highlands had been buried by rock falls and ravaged by landslides, while the communities of Squamish and Horseshoe Bay were drowned by the all-engulfing Tsunami.
And everywhere, the damage caused by the waves was compounded by the battering ram effect of all the automobiles, boats and other debris that were being swept along by this horrifying tide of destruction.
Follow up
Elise continued to talk to me about the events of that night. We must have made a bizarre sight. A young woman standing together with the “Ayatollah Khomeini” in the middle of the dance floor, engrossed in deep conversation for the better part of two hours.
I should mention that her story was not limited to the earthquake and Tsunami. As she went on to explain, the events of that night continued to unfold for several hours, and even led to her going outside the apartment building with her baby in her arms. But that is a story for another time.
Another thing that Elise pointed out was that throughout these ghastly scenes of chaos and destruction, she felt an overwhelming sense of inner calm. It was as if she was watching a video of some catastrophic event involving places that she knew well, yet felt strangely unaffected by it all.
When I asked her later about the “safety zones” she mentioned, Elise said that the “markers” that she saw started from the Grain Elevators located on the South side of Vancouver harbour, close to the Second Narrows bridge, and extended back as far as Burnaby Mountain to the East.
I also asked if she could recall any details about the weather or time of year at the time of the earthquake. She said that it seemed to be a fine, sunny day, with blue skies and a few clouds. In fact she said that it seemed to her similar to a crisp day in the Fall (Autumn).
There was one other thing that puzzled her. When the events of that night were finally over, Elise said that she was left with the memory of two numbers. They were one and four. The strange thing was that whenever she looked at her watch in the weeks that followed, the hands frequently pointed to the numbers one and four.
Elise told me later that she had never previously discussed the events of that night with anyone, until she met me at the Hallowe’en party. Yet as soon as she saw me, for some inexplicable reason, she felt that she could talk to me about this, and that I would understand.
From my own point of view, no sooner had Elise finished telling me her story, when I realised the significance of the pattern of stars that she had been told to write down, and why they might possibly be a vital clue in predicting when these events might occur.
While there have been numerous people throughout history who have had visionary experiences of future disasters, the problem has always been that these visions never come with a date, so that those who might be affected by these events could be warned in advance.
This case, however, was different, because Elise got to write down the star pattern. I also knew that I might possibly be the only person in Vancouver who could solve the riddle of the stars, because I had recently joined the staff of the Vancouver Museums and Planetarium Association.
The Planetarium
Several weeks later, with the kind help of Jim, the Assistant Director, I was able to arrange for Elise to visit the Planetarium to see if she could recognise the stars that she had seen from her apartment window on the night of her experience. There was just Elise, Jim and myself present.
What made this test so realistic for her was that the skyline projected by the Vancouver Planetarium is an exact replica of what can actually be seen around the city, and includes all of the North Shore mountains. So Elise could easily orientate herself towards the North.
At first she had difficulty picking out the different constellations, as so many stars were visible on the dome of the Planetarium. But after Jim reduced the luminosity, she was able to see the major constellations as they appeared in the Northern sky.
I then asked Jim if he would rotate the projector and display the stars as they would appear on a night by night basis. I also asked Elise to tell us to stop the projector as soon as she felt there was an exact match with what she remembered seeing on the night of her experience.
There was hardly a sound for the next ten minutes or so as the stars on the dome continued to rotate.
Then Elise suddenly shouted “Stop!”. When I asked her if she was sure, she said she was positive. The key indicator for her were the positions of the Big Dipper and the constellation of Orion, together with a bright star located slightly above a “C” moon, as she called it.
We were then able to establish that the “C” moon she was referring to was a Waning Crescent moon, and that the bright star was the planet Jupiter. When I asked Jim the date when this alignment had occurred, I was surprised to learn that it had already happened.
I had been expecting to find that the star pattern that Elise had been asked to write down, referred to a date sometime in the future, and that this would be the date that the earthquake and Tsunami would occur. Instead, it turned out to the exact day on which Elise had her strange experience, on October 23, 1978.
I then asked Jim if he could tell us when this same star pattern would come around again. To my further surprise, I learned that because it takes the planet Jupiter 12 years to orbit around the sun, this particular alignment would not happen again for another twelve years, in October 1990.
Well this date came and went, and nothing alarming happened. Neither did anything out of the ordinary occur when the next anniversary came around in October, 2002. I recently contacted the Planetarium, and asked if they could tell me when the next anniversary is due. They said it was due on:
Friday 17 October 2014
The Subduction Zone
As Elise was telling me about the scenes of destruction that she had witnessed on that night, I had no doubt in my mind that she was describing the predictable events that would follow the next rupture of the Cascadia Fault, as outlined in my previous Blog post.
Seismologists have for years been warning that the entire Pacific Northwest is in danger of calamitous destruction when the next mega-thrust earthquake occurs along the Cascadia Subduction Zone. They warn that it could measure 9.0 or more on the Richter scale.
How much damage this would cause to the coastal region of Southwest British Columbia is open to question, simply because there has never been an earthquake of that magnitude within the recorded history of the region. But that does not mean that one cannot estimate the potential damage.
In an article published in BCBusiness in August, 2013, author Steve Burgess wrote:
“The Cascadia fault—also known in more paranoid circles as the Cascadia Subduction Zone—runs offshore from somewhere near the top of Vancouver Island to northern California. Over the past five millennia it has ruptured with terrifying frequency. It will certainly rupture again, but this time with a string of 21st-century cities—high-rising, dense-with-people, globally interdependent regional capitals—stacked squarely in its impact zone.
“The human and economic devastation of the coming West Coast earthquake is unimaginable. Whether it’s the magnitude-9 Big One that strikes first, or smaller—but equally deadly—temblors, recovery will take years, not weeks. Almost half of small businesses will fail. Hundreds of thousands of British Columbians will leave and never return.” (View source)
As Burgess pointed out, a study conducted by the Oregon Seismic Safety Policy Advisory Commission concluded that some 10,000 people would be killed, and damage amounting to $32 billion would occur in an area ranging from Vancouver Island all the way down the coast to Northern California.
Some of the shrewdest analysts of the probable damage that might be incurred are the Actuaries of Insurance Companies, since they are the ones who are on the hook for covering most of this loss. These actuaries have therefore compiled maps of areas that are most at risk.
In Canada, the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction has an actuarial map that ranks regions according to their seismic risk, and then lists these regions by their Postal Codes. Thirteen areas in British Columbia fall into the “Extreme” category, all of which are located in Victoria, Delta and Richmond.
Also included in this “Extreme” category is the Postal Code V7B for YVR Airport, the main point of entry into Western Canada, and an airport that handled nearly 18 million passengers in 2012. It also contributes about Cdn$2 billion annually to the Canadian GDP, and employs over 23,000 people.
Other areas rated in the “Very High” category include V8N and V9B in Greater Victoria, V4L in Delta, V4R in Maple Ridge, as well as V2S and V2T in Abbotsford. Then there is V7P in North Vancouver. And this is where this actuarial map becomes intensely personal.
I should mention that I now live in North Vancouver, just a few hundred yards from the sea, and about twenty feet above sea level. Any Tsunami generated by a Cascadia mega-quake would almost certainly swamp the area where I live for miles around.
Was this a premonition?
So the question then becomes, was the experience that Elise described to me in such graphic detail on that Hallowe’en night all those years ago a premonition? And if so, what are the chances of a Subduction Zone mega-quake actually happening on Friday October 17, 2014?
Based on the fact that nothing has happened on the previous two anniversaries of the star pattern that Elise observed, one would have to say that this is unlikely. Yet, according to seismologists and other experts who have studied the Cascadia Fault, there is nothing to suggest that it couldn’t.
After all, three hundred and fourteen years have elapsed since the last recorded rupture. And, perhaps even more important, since 1960, the Cascadia Fault is the only Subduction Zone in the entire Pacific Ring of Fire that has not experienced a mega-quake. All of the others have.
And then there is the strange feature of the numbers that Elise spoke about. She said that for several weeks afterward she had been left with the strong impression that the numbers one and four were important. Could these numbers perhaps refer to the year 2014?
Either way, this leaves me in a quandary. What should I, and all those other thousands of others who are living in harm’s way, do about it? Should I ignore Elise’s story in the hope that, because nothing catastrophic has happened thus far, nothing dangerous will happen now?
According to the local Emergency Management officials, the answer is simple. Because a mega-quake is certain to strike the Pacific Northwest at some point in the future, everyone who is at risk needs to have a plan of action drawn up now, on what to do when the “Big One” finally happens.
As I am advising my friends, as soon as the shaking stops, if you are living in a vulnerable area, you need to get to higher ground. You need to reach a height of at least 100 feet (30 metres), but preferably twice that height, remembering that Tsunamis rise in height when they reach the shore.
And you need to do so quickly. As the voice warned Elise: “You have twenty minutes to escape to safety“. Those who take their time are risking their very lives. And of course you need to have a Grab-n-go bag that you can take with you with essential provisions.
As local Emergency Management officials warn, be prepared to be on your own completely for the first three days, to which I would add that it is more likely to be at least a week before outside help could be expected to arrive. So you need to have sufficient quantities of food and water.
After lengthy consideration, I have now reached a decision about what to do. I already have my Grab-n-go bag packed, ready to leave at a moment’s notice. I also have an escape route planned which hopefully would take me to safety.
However, because of a variety of possible obstacles, such as fallen power lines, gridlock on the roads, and a landscape buckled by the forces of the mega-quake, I have decided to adopt a more pro-active response, and that is to leave the area beforehand.
For a few days before and after October 17, 2014, therefore, I plan to be out of town staying with friends some two hundred and fifty miles away.
Meanwhile, as I lie in bed at night, I cannot help wondering whether we may be just days away from the greatest natural disaster that has ever struck the North American continent.
Allan, Signs of the Times, September 13, 2014, 12:40 pm
The surface of the earth is a bit like a cracked egg. The Lithosphere, which forms the crust and upper mantle of the earth, is broken up into various sized pieces called Tectonic Plates. There are considered to be eight major plates around the earth, and many more minor ones.
Each major plate varies between about 50 and 250 miles (80 and 400 km) in thickness. Although we are normally unaware of it on the surface, these plates constantly stretch, move, slide and collide with one another. In doing so, faults can develop along the boundaries of these plates.
There are different types of faults, depending on the direction of the movement of these plates. Plates move as a result of a process called Continental Drift, which is based on the concept of seafloor spreading that was accepted by the geo-scientific community in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s.
It is the movement of these tectonic plates that leads to such geological phenomena as ocean trench formation along plate boundaries, as well as volcanic activity and mountain-building. But by far the most destructive feature of plate tectonics is the manifestation of earthquakes.
There are four different types of earthquakes. They are explosion earthquakes, collapse earthquakes, volcanic earthquakes and tectonic earthquakes. Explosion earthquakes are those that are set off by the detonation of nuclear or other types of explosives.
Collapse earthquakes occur in underground caverns and mines as a result of falls and other movements of the underlying rock. Volcanic earthquakes are those that are generated by volcanic activity. But by far the most destructive earthquakes are those that are caused by the movements of tectonic plates.
Ring of Fire
Although it is commonly referred to as a “Ring of Fire”, this region of the Pacific Ocean is actually shaped more like a horseshoe. It is the most seismically active region on the planet, and it accounts for about ninety percent of all the world’s earthquakes in any given year.
This Ring of Fire extends over a distance of some 25,000 miles (40,000 kms), and is associated with a nearly continuous series of ocean trenches, volcanic arcs and volcanic belts, as can be seen from the diagram below.
The Pacific Ring of Fire
This belt of fire flanks all the countries that border on the Pacific Ocean, and contains 452 active and dormant volcanoes. These volcanoes are the direct result of plate tectonics, as a result of the movements and collisions of these different plates.
Subduction Zones
Subduction zones occur wherever two tectonic plates collide with one another, in a way which causes one plate to ride over the top of the other. What happens is that the younger plate rides over the older plate because it is less dense.
The older, heavier plate then bends and plunges steeply into the earth. As it does so, it forms a trench that can be as much as 70 miles wide, over a thousand miles long, and several miles deep.
An example of this is the Marianas Trench near the Marianas Islands, which is the deepest sea floor in the world, descending to 36,000 feet below sea level. It is caused by the Pacific Plate moving underneath the leading edge of the Eurasian Plate. But this is not the only example.
Off the Pacific coast of South America, the Nazca Plate is being subducted beneath the westward moving South American Plate, while the Cocos Plate is being subducted beneath the Caribbean Plate in Central America.
Farther to the north, a portion of the Pacific Plate, together with the small Juan de Fuca Plate is being subducted beneath the North American Plate. And to the west the northwest-moving Pacific Plate is being subducted beneath the Aleutian Islands.
Finally, off the eastern coastline of Japan, the Pacific Plate is being subducted beneath the Okhotsk Plate. The most significant feature of these various subduction zones is that they generate Megathrust Earthquakes, which are the most destructive kind.
Megathrust Earthquakes
As the name suggests, megathrust earthquakes are capable of generating gigantic forces within the surface of the earth, which is the reason for their destructive power. Since the year 1900, there have been six megathrust earthquakes, and all have been rated above 9.0 on the Richter scale.
While a seismograph is a device used by scientists to detect movements in the earth, the relative magnitude of these movement is measured on a sliding scale, called the Richter scale. Because this scale is open ended, there is no upper limit to the size of earthquakes.
The Richter scale is a measure of the energy released by an earthquake, and is measured in increments of ten. What this means in practice is that an earthquake measuring 4 on the Richter scale is ten times greater than one rated as a 3, while an 8 is ten times greater than a 7.
As a guide, earthquakes rated below the number 5 are generally considered to be minor. Those between 5 and 7 are considered to be moderate, while earthquakes measuring between 7 and 8 are regarded as major, and those above 8 are considered to be catastrophic.
All megathrust earthquakes occur within subduction zones, where one tectonic plate is forced underneath another. As can be imagined, the subduction process can generate colossal forces within the earth, particularly when two colliding plates become locked together.
When this happens, instead of moving smoothly past one another, the overhanging plate begins to buckle as the pressure of their respective movements builds. Finally, when the pressure becomes too great, the plate boundary ruptures and a megathrust earthquake occurs.
The effect of this sudden release of pressure beneath the sea bed is to release a series of seismic waves that radiate outwards from the fault in all directions. When these pressure waves reach the surface, they shake the ground, and it is these convulsive movements of the earth that cause all the damage above the ground.
Tsunamis
When these megathrust earthquakes occur beneath the sea, the sudden release of energy distorts the sea bed itself. The pressure waves then generated by this release of energy cause a succession of massive ocean waves called Tsunamis, which then fan out in all directions from the source.
The word Tsunami is a Japanese term which literally means “Harbour wave”. It gained this meaning because it is seldom noticed by fishermen operating out at sea, but only becomes evident once it approaches the land – hence the use of the term “Harbour wave”.
A Tsunami is a series of ocean waves generated by the pressure waves of an undersea earthquake. When they strike the land they can cause widespread destruction of coastal communities. About 80% of all Tsunamis occur within the Pacific Ocean’s “Ring of Fire”.
A Tsunami can travel at the speed of a modern airliner, or about 500 miles (800 kms) an hour. At that speed it can race across the entire Pacific Ocean in less than a day. While in deep ocean Tsunami waves may be hardly noticeable, but as they approach the land they grow in energy and height.
As a Tsunami approaches the coast, the shallow waters cause the waves to slow down in speed to about 50 miles (80 kms) an hour. However, this also causes them to grow in size, where they have been known to reach up to hundreds of feet in height.
Because a Tsunami’s trough, or low point between waves, can sometimes reach the shore first, this produces the well-known vacuum effect, where coastal water is sucked out to sea, exposing the sea floor. This can often be a vital warning sign before the arrival of the wave itself.
Residents of coastal communities need to know that Tsunamis are usually composed of a series of waves, so the danger does not end once the initial wave strikes. In fact successive waves often grow in destructive power, making it even more important for people in the area to escape to higher ground.
The Great Chilean Earthquake of 1960
The greatest earthquake ever recorded took place on a Sunday afternoon on May 22, 1960, off the coast of Chile, and measured 9.5 on the Richter scale. It has come to be known as the Great Chilean earthquake, or the Valdivia earthquake, as Valdivia was the city that experienced the most damage.
This megathrust earthquake was caused by a rupture under the sea of the Nazca plate subducting beneath the South American plate. The shaking continued for almost ten minutes in places, and was so violent that people were unable to stand, and many experienced severe motion sickness.
The undersea rupture at the boundary of these two plates occurred at a depth of 20 miles (33 kms), and was between 530 and 625 miles (850 and 1,000 kms) in length. The width of the undersea rupture was 125 miles (200 kms) wide.
It was this sudden release of energy that generated the main Tsunami which then radiated outwards in all directions, as well as a series of localised Tsunamis which battered the Chilean coast with waves of up to 82 feet (25 metres) in height.
The main Tsunami raced across the Pacific Ocean and devastated the town of Hilo in Hawaii, killing 61 people. Waves as high as 35 feet (11 metres) were recorded 6,200 miles (10,000 kms) away, affecting countries as far away as Hong Kong, the Philippines, Japan, New Zealand and Australia.
The earthquake also triggered numerous landslides in coastal Chile, particularly in the glacial valleys of the southern Andes. In the city of Valdivia, it was estimated that about 40% of the houses were destroyed, leaving some 20,000 people homeless.
The earthquake was also believed to have led to the eruption of the Cordón Caulle volcano some thirty-six hours later. Powerful aftershocks continued to be experienced throughout the region for many weeks after the initial earthquake.
The Alaska Earthquake of 1964
The Great Alaskan Earthquake of 1964 is also referred to as the Good Friday earthquake, as it struck the city of Anchorage, Alaska, at about 5:30pm on Good Friday, March 27, 1964. It was the second most powerful earthquake ever recorded.
Like the one that had occurred four years earlier in Chile, this was a subduction zone megathrust earthquake caused by the Pacific Plate being pushed beneath the North American Plate. It measured 9.2 on the Richter scale, and the ground continued shaking for four and a half minutes.
The undersea rupture occurred at a depth of 15 miles (25 kms) below sea level, and affected an area between 500 and 530 miles (800 and 850 kms) in length. This rupture was even greater than that of the Chile earthquake, as it had a slip width of 125 miles (250 kms).
The main undersea rupture point generated Tsunami waves that were reported from over 20 countries, including other parts of Alaska, British Columbia, Washington, Oregon and California, as well as Peru, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Japan and Antarctica.
106 people died as a result of Tsunami waves in Alaska, five in Oregon, and 13 in California. The largest Tsunami wave was recorded in Shoup Bay, Alaska, where the wave reached a height of 220 feet (67 metres). Many coastal villages along the Alaskan coast were swept away.
In the city of Anchorage itself there was enormous damage, particularly in the downtown area. Houses, buildings and other infrastructure (streets, sidewalks, water and sewer mains, electrical systems, etc), were virtually torn apart by the violent shaking of the ground, and the aftershocks that followed.
In the first 24 hours after the initial rupture, eleven major aftershocks were recorded measuring 6.2 or more on the Richter scale, and nine more of similar magnitudes over the next three weeks. In fact, diminishing aftershocks continued at sporadic intervals for almost a year afterwards.
The Japanese Earthquake of 2011
When it comes to the damage caused by Tsunamis generated by megathrust earthquakes, the images that immediately come to mind for most people are the Boxing Day event off the coast of Sumatra in 2004, and the destruction caused by the Japanese earthquake in 2011.
The megathrust undersea earthquake that struck off the Japanese Island of Honshu, took place at 2:46pm local time on Friday, March 11, 2011, and measured 9.0 on the Richter scale. It was the most powerful earthquake to have hit Japan since modern record-keeping began in 1900.
The undersea rupture occurred at a point where the Pacific Plate was being pushed beneath the Okhotsk Plate, about 43 miles (70 kms) east of the Oshika Peninsula, at a depth of about 19 miles (30 kms). The rupture affected an area 310 miles (500 kms) long and 125 miles (200 kms) wide.
In many areas, the ground continued to shake for more than six minutes. The earthquake triggered Tsunamis with waves that reached heights of up to 130 feet (40 metres) in places. Some of these waves travelled up to 6 miles (10 kms) inland.
The resulting Tsunamis devastated large areas of the Pacific coastline of Japan. Thousands of lives were lost when entire towns were swamped. The waves reached as far as the west coast of both North and South America, but due to prior warning by the authorities, relatively little damage was done.
It was a different story in Japan, where the size of the waves exceeded the retaining walls built to protect citizens in many places, causing immense destruction to buildings and infrastructure, and loss of life. In total, almost 16,000 people died in the disaster, with another 9,000 injured or missing.
According to subsequent analysis, some five hundred thousand buildings were either partially or completely destroyed, along with extensive structural damage to roads and railways. Numerous fires continued to burn for days afterward, and a dam collapsed as a result of the damage sustained.
Worst of all was the meltdown of three reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, and the escaping radiation led to the imposition of an exclusion zone of 12 miles (20 kms) around the plant, as well as the evacuation of over 200,000 people.
Estimates of the total damage caused by both the earthquake and the resulting Tsunamis have been estimated by the World Bank to be in the region of $235 billion, making it the costliest natural disaster in world history up to that time.
The Cascadia Subduction Zone
As we have seen, the Ring of Fire surrounding the Pacific Ocean has been the source of some of the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded. These undersea earthquakes have in turn generated Tsunamis that have devastated entire cities and caused immense damage to the areas affected.
All of these earthquakes have been caused by convulsive ruptures at the boundaries between various tectonic plates. Yet of all the subduction zones that have ruptured in recent years, none has been as potentially catastrophic as the zone that lies off the west coast of North America.
This zone is referred to as the Cascadia Subduction Zone. This megathrust fault is a long dipping fault where the Juan de Fuca Plate is being pushed beneath the North American Plate. It extends over a distance of 625 miles (1,000 kms), stretching from Northern Vancouver Island off the coast of British Columbia, Canada, down to Cape Mendocino in California.
The width of the Cascadia Subduction Zone varies along its length, depending on the temperature of the subducted oceanic plate, which heats up as it is pushed deeper beneath the continent. As it becomes hotter and more molten, it eventually loses the ability to store mechanical stress, which then manifests as a megathrust earthquake.
Because there had been no record of any powerful earthquake in the region ever since the first Western navigators had begun to explore the Pacific Northwest almost 300 years ago, it was assumed that there was no subterranean threat, and that the undersea plates moved smoothly over one another.
However, when geologists discovered that red cedar trees had been killed by the submergence of coastal forests into the tidal zone, they began to suspect that this might have been the result of a Tsunami generated by a large undersea earthquake in the distant past.
Further analysis of their tree rings indicated that the trees had stopped growing in the year 1699. This was then matched with an ancient Japanese record that showed that an “orphan” Tsunami (a Tsunami without an accompanying earthquake), had struck the coast of Japan on January 26, 1700.
It was only then that scientists realised that the Cascadia Subduction Zone had the potential to cause vastly more damage than all of the other vulnerable areas of the Ring of Fire combined.
That is because, in the period of time since the last Cascadia megaquake took place, the entire length of the fault zone had become the focus of enormous population growth and industrial activity. So all of this would now be at risk when the next megaquake occurred.
Potential Damage
Analysis of the subsurface soil along the coast of the Pacific Northwest, reveals that there have been six mega-quakes along the Cascadia Subduction Zone over the last 2,500 years. These are estimated to have occurred in 1700 AD, 1310 AD, 810 AD, 400 AD, 170 BC and 600 BC.
Seismologists now believe that when the Cascadia Subduction Zone next ruptures, there will be a subsea earthquake measuring 9.0 or greater on the Richter scale, that will generate mega-Tsunamis that will strike the coast of Northern British Columbia all the way down to California.
Although they claim that the major coastal cities of Vancouver, Seattle, Tacoma and Portland are located on inland waterways that would be sheltered from the full brunt of these Tsunamis, the same would not be true for Victoria on the Southern tip of Vancouver Island, where the Tsunamis could reach heights of 100 feet (30 metres) or more.
However, all of these coastal cities do have many vulnerable structures such as bridges and unreinforced brick buildings. Most of the damage would be the result of the earthquake itself, especially as the ground shaking is predicted to last for a full six minutes or more.
What these seismic ground waves would do to a modern skyscraper for that length of time is still an open question. While many are no doubt capable of withstanding such lateral forces, many more are not, and these would contribute to the heavy overall damage and loss of life.
What is certain is that the regional transportation routes would be wrecked. Highway 101 along the Washington, Oregon and California coasts would be destroyed by the Tsunamis, while Interstate 5 would be inoperable due to collapsed bridges and overpasses all along the route.
So when will the Cascadia Subduction Zone next rupture?
Seismologists have as yet no way of predicting this. All they can do is speak of percentages and probabilities. However, all are agreed that it might not happen for another hundred years or more. Or it may happen tomorrow.
Either way, residents of the Pacific Northwest would do well to take the necessary precautions now, in the knowledge that certain disaster awaits them at some point in the future. It lurks beneath the waves that wash along their shores.
Allan, Signs of the Times, September 1, 2014, 1:50 pm
Scott: My name is Scott Paton. I am talking today with Allan Colston. He is the author of the book “The Last Days of Tolemac”. This is a book dealing with prophecy.
For those listeners who may be new to this topic, this Podcast is another in the series “Signs of the Times”. Hello Allan and welcome to the Podcast.
Thanks Scott, it’s good to chat to you once again.
Scott: Allan, I see that you have titled this Podcast “Recapitulation”. What exactly do you mean by that?
Well Scott, I don’t know if you remember, but back in March you started off our Podcast # 21 by asking me whether the various subjects that I have been writing about over the last year or so were all related to the subject of prophecy, and if so, how?
Scott: Now that you mention it, I do remember that.
Well Scott, the good news is that I am finally in a position to answer that question. And in doing so, I also want to put all the different topics I have written about in context, and explain how they are related to prophecy.
Scott: I’m sure your listeners will appreciate that. I know I will.
OK Scott, let’s start off by going back to the very beginning. When I wrote the book “The Last Days of Tolemac”, my purpose was to point out that the events that are happening in the world today are actually fulfilling prophecies that were made several thousand years ago.
Now there was nothing particularly novel about that. After all, the idea that we are living in the last days prophesied in the Bible has been current ever since Hal Lindsey published his world-wide best seller called “The Late Great Planet Earth” way back in 1970.
What was different about my book, was that it not only described in detail what would happen to the earth in the days ahead, but why these events were happening, what places on earth would be affected, what the new world would be like, and what we could do to prepare.
As I explained, we are about to experience “a new heaven and a new earth” where there will be no more suffering and no more pain. However, all of us are faced with a choice. Will we live to inhabit the new world that is coming, or will we fall victim to the catastrophes that will herald its arrival?
The decision as to whether we will literally live or die rests with each one of us, and it is our response to the daily challenges of our lives that will determine whether we will be counted among those who will live on in glory, or those who will succumb to the horrors that are coming.
Scott: So tell me Allan, how do we know when these horrors are coming?
Well Scott, the prophets of the Old Testament were very specific when they wrote about the events that would happen on the earth during the days leading up to the end of the present age, and the beginning of the new age to come. In fact they referred to this period as the “Latter Days”.
They predicted that the current age would end with a seven year period which they called the “Tribulation”, on account of the devastation that would occur on the earth, and the suffering that would be inflicted on those who were alive at that time.
In addition, this period of seven years would begin and end with two dramatic events. It would begin with a series of disasters which would all happen in the course of a single day. They referred to this day as “The Great and Terrible Day of the Lord”.
They also predicted that this seven year period of affliction would end with the appearance in the heavens of the Messiah or Saviour, who would then judge all the people of the earth, both the living and the dead, based on their actions when they were alive.
They also went on to describe a series of events that would occur in the world shortly before that period, so that people who were alive at that time would know that the “last days” were imminent. These events were centred in the countries of the Middle East.
Scott: What sort of events did they describe?
They said that the Jews would be gathered up from the far corners of the earth, and would return to their ancestral land and become a nation state once more. And of course Scott, this happened in 1948 when the British Mandate for Palestine expired, and Israel became an independent state.
They also predicted that the Jews would regain control of the city of Jerusalem, which they achieved in 1967 during the so-called “Six Day” war. They also said that the state of Israel would go on to become a target of neighbouring countries who would seek to destroy it.
The prophet Ezekiel described how the enemies of the Jews would form a military alliance that would surround Israel on every side. But just when they were poised to strike, the Lord would intervene miraculously by causing the Arab armies to be annihilated by “brimstone and fiery hail” that would descend on them from the sky.
And everything that I have written about on my Blog lately has been linked to these events in one way or another. For example, because Persia was one of the countries that was specifically mentioned by the prophets, I have written a lot about Iran, and particularly their attempts to acquire nuclear weapons.
In fact Scott, there are three things that I think all students of prophecy ought to be focused on at this time, because they hold the key to understanding what is about to happen to our world, and especially the build-up to “The Great and Terrible Day of the Lord”.
Scott: What sort of things are you referring to?
Well Scott, the first and most important thing we need to focus on is the state of Israel itself, simply because that is where the Old Testament prophets came from, and that is where the events that they wrote about are predicted to take place.
The second is the state of Persia, or Iran as it is now called, because it will come to play a crucial role in the formation of the Islamic Alliance that is predicted to undertake the land invasion of Israel. And the third thing we need to be aware of is comets.
As I pointed out in my Blog post headed Signs in the Sky , the Old Testament prophets made it clear that the disasters associated with “The Great and Terrible Day of the Lord” would be something that would come from the heavens, as can be seen from the following quotations.
“And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood and fire and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the LORD comes.” (Joel 2:30-32)
“For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.” (Isaiah 13:10)
“The great day of the Lord is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the Lord: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly. That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness.” (Zephaniah 1:14-15)
Scott: So why do you think that these disasters will be the result of a close encounter between the earth and a comet?
Well as I pointed out in my book as well as in earlier posts, in Chapter 8 of his Book of Revelation, John describes seven angels who were given seven trumpets. As each angel sounded their trumpet, the earth was assailed by a specific disaster.
“The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of the trees was burnt up, and all the green grass was burnt up.
“And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood; and the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.
“And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters; and the name of the star is called Wormwood; and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter. (Revelation 8:7-12)
In my book I go into great detail explaining the meaning of these verses in modern astronomical terms. I also point out that similar things have happened before, such as when the children of Israel were led out of bondage by Moses, and Egypt was devastated by a series of plagues.
And that is what makes my Blog different from most of the other commentators of Biblical prophecy. I don’t spend time warning people about Hell or the need to repent their sins and transform their lives. I just try to focus on the facts and point out where they lead.
I then leave it up to each individual reader to judge for themselves whether what I have written makes any sense, and if it does, I let them decide what changes, if any, are needed in their lives, and what actions they should take to deal with their own personal challenges.
Scott: So Allan, how does this relate to all the other subjects you have been writing about?
Well Scott, up to about a year ago, I had been focusing on the three topics I referred to earlier, namely, the events in the Middle East, particularly Israel, the efforts by Iran to develop nuclear weapons, and the comet Ison, which was at that time approaching perihelion.
As things turned out, all three of these situations reached a point of suspended activity at about the same time, and this allowed me the opportunity to branch out into other areas, such as ancient history, the philosophy of science and the Kingdom of God.
First of all, at the direction of President Obama, John Kerry embarked on an ambitious timetable to try to get a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. These negotiations dragged on for nine months and ultimately collapsed completely.
At the same time, events in Iran underwent a significant change. President Hassan Rouhani was chosen to replace Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He proved to be a far more pragmatic leader than his predecessor, and he entered into a series of negotiations with the West to try to resolve the nuclear issue.
These talks also meandered on for many months, but only led to the decision to keep on talking for many more months, which is where matters stand at the moment. So the situation regarding their nuclear ambitions has also remained on hold since that time.
Finally, Ison proved to be a literal bust, as the comet that had attracted so much attention from the media fizzled out in a matter of days, when the comet disintegrated completely just as it was making its closest approach to the Sun. So that topic could be conveniently shelved for a while.
So I used this political stalemate between the Jews and the Palestinians, and the protracted negotiations between the Iranians and the G-7 countries, as an opportunity to branch out into other areas which I felt readers ought to know about.
Scott: What other areas did you have in mind?
One area where I devoted a considerable amount of Blog space has been the nature of comets, what they are made of, and why they behave the way they do. After all, if the world is to be endangered by a close encounter with a comet, then it would help to know precisely what we are up against.
And this is where the matter gets confusing. Most scientists and astronomers today still cling to the “dirty snowball” theory of comets, which says that they consist primarily of dust and ice. However, the latest findings of space probes prove definitively that this is not the case.
The reason why I have discussed the “Electric Theory” of the universe in such detail is because it explains the nature and behaviour of comets so much more effectively than standard theory, and because it can also predict the outcome of close encounters with comets with greater accuracy.
But rather than express my own views on the subject, I preferred to outline the major features of both theories, so that readers could then draw their own conclusions. And I applied this same approach to the whole “Electric Theory” of the universe.
Scott: What about subjects like the philosophy of science, Darwin’s theory of evolution and the theory of Uniformitarianism?. How do they relate to prophecy?
I’m glad you mentioned that Scott. The reason I wrote about the philosophy of science, and especially the work of research scientist Thomas Kuhn, was to help readers understand the importance of the concept of the word “paradigm” within a scientific context.
The average person today is easily duped by the scientific community into believing that all scientific research is conducted in the traditional spirit of science, and is a simple quest for understanding, and one in which the results are allowed to speak for themselves.
Unfortunately, the reality is that students of scientific disciplines are indoctrinated in the course of their studies. This indoctrination takes place within the arena of the prevailing paradigm, which sets out specific things that students must embrace as accepted truth before they can graduate.
The best example of this today is Darwin’s theory of evolution, as well as the theory of Uniformitarianism on which it is based. As I pointed out in earlier posts, despite the fact that both of these theories no longer stand up to critical analysis, they continue to be taught to students as if they were established fact.
But if we are to understand what is really happening in our world today, and why the long prophesied time of “Tribulation” is shortly about to befall the earth, we need to understand the true facts, rather than the platitudes of scientists who follow their own agenda of obscuring the truth.
Scott: And what about the legend of Lemuria?
This is a classic example of what I was referring to. Despite the fact that evidence can be found all over the world of advanced cultures that lived many thousands of years before the “accepted history” of humanity, scientists continue to ignore this evidence.
They do so because they cling to the accepted version of history, which is that civilization began about five thousand years ago, and that any evidence that suggests otherwise is therefore wrong, and must be ignored by the scientific community.
The reality is that human beings have existed on this planet for tens of thousands of years, and that some of these civilizations of the past have reached levels that have even surpassed our own. Civilizations like those of Atlantis and Lemuria were destroyed as a result of global catastrophes.
Readers need to understand that the history of humanity on the earth has not unfolded in an unbroken sequence of development from earliest societies up to the world-wide civilization that we see on earth today, as modern scientists would have us believe.
Instead there have been numerous cultures that have risen to great levels of achievement in the past, only to be destroyed later, usually as a result of their own inherent corruption, which is of course the reason why our own civilization is in such peril today.
Scott: Finally Allan, why did you write about the Kingdom of God, and how does it relate to things that are going on today?
Excellent question Scott. I wrote about the Kingdom of God because it relates directly to the New Age that is about to unfold upon the earth, and which will manifest before our eyes once the horrors of the seven years of Tribulation are at an end.
Again, readers need to understand that the new world that is dawning will not be a mere repetition of the events that have happened in the past. What we are about to experience will be an evolutionary leap in consciousness that is planetary in scope. As the Oracle of Tolemac has stated:
“The moment is at hand when the earth will take the greatest evolutionary step that humanity will ever witness. Never before in the history of earth will there be changes as profound as those that now await you.” (from The Last Days of Tolemac)
As has been the teaching of the Rishis of the East for thousands of years:
“To be a living being is not the ultimate state; there is something beyond, much more wonderful, which is neither being nor non-being, neither living nor not-living. It is a state of pure awareness, beyond the limitations of space and time.” (Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj)
This new state of consciousness will not be something that we can personally control. It will be a call from within, from the deepest part of our Being – that part of us that is all-embracing – and is Divine.
This new state of mind will not be something that we consciously choose to adopt. It will be more like giving ourselves up and surrendering to an overwhelming force within ourselves, where we become at one with ourselves and with the universe.
The Kingdom of God is the experience of the understanding of who we really are, together with the freedom that overcomes all limitations, and the Peace within that surpasses all understanding.
This is the wonder of the New Age that is dawning within each one of us that is ready and willing to embrace it. The Light that is coming will transform our inner lives, which will in turn transform our planet and all the life-forms that live upon it.
It will be an experience that will come to include all the creatures that share our life path. It will be a path of caring and sharing. For as the Oracle of Tolemac has predicted:
“Some day soon there will be a day of singing such as has never before been heard upon the earth. It will be the sound of a single voice. This single voice will swell with a great multitude of heavenly voices. Choirs of angelic voices will be heard in unison together singing “Come home Earth, Come home, Come home.
“Then will be heard in response a chorus of all the souls upon the earth. It will be a mingling of the voices of people and of birds and of animals. There will be a harmony of sound and colour and beauty that is beyond telling.
“All the souls of earth will join together in worship of the Everlasting Light. This is the Light that shines within the heart of every soul. It is the Light of the eternal “I Am”. (from The Last Days of Tolemac)
Scott: Thanks Allan. This has been an amazing overview of all that you have been writing about and how it fits in with the events that are unfolding in our world.
You have been listening to Allan Colston, author of the book “The Last Days of Tolemac”. Do join us for our next Podcast in the series titled “Signs of the Times”.
Allan, AUDIO, Recapitulation, Signs of the Times, August 16, 2014, 7:32 pm
It is evident that the ruins at Tiwanaku have mystified visitors for centuries. When the chronicler Pedro Cieza de León first arrived in the area with the Spanish conquistadors in 1548, he was told by the Incas that the place had been abandoned long before their arrival, and that they had no idea who built them.
Arthur Posnansky
And this mystery might have persisted right up to the present day, had it not been for the intervention of an extraordinary adventurer by the name of Arturo (Arthur) Posnansky. Born in Vienna, Austria, in 1873, Arthur did not take long to demonstrate his life-long interest in ancient civilizations.
Soon after completing his studies in engineering, he undertook a series of training voyages with the Austro-Hungarian navy. These journeys took him to many places, including Easter Island in the South Pacific. It was here that he first began to write about his archaeological and ethnological investigations.
Then in 1896, at the age of 23, he emigrated to South America where he participated in several expeditions exploring the upper reaches of the Amazon river. After a variety of adventures in Brazil he subsequently moved to Bolivia in 1903, where he remained until his death in 1946.
Over the years he published many books, and at the time of his death he was the Director of the National Museum of Bolivia, as well as the Archaeological Society. The climax of his investigative career was the publication in four volumes of his most famous work: Tiahuanaco, The Cradle of American Man.
When Posnansky first visited Tiwanaku in 1903, very little excavation had taken place at the site, which was still covered with four to six feet of alluvial mud that had been frozen into a solid mass by the harsh climate. At that time relatively little could be seen above the surface of the ground.
The “Gateway of the Sun” was broken into two pieces, and was half buried in the soil. But there was another feature of the site that caught Posnansky’s attention. This was a series of stone columns more than twelve feet high that had been sunk into the ground of what is now known as the courtyard.
These stone columns have been responsible for giving the entire courtyard area its modern name of Kalasasaya, or place of the standing stones. When he had an opportunity to study these stones, Posnansky described what he found in the following words:
“The columns today have the appearance of crude stones planted in the ground. However, in their time they were not only carefully aligned and carved but on the sides facing the interior of the building were magnificent symbolical inscriptions as can be seen on a piece that has fallen from one of them and on which a part of these drawings has been miraculously saved.
“Because of the enormous age of these great pilasters which were the support of the walls, some of them have fallen down and others are so thin in certain parts that they threaten to fall over from one moment to the next.”
When Posnansky first came across these columns, they stood separately from one another in a straight line. He discovered that there were eleven stone columns in total. However, not all of them were still standing. One had fallen down, while another was found in a field some distance away, as shown in the photograph below.
It is important to point out here that, during the course of reconstruction by the authorities in the 1960’s, a wall was built to fill in the spaces between these columns. Apparently, not realizing the significance of the stone column which lay in the field nearby, they ignored it when they were building the wall.
But the significance of these standing stones would have been lost, were it not for the presence of the “Gateway of the Sun”, and the unique set of glyphs that were carved upon it. Through a fortunate set of circumstances, the face of the Sun Gate had been remarkably preserved. As Posnansky later wrote:
“The Sun Door which was found lying on its face on the ground, has been preserved in wonderful condition with all its inscriptions; but its back, and especially the end exposed to the adverse atmospheric conditions, shows an enormous wearing away.
“It should be pointed out that the block from which this notable monument was carved, is composed of andesitic hornblende, vitreous and very hard lava, which, polished as it was in that period, required several thousands of years to wear away in the form in which we see it today.”
In studying the inscriptions that had been carved on the face of the Sun Gate, Posnansky was intrigued by a series of eleven glyphs that were carved along the bottom of the gate. There were five glyphs on the left of the central glyph, and five on the right, as shown below.
The eleven glyphs carved along the bottom of the Gateway of the Sun
Ponansky’s crucial contribution towards unravelling the mystery of Tiwanaku, was his realization that these eleven glyphs carved on the “Gateway of the Sun” explained how the eleven standing stones could be used as a sophisticated ancient calendar.
Although the inscriptions on the Sun Gate held the key to understanding how this ancient calendar worked, it was the actual row of pillars (standing stones) themselves that served as the means of calculating the calendar, as well as the months and seasons of the year.
Posnansky discovered that there was a “viewing stone” that was set into the centre of the courtyard, from which it was possible to observe the sun as it set below the horizon in the West. By studying the daily movements of the sun, he found that the standing stones at each end had been deliberately placed to coincide with the positions of the sun at the mid-summer and mid-winter solstices.
Over the course of every six months therefore, the sun would set directly over each standing stone in sequence, before turning back and following the same procedure in reverse. It was clear to Posnansky that the builders of Tiwanaku had used this simple but sophisticated system to track the path of the sun and the moon.
Over the course of half a year, the sun would pass directly over each of the eleven standing stones in turn, before reversing its path back to where it started
Because there were eleven standing stones, it was evident that the builders divided the year into two sets of ten periods or “months”. Starting from the extreme left hand stone, it would take the sun ten “months” to reach the extreme right-hand stone, and another ten “months” to do the same thing in reverse.
As an interesting aside, the Spanish chronicler Pedro Cieza de León noted in his Chronicle of Peru published in 1553:
“Among the people of the Collao (the area around Lake Titicaca) there are men of great intelligence, who reply to what is asked from them; and they take account of time, and know some of the movements both of the sun and the moon. They count their years from ten months to ten months, and I learned from them that they call the year Mari, the moon or month Alespaquexe, and the day Auro.”
By analysing the movements of the sun as it passed over the various standing stones, Posnansky was able to determine that the amount of time it took for the sun to move from one stone to another was eighteen days. This enabled him to calculate that the Tiwanaku year consisted of 360 days. (10 x18 days x 2)
When Posnansky determined that the length of the Tiwanaku year was 360 days, it is unlikely that he realised the true significance of his discovery. It was not until about half a century later that Immanuel Velikovsky was able to explain why ancient societies used 360 days as the length of the solar year.
As everyone today is aware, the current length of the solar year is slightly more than 365 days, with an extra day being added every four years in order to bring our modern calendar into alignment with the movements of the sun. But, as Velikovsky pointed out, the length of the year was not always that way.
As was pointed out in the Post titled 2012 And All That, the basic unit of the “Long Count” calendar of the Maya was the Tun, which consisted of a cycle of 360 days. But the Maya were not the only people in antiquity to base their calendar on a solar year consisting of 360 days.
So did the Incas of Peru, as well as the ancient Egyptians, Persians, Hindus, Chaldeans, Assyrians, Hebrews, Chinese, Greeks and the Romans. And the reason they did so, was because the length of the solar year at that time actually was 360 days. In other words, the earth moved in a different orbit around the sun than it does now.
According to their “Long Count” calendar, the Maya believed that we are currently living in the fifth world age, and that the present cycle of the sun began in 3114 BC. So, had Posnansky been aware of this, he would have immediately realised that Tiwanaku had to have been built more than five thousand years ago, that is before 3114 BC.
How much earlier than five thousand years ago might have seemed to be an insoluble problem, but based on his own measurements involving the movements of the sun and the alignments of the standing stones, Posnansky came up with an ingenious solution. It was a solution that was based on archaeo-astronomy.
As he later explained in his book Tiahuanaco, The Cradle of American Man, the earth is tilted on its axis with respect to the plane of the solar system. The extent of this angular tilt is known as the “obliqueness of the ecliptic”, not to be confused with the well known “precession of the equinox”.
At present the earth is tilted at an angle of 23º and 27 minutes, but this angle is not constant. Over the years it oscillates between 22º and 1 minute, and 24º and 5 minutes. Posnansky found that the alignment of the Kalasasaya temple depicted a tilt in the earth’s axis amounting to 23º, 8 minutes and 48 seconds.
Based on these calculations, Posnansky came up with a date when the Kalasasaya temple was constructed, of about 15,000 years BC. For those who would like a visual summary of Posnansky’s theory, the principles on which it was based, and how he came up with the date of 15,000 BC, the following video provides an excellent illustration.
Naturally, the idea of an advanced civilization existing on the South American continent around 15,000 BC defied all conventional thinking about the age of civilization on the earth, and for this reason Posnansky was denounced as a fraud by the scientific fraternity.
Unfortunately, little has changed since the death of Posnansky almost seventy years ago. It seems that we will have to wait for many more years before conventional science is willing to accept the idea that the history of humanity on this planet extends a lot farther back in time than they presently admit.
When James Churchward published his book The Lost Continent of Mu: Motherland of Man in 1926, he claimed that a towering civilization once dominated the world for hundreds of thousands of years, only to be destroyed in a world-wide cataclysm that has long since been forgotten.
Based on ancient clay tablets that he had been taught to decipher by an old temple priest while he was in India, Churchward said that the name of this civilisation was Mu, and that it existed on a continent called Lemuria, that stretched across a large part of the Pacific Ocean.
In previous instalments it was pointed out that, while there is no evidence of a sunken continent in that area, there are numerous island chains scattered around the Pacific Ocean which possess enigmatic stone ruins which were clearly never built by the Polynesian cultures that populate the region today.
In addition, there remains the mystery of Easter Island and its giant carved stone statues called Moai, which continue to defy conventional explanation. And now we have Tiwanaku and Puma Punku, which point to a date of origin far earlier than modern historians are willing to accept.
Despite the fact that Churchward’s ideas have been scornfully rejected by the academic community, in light of the mysteries that have been exposed in this series of articles, it is perhaps instructive to read what he wrote in his book The Lost Continent of Mu:
“Continuing my researches, I discovered that this lost continent had extended from somewhere north of Hawaii to the south as far as the Fijis and Easter Island, and was undoubtedly the original habitat of man.”
“I learned that in this beautiful country there had lived a people that colonized the earth, and that this land of smiling plenty had been obliterated by terrific earthquakes and submersion 12,000 years ago, and had vanished in a vortex of fire and water.”
“On some of the South Sea Islands, notably Easter, Mangaia, Tonga-tabu, Panape, and the Ladrone or Mariana Islands, there stand today remains of old stone temples and lithic remains which take us back to the time of Mu.” (View Source)
It is clear from what James Churchward has written, that the ruins that can still be found today on various islands in the Pacific Ocean, such as Ponape, Tonga and Easter Island, were once part of the great civilization of Mu, before it disappeared beneath the waves some 12,000 years ago.
Churchward also goes on to point out that while the continent of Lemuria was the centre of the civilization of Mu, there were other places on earth where they had established colonies, such as Egypt, India and South America. It is certainly possible that the ruins of Tiwanaku could well be the remains of one of these colonies.
And if it was, then they too would have been engulfed by the terrible events that led to the destruction of Mu, and its disappearance beneath the raging waters of the Pacific Ocean. There was, however, one significant difference.
Instead of plunging beneath the sea, they suddenly found themselves being thrust many thousands of feet into the air. In what was probably a compensatory geological response, as one landmass disappeared under the water, the coastline of South America was suddenly elevated.
While the convulsions of this rising land would likely have destroyed the cities located on the shore, it is possible that scattered groups of people might somehow have survived these catastrophic events. Finding that they could no longer live at their new elevation, they might have made their way back to the sea.
There they would have to face the challenge of trying to survive on a coastline that had been swept clean by devastating tsunamis. One can imagine how they might have reacted, possessing vast technological knowledge, yet without the means or resources to be able to resuscitate their former way of life.
Would they have spent their time trying to create a record of what they had once achieved, in the hope that this would one day be discovered by later generations? And if so, could this have been the explanation for the mysterious lines of Nazca in Peru, or the controversial “Stones of Ica”.
It was in 1956 that a pilot flying over the coastal area of southern Peru noticed a series of unusual designs etched into the desert sand near the town of Nazca. What made these designs so unusual was their enormous size, and the fact that they had gone unnoticed for so long by people on the ground.
Two things were obvious. The first was that these designs had been made by people who had an advanced knowledge of surveying, to enable them to construct straight lines over long distances with extraordinary accuracy. The second was that these images were intended to be seen from the air.
Then in the early 1960’s, a local Doctor discovered a series of stones in the town of Ica, not far from Nazca. These stones were made of a very hard form of granite called andesite. What was so distinctive about these stones was that they had images carved into them.
Some of these images were of flowers, fishes and animals, but others had pictures of advanced technical subjects such as maps, astronomy, telescopes, and even heart transplants, which were completely unknown to the natives of the area at that time. It is not surprising that scientists dismissed these stones as modern fakes.
But what is clear from an examination of both sites is that the same people who created these enigmatic designs on the desert sands of Nazca, also carved the “Stones of Ica”, as the designs that appear on the desert floor are the same as those depicted on these andesite stones, as can be seen from the following Blog post.
Because these designs were obviously made to be seen from the sky, it suggests that that the civilization of Mu had attained the power of flight, and that the survivors at Nazca hoped that their SOS signals in the desert might possibly attract the attention of their craft.
Sadly for those people gathered on the shore, the same forces of Nature that had destroyed their former city of Tiwanaku, had also been responsible for the complete destruction of the Motherland as well. As a result, their longed awaited rescue never arrived.
If the story told by James Churchward based on the Naacal clay tablets that he studied in India is true, then there once was an advanced civilization that reached great technological heights, only to be destroyed completely in a series of catastrophic disasters.
And today, only a faint echo of the glory of that time lives on in isolated islands scattered around the Pacific Ocean, and in places like Tiwanaku and other parts of Bolivia and Peru. So the crucial question remains. If such a continental cataclysm happened on the earth in the past, could it occur again?
And if it did, could this happen in our own time? In answer, it is perhaps worth repeating the comment made by the old Egyptian priest to the Greek lawmaker Solon, with which we began this series on Lemuria. As Plato recorded in his dialogue Timaeus:
“Oh Solon, Solon, you Greeks are all children, and there is no such thing as an old Greek…You have no belief rooted in old tradition and no knowledge hoary with age. And the reason is this. There have been and will be many different calamities to destroy mankind, the greatest of them by fire and water, lesser ones by countless other means.”
These words should serve as a warning to us that advanced technological accomplishments are no guarantee that civilizations are safe from destruction, and that sudden disaster may overtake them at any time, perhaps when they least expect it.
If the clarion call of history cannot bring us to our senses, by pointing out the destruction of ancient civilizations in the past, then maybe the words of Biblical prophets will serve to remind us that our time is short, and that dire events may soon befall us.
In addition, as the Oracle of Tolemac has warned:
“For you have reached that point in your history when many will face the same conditions that occurred on that far-off day in Tolemac, when the earth shook, the waters rose, the land fell, and the people cried out in terror, fearing that they would all be destroyed.”
(Excerpt from “The Last Days of Tolemac”)
Allan, The Legend of Lemuria, July 29, 2014, 1:48 pm
In 1966, another American doctor had an unusual experience in South America. His name was Andrija Puharich. Puharich was a physician who had distinguished himself in the field of medical technology, having invented a variety of miniature devices to assist the hard of hearing.
As Thomas Bearden remarks, “When enough human unconsciousnesses have the idea of fairies deeply ingrained in them, occasionally a real, living, breathing fairy pops out of the collective unconscious.” 9
One of its proponents is the Stanford University professor William Tiller. Tiller regards the universe as a conjugate system consisting of both positive and negative space-time frames. In the course of manifestation, Tiller argues that creation takes place initially in negative space-time, a realm which cannot be discerned by the senses, and which therefore appears invisible and undetectable.
Alexandra David-Neel, who spent fourteen years living in Tibet absorbing its culture and religion, was given a document by the then Dalai Lama, whom she met in 1912, which described the nature of the tulpa. She quoted from this document in her book Magic and Mystery in Tibet.
Since this column of ice is reminiscent of a lingam, a vertical pillar of stone which is used throughout India to symbolise the Absolute, it is revered as a natural manifestation of this cosmic principle. This lingam, which rises and wanes as the flow of water increases or decreases, has drawn pilgrims to this revered cave for more than two thousand years.
