My name is URL

Ginny from comments pointed me to this useful site, which offers an eclectic collection of paranormal writings and videos. Arthur Findlay's On the Edge of the Etheric is one of the books available for free download. Also of interest is a video clip of the shenangigans at Camp Chesterfield, where phony "materialized spirits" were exposed by infrared photography.

Ben from comments recommends the blog Beyond Evolution by Matt Chait. I've read only the latest two entries (both of which are quite long), and so far I'm very impressed with the clarity and cogency of Chait's arguments. His epic dissertation on "Evolution" is well worth a look.

Comments

[Ben]

This extract from Matt Chait addresses the issue often raised on this Blog of how we can retain individuality when merging with Cosmic Consciousness. He makes it refreshingly easy to grasp.

"Our whole existence here, on this physical plane, is based on our experience of separation, of having an individual consciousness tied to a particular body, a particular brain and a particular history, but if, or when, we go back to God, we no longer have that separation. It's not as if an individual is traveling back home, it is as if we are melting, as if the walls of separation are dissolving and we expand into a bigger and bigger space. So it's not as if we lose our sense of self, it's as if our sense of self expands infinitely, yours joins with mine, until there is only one consciousness, until we realize that all these separate beings that we have encountered during our existence are actually all aspects of the same Being."

FURTHER ON THE SUBJECT OF IDENTITY:

The disagreement is as great as it is about philosophic views among the living. The probable origin of the theory of reincarnation explains the element of truth which it contains. But the survival of personal identity, adequately supported by facts, contradicts the main doctrine of the reincarnationist.

It goes to prove that we are receiving only statements of opinion, not facts, from communicators, if we accept the statements as communications from a transcendental world. Some communicators deny the reincarnation. Some venture to adduce facts to support it, but these will not bear the slightest examination as evidence. For instance, some will tell us that they can remember a previous existence. But they do not reckon with illusions of memory. We sometimes recall something which we locate in a certain time and place, but find later that this location was wrong. When the total experience is recalled we find that we are dealing with two events connected only by similarity. We confused them because of the imperfection of the recall. This imperfect recall will explain most of the alleged instances of recollection of a prenatal past. Other facts adduced in support of reincarnation can be explained as mediumistic phenomena. That is, discarnate personalities may produce in the minds of psychics the feeling of long past time or of previous existence by the transmission, telepathically perhaps, of their own feelings and states of mind. These would naturally enough be interpreted as evidence of reincarnation. But when we find that they are memories transmitted from the discarnate to the living mind, their claims as evidence are nullified. The sense of recognizing a place which we are seeing for the first time is another type of fact like the one just considered, except that it involves space instead of time. It too can be explained either as an illusion of memory or as clairvoyance.

Either hypothesis nullifies the value of the facts as evidence for reincarnation. What it is that can recommend the doctrine of reincarnation to its believers is difficult to understand. It contains nothing desirable and nothing ethical. Reincarnation is not desirable, because it does not satisfy the only instinct that makes survival of any kind interesting, namely, the instinct to preserve the consciousness of personal identity. This is denied to the process until its end and that is never in sight!

Moreover, assertion of even this return of memory is purely arbitrary. Man's only interest in survival is for the persistence of his personal identity. It is a form of the impulse towards self-preservation, which is fundamental to all the acquisitions of experience and character in this life. A future life must be the continuity of this consciousness or it is not a life to us at all. Moreover, there is nothing ethical in the doctrine. The absolutely fundamental condition of all ethics is memory and the retention of personal identity, and memory and personal identity are excluded from the process of reincarnation. That you cannot maintain a theory of responsibility in any existence without memory is a truism in ethics and even in our civil courts. If our personal identity were changed, we could not be held responsible for anything we did. If we lost our memory every five minutes we should be regarded as insane, and crime could not be ascribed to us.

In cases of alternating personality, punishment might be meted out to the personality performing the act, but this restraint could not apply to the other personality. The result is that cases of dissociation and change of personality are subjects for the physician and not the police.

The doctrine of reincarnation has to face this large question. We cannot apply to any future life the categories of the present, unless personal identity be assumed. Memory from one stage to another is necessary to the continuance of existence. "Karma" without memory is retribution minus all grounds for it, abstracting everything that makes it rational. When, in the light of psychic research, we examine the early theories of animism and the doctrine of reincarnation as held among the early Greek philosophers, even the materialists Empedocles and Democritus, we may discover how the theory of reincarnation originated. Primitive animism was bound up with the belief in reincarnation, but it was not clearly worked out into a logical and consistent philosophy. We find in animism only the seeds of the doctrine, in the naive ideas of ignorant people with a penchant for explaining things. But when we recognize undeveloped spiritualism in this primitive animism, we find a clue to the origin of the myth of reincarnation.

Do spirits reincarnate? Findlay replies: ?To return would be retrogression and we have no evidence that this is nature?s plan. It sounds simple and believable to those who have never thought out how we obtain our individual minds and become individual beings. These come from our parents as already explained. There is no mystery about it, so the one who believes that he or she is the reincarnation of some individual who once lived, must explain how this separate individual mind took the place of the combined minds of his or her parents at conception. It is caused by misunderstanding of the facts and sprang from minds. These views, I may say, receive the support of my informants in the Etheric world, who say that they know of no one who has incarnated again on earth. They have with them those who live on earth thousands of years ago, and those not with them have gone on to higher planes.

Statement of Fact : So Called Spiritualism Today, IS NOT True Spiritualism--It Was Lost More Than 100 Years Ago. There IS Soul Embodiment/s. Soul being in a timeless existence CAN NEVER be in a "RE" existence, therefore the spirit does NOT "re" incarnate, it is a vehicle ONLY of the soul for earth incarnation experience. Cora's teachings are Natural Quantum Physics-- NOT Metaphysics, NOT Para Psychology, Not psychic channeling, but scientifically proven true mediumship and teaching 'true knowing through deep perceiving'. Soul truth is NOT New Age 'beliefs', superstitions & misstatements (since the 1960s drug revolution). Nor the occult, magic or miracles of the Roman civilization's re-hashed system, their cults, sects & secret societies. Truth is NEVER 'New' because Truth has always been TRUTH long before our earth memory.

When mortals die, their souls have already achieved the purpose of incarnation, that is, individualization of the soul. A soul may become a purified soul through the exercise of will and the expression of remorse in the spirit world. It is, therefore, absolutely unnecessary for the soul to go back to the flesh for another chance to purify itself.
Rev. Merrill goes on about how spirits are continually interacting with the mortal world; child prodigies and child geniuses are said to be old souls who have come back in re-birth. Do people not know that children are most susceptible to spirit influence from birth to six or seven years of age, whether that influencing spirit is a musician, mathematician, poet or writer of prose? How easy it is to forget that spirits are around us at all times, mingling and co-mingling.

Through Mrs. Wickland's inspirational writing, a personal friend, the late Dr. J. M. Peebles (author, lecturer, and diplomat), stated, "When I reached the spirit world, I found such glory and happiness and beauty that I now realize this little earth is a grammar school, not a university or even a high school; it is only the first lesson of life." Why should anyone want to come back again, to be confined in a body? In the spirit world, you are free to travel everywhere. Why go back to that prison again? Dr. Peebles continued, "You can learn in one day here what takes years to learn on earth. Forget reincarnation, because it is a sandbag around your neck. You will have it so centered on your mind, that you will think of nothing else, and you will stay just where you are. You cannot progress because your mind will always revert to the earth again. You cannot live on the earth more than once. Life is progression, not retrogression."

CORRECTION FROM THE OTHER SIDE

The most powerful testimonial came from Helena Blavatsky. Madam Blavatsky was a spiritualist medium of considerable talent and co-founder of the Theosophical Society. She was a pioneer of the New Thought Movement, the early forerunner of New Age. She stated, "I studied reincarnation in India and thought there was truth and justice in the theory that we come back to learn and grow. I taught the theory and wanted to bring it to the world. I felt that I remembered far back into my past, but I was mistaken. When you become sensitive and can feel the spirits around you, they speak to you by impressions, and their past will be like a panorama. A person feels it and will relive the past of spirits, but the mistake is made of taking this for the memory of past incarnations. I did not know this when I lived on earth, but when I came to the spirit side of life I learned differently. Once you reach the spirit world, where all is congenial, where all is life, where all is bliss, where there is no jealousy, no envy, where all is one grand harmony, do you think for one moment that you would want to leave that beautiful condition to come back to earth and be a little baby, restricted in mind and knowing nothing whatever?"

Memories of past lives are caused by spirits that bring such thoughts and represent the lives that they lived. A spirit impresses a person with the experiences of its life and these are implanted in the mind as one's own, causing you to think you remember your past.

The medium went into trance - his voice changed, and he gave an fascinating address from his spirit guide. When he finished, there were questions and answers. The one question which stuck with me was asked by a woman concerning reincarnation. The spirit guide, Magnus, replied that he had seen many spirits waiting to return to earth, but had never seen any spirits actually leave the spirit world. Furthermore, he added that he and his companions were more advanced than mortals and, therefore, could not imagine what would be accomplished by returning to the earth. I quickly glanced over at the woman to see her reaction. She was visibly taken back; obviously, this was not what she had expected to hear.

After several weeks of reading the lawyer's automatic writings and, I might add, resonating with them, I came to a message from an ancient East Indian spirit which took me by surprise. In it, he said that he believed reincarnation was a process of purification that was necessary in order for a spirit to attain a state of purification and perfection and arrive at the blissful state of Nirvana. "But in all the years of my spirit existence," he said, "I had not known of a spirit to reincarnate, and in this, my disappointment has been grievous. Karma exists in the spirit world, and many spirits of my association have become pure and perfected spirits through renunciation; yet, they have remained spirits and have progressed to the highest realms without taking another body."

30 [THIRTY] YEARS AMONG THE DEAD, 1924 By Carl A. Wickland, M.D.* It must be remembered that even Madam Blavatsky tried to RE-turn after her passing over to the spirit world. On finding that she could not will herself or choose to return to earth as she had taught in her theory of re-incarnation, Blavatsky's work in the spirit world became 'rescuing' spirits trapped in the darkness who were only looking to return to earth life and in so doing found themselves lost or, obsessing or possessing another's physical body. Putting right her erroneous earth teachings, Blavatsky helped to guide lost spirits into Spiritualistic 'rescue circles' here on earth, to help them find the light again and be able to continue their progression into the higher spirit world.

THE PSYCHIC READING

On arriving at the Institute, I was led to a first floor room where, to my surprise, I was introduced to not one, but three psychics who were to do the reading. They seated themselves in a row, and I was told "Take the chair in front of us and try not to be nervous". The first two hours of the reading were filled with interesting and useful information about myself, my life and my future. The last hour was to be dedicated to uncovering my past lives.

In that final hour, I was told that I had had many lives. The first past life they spoke about was that of an ancient Hebrew; it was in this life that I had made a pact with God and died in His service. I must admit that I liked this very much; it not only made me feel important, it also could have been a possible explanation for my burning spiritual desire. Next, they told me that I was in the Crusades and was killed trying to free the Holy Land. From there, I lived as a Frenchman and was robbed and murdered on the road to Paris. Following that life, I was a World War I soldier killed in the trenches of Europe. After that life was revealed to me, my body began to shake. And, with each additional past life they described, the shaking intensified. I didn't know what was happening I could only think that it was my kundulini rising. Then, all of a sudden, the door swung open, and the director of the school burst into the room and exclaimed, in a huff, "What are all these spirits doing in the room? Get them out of here!" And, she began to order the psychics about. "You, do this; you do that. This reading is over!"

It would be nice to think that we become perfect when we leave our bodies at the point of death. That would mean that people like Hitler, Idi Amin and many others changed into amazing spiritual beings when they left the physical bodies behind - I wish! We are exactly the same one second after death as we were before; dying does not make us spiritual beings, we are already that but many people do not have that realisation and act accordingly for a long long time. What would be the point in coming back to earth over and over again, to learn lives lessons, if we just turned into wonderful spiritual beings at death; it would not really be worth the effort.

FROM RECENT CONVERSATION WITH A MEDIUM:

Speaking to spirit...and I know they all have as different a perspectives as we do here on earth, I kind of like one in particulars comments, that those who are "reincarnated", are those who have it ingrained in their psyche that being a human is the pinnacle of existence and can not truly conceive of anything beyond. I know myself and one other present looked at each other and made comments to the effect of - uh uh, nah, can't think of anything worse than repetition over progression. I don't care what supposed “evidence" anyone shoves in my face.

Thanks Michael P. and Ginny for posting the url for those on line books.

"The IP Number of this website may change. For now it is: http://82.74.244.52 . But you can always find this website using: http://spiritualbooks.exodusweb.nl"

FORGOT ABOUT THIS, IN ADDITION TO "THE PSYCHIC READING"...

As the weeks passed, I longed for answers; then, one day, they seemed to pop into my head. It was as if I was told that it was true, indeed, that there were 'spirits in the room' and they were hovering around me during the reading and it was their combined soul power that created an energy field strong enough to shake my body. It was also true that the psychics were skilled at their craft and were able to read the identities of the 'spirits in the room' and in particular their last experience on earth their death. However, I somehow realized that their mistake was telling me that the lives they were reading were my past lives when in reality, they were the lives of the 'spirits in the room'.

[Michael H]

So it's not as if we lose our sense of self, it's as if our sense of self expands infinitely . . .

The excerpt from Chait is as good as any, Ben. The sense of expansion of identity is what confounds everyone, I think. It seems that this expansion is often interpreted as loss of identity instead, especially by those who have had dualism instilled into them since birth. No matter how it's explained, it's interpreted as the destruction and oblivion of the self, which is seen as terrifying.

I was thinking about this last night, about why it's so rare for people to realize the truth of what Plotinus called the One, and why the recurrence or maintenance of the realization is even rarer. (Smith comments in the paper that I linked in the previous thread that he has longed for the experience to reoccur, and mentions that his LSD experimentation was predicated on the hope of triggering the CC event).

I think the answer is very simple, and that the simplicity of it is what keeps it at bay. Chait points to it when he writes, "Our whole existence here, on this physical plane, is based on our experience of separation, of having an individual consciousness tied to a particular body . . ."

Mystical realization, whether that is spontaneous onset of Cosmic Consciousness, or the meditative depths of Samadhi, or the experiences related during NDE involves this sense of the consciousness expanding. At a certain point during the sense of expansion a demarcation line is crossed, and the sense of a separate self dissolves to be replaced with the sense of "I am that". The strangest thing is that what is actually understood is along the lines of, "This is what I've always been, and somehow forgotten . . ."

When someone returns from the experience, they find their consciousness confined again in the body, they find themselves back to the perspective of separation. Yet the 'knowingness' acquired during the expansion experience tells them that this is not entirely true. Their sense of "self" is permanently altered by the experience, and they generally enjoy a heightened sense of calm and wellbeing that is more or less permanent - there are still ups and downs in life, but there is much more of a "bird's eye" perspective on things.

Anyway, I think the reason that it's so difficult to experience the fully expanded state a second time, or maintain it permanently, has to do with a sort of confusion regarding the 'self'. I think it comes down to this: The “I’ that wants to have the experience is not the “I” that has the experience. It is the memory and interpretation of the event by the former "I", which identifies itself with the body, that prevents the latter "I", which does not, from fully reemerging.

The experience belongs to the latter in the moment: the former can only remember it in the moment. "Looking for it" involves placing our attention on thoughts of the future, "remembering it" involves placing our attention on thoughts of the past, while "experiencing it" can only happen when our attention is entirely in the present.

[Bawson]

From On The Edge of the Etheric:

"On one occasion the communicator told me that the medium's larynx was being used, and that his voice was being carried by a psychic tube to the trumpet, which magnified it so that we could hear it. In other words, he was making use of the medium's lungs and larynx and mouth to save the necessity of materialising these organs, but even then I did not hear the medium speaking."

One can only wonder if under thses conditions all of the spirits sound somewhat like the medium, if sprit children sound like adults speaking falsetto, and if it is hard to produce the voices of female spirits.

Also from On the Edge of the Etheric

"When on earth, matter vibrating within certain fixed limits impinged on the mind through the physical body, but, in the etheric world, vibrations of a higher range impinge on the etheric body and through it to the mind. The mind is then aware of only these higher vibrations, it appreciates the finer structure of the etheric body and realises the form the body takes, because the etheric body vibrates just as did the physical body. Everything therefore appears to be just as real and solid as it was on earth, because the mind and the etheric body are now functioning in a new range of vibrations with which they are in tune. What to us on earth seems ethereal, and to which we give the name spirit, is not so to the Etherians"

This sounds remarkably similar to something from the Holographic Universe by Michael Talbot:

"To test their assumption they used Fourier’s equations to convert plaid and checkerboard patterns into simple wave forms. Then they tested to see how the brain cells in the visual cortex responded to these new wave-form images. What they found was that the brain cells responded not to the original patterns, but to the Fourier translations of the patterns. Only one conclusion could be drawn. The brain was using Fourier mathematics—the same mathematics holography employed—to convert visual images into the Fourier language of wave forms.’2

The DeValoises’ discovery was subsequently confirmed by numerous other laboratories around the world, and although it did not provide absolute proof the brain was a hologram, it supplied enough evidence to convince Pribram his theory was correct. Spurred on by the idea that the visual cortex was responding not to patterns but to the frequencies of various wave forms, he began to reassess the role frequency played in the other senses.

It didn’t take long for him to realize that the importance of this role had perhaps been overlooked by twentieth-century scientists. Over a century before the DeValoises’ discovery, the German physiologist and physicist Hermann von Helmholtz had shown that the ear was a frequency analyzer. More recent research revealed that our sense of smell seems to be based on what are called osmic frequencies. Bekesy’s work had clearly demonstrated that our skin is sensitive to frequencies of vibration, and he even produced some evidence that taste may involve frequency analysis. Interestingly, Bekesy also discovered that the mathematical equations that enabled him to predict how his subjects would respond to various frequencies of vibration were also of the Fourier genre."

[Michael H]

Yes, Bawson. Reference to vibrational frequencies shows up repeatedly in esoteric spiritual thought.

One of dozens of examples is The Astral World by Swami Panchadasi that's available as a Word document at the same link that MP gives above.

Very simplistically, I think that all 'paranormal', 'supernatural' and 'mystical' phenomena are actually just 'superphysical' phenomena that involve human consciousness interacting with vibrational frequencies that are perfectly natural and inherent to the greater reality.