The ending hours of a day in the life of - well, this week, I'm not sure what of...
In part, I have a strong impression of what a single parent feels like. While Gwyn is away for a few days, it's just me - and our two "wild" shelti-poo puppies. And I once again realize that whoever told me about dogs being high maintenance was truly spot-on.
Originally I had the fantasy that, while Gwyn was away visiting her mother for a few days, I would be free to get a bunch of writing done. No television, none of the general domestic background activity that keeps one's attention occupied throughout the evening; I envisioned several days of uninterrupted concentration as I (hopefully) begin a new stretch of creativity. I have slowly and grudgingly gotten going on Children of the Stars, having plugged away at it for several months. At times I feel like great progress has been made. Other times, well, the feeling is different. So I the last two evenings, I greatly looked forward to a few days of uninterrupted writing. Time to get to work and make some great literary progress.
Wrong....
As I write this, I have to pause to pick up a dog toy and throw it down the front hall. Libby (our smaller sheltie-poo) has dropped the small rag bone at my feet. She has been yipping for the last minute, as I have been hashing through the previous paragraph. This is her less than subtle way of demanding that I do my duty as a human and throw the toy so she can fetch it. Such "help" has been plentiful all evening - and as a result, I have gotten next to nothing done on Children of the Stars.
Excuse me for a moment, while I toss the dog toy again...
As I was driving home from work this evening - in the midle of a light snowfall and a resulting traffic jam - a fragment of an idea came to me. Possibly as a result of several crises, disasters, etc., throughout the world, many people I have talked to describe a feeling of impending apocalypse. I hve to remind myself that this sense is nothign new. We've been getting prophecies of doom for tha last several thousand years, and l'm sure this trend will only accelerate, at least until some time after 12/22/2012. However, the sword-of-Damoclese feeling is palpable, and I have to admit, I often feel the same feeling - something is about to happen - somewhere out there.
When I got home, I started to concentrate on the thought. Whether true or not it does make a fantastic scenario in Children of the Stars. As I was sitting there munching on some supper and starting to put my thoughts into words (at that point only mentally), I suddenly got an e-mail from the person who is one of the models for one of the characters in my novel series - the psychic in my previous book named Andrea. The basic idea - without giving too much away - is that Andrea senses something catastrophic in the near future. And sure enough, only an hour or two after the thought popped into my mind, I received an e-mail from my friend. In it, she said that she senses something major about to happen. She indicated that she had heard this from several other psychics as well. They say there are no coincidences. Hmmm.
What this means, I certainly don't know. Recent history has been replete with predictions of events that never came to pass. Whether the predictions were wrong, or whether they were merely relating an increased probability of such an event is a topic of great debate among parapsychologists. But suffice it to say that we've heard such predictions many times before, seldom with enough detail to be useful. So for now, the best we can do is to keep our eyes and ears open for confirmation or refutation of - well, of whatever we're being warned about.
Meanwhile, Libby is yipping at me again. It's time to throw the dog toy once more.
As I sit down and plink away on this article, the contrast strikes me as both amazing and amusing. Synchronicity, apocalypse and dog toys; what a wide spectrum of experiences in the span of a few minutes. What a diverse and fascinating world we live in? And so far, thank God, of the three, only the synchronicities and the dog toys have turned out to be real. Let's hope it stays that way...
Monday, January 25, 2010
Friday, January 8, 2010
Back to basics: A skeptical moment and some intellectual housecleaning
This week I feel like I've heard it all. In all of my adventures in UFO land, I have heard about conspiracies by Reptilians and Masons to take over the world, I have heard of plots to spray toxins over the world causing a population crash - somehow to enable world domination by - well, not sure. Figure that one out for yourself. At the same time, I learned that we have secret bases on the moon and Mars, and deep underground (operated jointly with the aliens). We also have a secret fleet of space ships run by the US Air Force. But now, this week, my favorite story reared its delightful head once again. You see, I had forgotten that we didn't actually go to the moon (I think I have heard one person tell me at one time that we have a secret base on the moon and another time that we never went there - go figure...)
I had blissfully assumed (imagined?) that the moon-hoax idea had died out, receding back to its well-deserved oblivion. Unfortunately, ideas of all stripes - both those with merit and those without - tend to maintain a life of their own. In this case, one of the members of Minnesota MUFON asked to present a set of material at a future meeting (and I agree that he has the right to do so, our meetings are open to the public). Unfortunately, his material turns out to be less than useful from the point of view of serious anomaly research. His material is on some studies he has done on the Van Allen radiation belts - a topic interesting in itself. However his 'stealth' intent was to prove that we couldn't have gone to the moon. Furthermore, from this he claims that the radiation hazard makes human crewed spaceflight above low earth orbit impossible. To his credit, my friend did provide references, which I followed up on. Unfortunately, the numbers were wrong (see links). They were originally stated by James Van Allen, but later retracted. It turns out most of the radiation theories are quite off base.
The biggest sense of annoyance with the moon-hoax idea is the same as I get when I hear arguments that the world is only 6000 years old - created at 9AM on Oct 23 4004BC. The issue to me is that these 'endeavors' waste a lot of time and effort. We get so wrapped up in things like chem-trails, moon-hoaxes and creationism that we lose track of what could be potential scientific pay dirt in what seems to me to be some bonafide scientific mysteries.
On some days, I need to recoil from all of the BS and ask if ANY of this material is really valid. If some people accept creationism, moon-hoaxes, secret space fleets, etc. - things I think are garbage - then could other ideas that I think are valid, UFOs, close encounters, parapsychology, etc., also be invalidated as well? Sometimes a sense of guilt by association takes over. What's the real difference between UFOs and the above items I am decrying?
At times like these, when the challenge to my own personal discernment gets too great, for a time I have to slam the door on all of it. At times like that, I can clearly see what motivates some of the debunkers - a backlash against the - well, whatever it is...
After a short time of skeptical backlash, I find myself reopening my eyes and with a fresh perspective, stepping back to re-examine some of the classic UFO physical evidence cases: the Delphos, Kansas and the Trans-en-Provence ground trace cases, some of the classic radar/visual cases in the literature, and other well-established cases (see the Sturrock Report or the book The UFO Enigma, by Peter Sturrock). Then I look at some significant unexplained cases in my own files - the extensive encounters of Evelyn, Carolyn, Susan, and others I describe in The Cosmic Bridge. These reassure me that there truly are significant mysteries represented in the sighting and encounter data. There really is a phenomenon present and it represents one of the biggest questions in the pantheon of human mysteries. Ultimately, we can see the UFO mystery as just that, a mystery. It is a legitimate scientific enigma worthy of serious study.
The result of this intellectual exercise is a mental housecleaning. Cleaning out the dirt and grunge and getting back to the basics. We have an unexplained phenomenon and a long-standing history of anomalous encounters. With so many unanswered questions, one sometimes has to focus on what the data shows - throwing out the conspiracy theories and endless speculations and getting back to what we can or cannot establish scientifically.
After our intellectual housecleaning, after we have cleared out the hoaxes, the channeled revelations, the world-domination conspiracies and the claims of hoaxed moon landings, perhaps we can finally get down to the business of investigating the mystery. The phenomenon of visitor encounters and sightings of weird stuff in the sky is real and at least to me, it represents one of the biggest mysteries of our day.
I had blissfully assumed (imagined?) that the moon-hoax idea had died out, receding back to its well-deserved oblivion. Unfortunately, ideas of all stripes - both those with merit and those without - tend to maintain a life of their own. In this case, one of the members of Minnesota MUFON asked to present a set of material at a future meeting (and I agree that he has the right to do so, our meetings are open to the public). Unfortunately, his material turns out to be less than useful from the point of view of serious anomaly research. His material is on some studies he has done on the Van Allen radiation belts - a topic interesting in itself. However his 'stealth' intent was to prove that we couldn't have gone to the moon. Furthermore, from this he claims that the radiation hazard makes human crewed spaceflight above low earth orbit impossible. To his credit, my friend did provide references, which I followed up on. Unfortunately, the numbers were wrong (see links). They were originally stated by James Van Allen, but later retracted. It turns out most of the radiation theories are quite off base.
The biggest sense of annoyance with the moon-hoax idea is the same as I get when I hear arguments that the world is only 6000 years old - created at 9AM on Oct 23 4004BC. The issue to me is that these 'endeavors' waste a lot of time and effort. We get so wrapped up in things like chem-trails, moon-hoaxes and creationism that we lose track of what could be potential scientific pay dirt in what seems to me to be some bonafide scientific mysteries.
On some days, I need to recoil from all of the BS and ask if ANY of this material is really valid. If some people accept creationism, moon-hoaxes, secret space fleets, etc. - things I think are garbage - then could other ideas that I think are valid, UFOs, close encounters, parapsychology, etc., also be invalidated as well? Sometimes a sense of guilt by association takes over. What's the real difference between UFOs and the above items I am decrying?
At times like these, when the challenge to my own personal discernment gets too great, for a time I have to slam the door on all of it. At times like that, I can clearly see what motivates some of the debunkers - a backlash against the - well, whatever it is...
After a short time of skeptical backlash, I find myself reopening my eyes and with a fresh perspective, stepping back to re-examine some of the classic UFO physical evidence cases: the Delphos, Kansas and the Trans-en-Provence ground trace cases, some of the classic radar/visual cases in the literature, and other well-established cases (see the Sturrock Report or the book The UFO Enigma, by Peter Sturrock). Then I look at some significant unexplained cases in my own files - the extensive encounters of Evelyn, Carolyn, Susan, and others I describe in The Cosmic Bridge. These reassure me that there truly are significant mysteries represented in the sighting and encounter data. There really is a phenomenon present and it represents one of the biggest questions in the pantheon of human mysteries. Ultimately, we can see the UFO mystery as just that, a mystery. It is a legitimate scientific enigma worthy of serious study.
The result of this intellectual exercise is a mental housecleaning. Cleaning out the dirt and grunge and getting back to the basics. We have an unexplained phenomenon and a long-standing history of anomalous encounters. With so many unanswered questions, one sometimes has to focus on what the data shows - throwing out the conspiracy theories and endless speculations and getting back to what we can or cannot establish scientifically.
After our intellectual housecleaning, after we have cleared out the hoaxes, the channeled revelations, the world-domination conspiracies and the claims of hoaxed moon landings, perhaps we can finally get down to the business of investigating the mystery. The phenomenon of visitor encounters and sightings of weird stuff in the sky is real and at least to me, it represents one of the biggest mysteries of our day.
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Hancock, Hameroff and Halucinogens - Notes on the new book, 'Supernatural'
I'm about 3/4 of the way through the book Supernatural by Graham Hancock. Like every other of Hancock's books, this one is fascinating. It is well researched, extensively referenced and provocative in its ideas. I'm not sure I agree with everything the book says, but I recommend the book to anyone who is interested.
The basic gist of the book is that the human mind is essentially a receiver, in everyday life tuned to what Hancock calls 'Channel Normal'. In years of study of shamanic traditions - including considerable first hand experience with shamanic hallucinogenic ceremonies - he describes many experiences similar to other hallucinogen experiencers. He compares this to cave art going back about 40,000 years to what he describes as the human revolution in consciousness. At this point, he indicates that humanity discovered shamanic journeying, either through drugs, physical stress, deep meditation, or other means of altering consciousness.
He builds the case that trance states are means to access an expanded universe of experiences. Rather than brain generated artifices, states of altered consciousness actually open the mind/brain to receive expanded reality. This reality has many common aspects between experiencers, across cultures, times and locations.
Hancock states that many of the experiences have extensive correlates in fairy and folklore, UFO abduction literature, etc. He argues that this implies that, at least in part, UFO abduction can be seen as a metaphysical phenomenon, closely aligned with these other-cultural experiences. This accounts for several instances in which prehistoric art depicts grays and flying saucers along with shape-shifting animals, etc. He draws other parallels between UFO abduction and the shamanic experience, but I think you get the idea.
The biggest thing I have taken away from the book so far, is his argument that DMT is a naturally occurring molecule in the human endocrine system. In about two percent of the human population, there is enough DMT to provide spontaneous glimpses into other realities - i.e. spontaneous paranormal or metaphysical experiences. He draws a connection that this is roughly the percentage which the 1991 Roper poll of unexplained personal experiences cites as being possible experiencers.
Hancock also argues that the shamanic experience is wired deeply into our very DNA, and cites comments by Francis Crick that the DNA molecule seems to be designed from day-one to contain certain information. He speculates that perhaps this information was only intended to be accessible by a consciousness sufficiently advanced to access it - i.e. a collective process leading to mass psychic awakening.
While I found his DNA arguments really interesting, I wonder if/how they might relate to some of the research of Stuart Hameroff, of the University of Arizona Dept of Consciousness Studies, who has claimed that (all) hallucinogens act on the tubulin protein within the cellular cytoskeleton. According to the Penrose-Hameroff model, this is the site of quantum computing within within the cell, affording even a rudimentary degree of consciousness at any level down to even the simplest single-celled protozoan.
In his model, the tubulin molecule provides a superposition of quantum and classical behavior, alternating between the two by a process he and penrose call Orchestrated Objective Reduction. This allows for both quantum and classical functioning of a cell, providing non-locality , one of the requirements of consciousness. The primary function of anesthetics is to decrease quantum properties of the tubulin, allowing classical processes to continue, while hallucinogens such as DMT, LSD, etc. shift tubulins toward quantum behavior. Lots more could be said on this, but I will simply invite the reader to go to the site: www.consciousness.arizona.edu to read up on this material. It will be a fascinating read, indeed.
Hancock states that the primary component in many organic compounds, such as the bases within DMT, DNA, LSD, etc. all contain a similar component (which I don't recall at the moment). I don't know enough organic or physical chemistry to know if this has a similar quantum/classical superposition behavior such as the tubulin. But if so, it would go to great lengths to explain some of the current mysteries around how genes are expressed, how genetics and memetics appear to be somehow related, etc.
In short, while I don't necessarily agree with everything Graham Hancock says in Supernatural I think that he has some truly fascinating and deeply provocative ideas. Anyone looking for a great read and a new insight into the mysteries of consciousness and human prehistory needs to read this book.
The basic gist of the book is that the human mind is essentially a receiver, in everyday life tuned to what Hancock calls 'Channel Normal'. In years of study of shamanic traditions - including considerable first hand experience with shamanic hallucinogenic ceremonies - he describes many experiences similar to other hallucinogen experiencers. He compares this to cave art going back about 40,000 years to what he describes as the human revolution in consciousness. At this point, he indicates that humanity discovered shamanic journeying, either through drugs, physical stress, deep meditation, or other means of altering consciousness.
He builds the case that trance states are means to access an expanded universe of experiences. Rather than brain generated artifices, states of altered consciousness actually open the mind/brain to receive expanded reality. This reality has many common aspects between experiencers, across cultures, times and locations.
Hancock states that many of the experiences have extensive correlates in fairy and folklore, UFO abduction literature, etc. He argues that this implies that, at least in part, UFO abduction can be seen as a metaphysical phenomenon, closely aligned with these other-cultural experiences. This accounts for several instances in which prehistoric art depicts grays and flying saucers along with shape-shifting animals, etc. He draws other parallels between UFO abduction and the shamanic experience, but I think you get the idea.
The biggest thing I have taken away from the book so far, is his argument that DMT is a naturally occurring molecule in the human endocrine system. In about two percent of the human population, there is enough DMT to provide spontaneous glimpses into other realities - i.e. spontaneous paranormal or metaphysical experiences. He draws a connection that this is roughly the percentage which the 1991 Roper poll of unexplained personal experiences cites as being possible experiencers.
Hancock also argues that the shamanic experience is wired deeply into our very DNA, and cites comments by Francis Crick that the DNA molecule seems to be designed from day-one to contain certain information. He speculates that perhaps this information was only intended to be accessible by a consciousness sufficiently advanced to access it - i.e. a collective process leading to mass psychic awakening.
While I found his DNA arguments really interesting, I wonder if/how they might relate to some of the research of Stuart Hameroff, of the University of Arizona Dept of Consciousness Studies, who has claimed that (all) hallucinogens act on the tubulin protein within the cellular cytoskeleton. According to the Penrose-Hameroff model, this is the site of quantum computing within within the cell, affording even a rudimentary degree of consciousness at any level down to even the simplest single-celled protozoan.
In his model, the tubulin molecule provides a superposition of quantum and classical behavior, alternating between the two by a process he and penrose call Orchestrated Objective Reduction. This allows for both quantum and classical functioning of a cell, providing non-locality , one of the requirements of consciousness. The primary function of anesthetics is to decrease quantum properties of the tubulin, allowing classical processes to continue, while hallucinogens such as DMT, LSD, etc. shift tubulins toward quantum behavior. Lots more could be said on this, but I will simply invite the reader to go to the site: www.consciousness.arizona.edu to read up on this material. It will be a fascinating read, indeed.
Hancock states that the primary component in many organic compounds, such as the bases within DMT, DNA, LSD, etc. all contain a similar component (which I don't recall at the moment). I don't know enough organic or physical chemistry to know if this has a similar quantum/classical superposition behavior such as the tubulin. But if so, it would go to great lengths to explain some of the current mysteries around how genes are expressed, how genetics and memetics appear to be somehow related, etc.
In short, while I don't necessarily agree with everything Graham Hancock says in Supernatural I think that he has some truly fascinating and deeply provocative ideas. Anyone looking for a great read and a new insight into the mysteries of consciousness and human prehistory needs to read this book.
Monday, December 21, 2009
'At last, Someone finally believes me...'
'Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. Somebody finally believes me...'
A week or two ago, these words over e-mail literally brought a tear to my eye. They came from an experiencer whom I will call "Lucy" (actually a composite of several callers), who had called me to tell me about her experiences. Like other experiencers, Lucy had been a 'favorite' of the phenomenon, having been plagued by anomalous intrusions for nearly all of her life. And like so many of her contemporaries, she was unable to speak to anyone about her experiences.
The loneliness of this experience must be staggering. As I listened to her speak, I heard her voice waver, breaking into tears on several occasions. She spoke of how her first memories, from roughly age three, were about intrusions by alien beings - strange creatures entering through the closed window. She spoke of the fear that accompanied going to bed every night - fear that the 'strangers' and the 'dreams' would come again.
For some experiencers, childhood experiences sometimes take on a positive character. Some experiencers describe 'magical playmates,' who brought them psychic toys and took them on fun adventures. In one case, which I describe in The Cosmic Bridge, the Visitors appeared in the form of 'fun' little cartoon characters. While on the surface, they seemed to be positive, there were definite darker undertones to the 'fun and games' of these childhood events - but at least on the surface, there was a positive facade. In Lucy's case, there was apparently no such thing.
As we talked, it became apparent that Lucy's experiences were far more numerous than those of most. She indicated that the experiences were nearly nightly, a prodigious rate. If the abduction phenomenon is a physical one, this means that a UFO has had to (her experiences are still on-going) enter Earth's atmosphere and remain undetected as it took its position over Lucy's home every night for several decades. This suggests either that the phenomenon has some incredible level of stealth, or that - at least in some cases - there is an other-than-physical explanation. And yet, given the emotional effects of the experience, it seems absolutely and powerfully real.
From the emotional intensity and the mystery of Lucy's account, we can once again see the power and magnitude of the phenomenon. The biggest of all the effects, however, is that few if any people accept their account. Peers, doctors and psychologists, nearly all dismiss the events, which are so brutally real to the experiencer. Unless the experiencer happens to live in a community where the topic is ‘acceptable,’ she finds herself alone, bearing the weight of two conflicting realities upon her shoulders.
On that day, as the woman I call "Lucy" cried on the phone - the magnitude of her isolation was fully and brutally apparent. After a lifetime of nobody believing her, I can fully imagine her relief when somebody on the other end of the phone line finally listened to her and accepted what she had to say. While there was nothing I could physically do to help her, for the moment just my ear was enough - confirmed by the e-mail the next day when she wrote, 'At last, someone finally believes me...'
A week or two ago, these words over e-mail literally brought a tear to my eye. They came from an experiencer whom I will call "Lucy" (actually a composite of several callers), who had called me to tell me about her experiences. Like other experiencers, Lucy had been a 'favorite' of the phenomenon, having been plagued by anomalous intrusions for nearly all of her life. And like so many of her contemporaries, she was unable to speak to anyone about her experiences.
The loneliness of this experience must be staggering. As I listened to her speak, I heard her voice waver, breaking into tears on several occasions. She spoke of how her first memories, from roughly age three, were about intrusions by alien beings - strange creatures entering through the closed window. She spoke of the fear that accompanied going to bed every night - fear that the 'strangers' and the 'dreams' would come again.
For some experiencers, childhood experiences sometimes take on a positive character. Some experiencers describe 'magical playmates,' who brought them psychic toys and took them on fun adventures. In one case, which I describe in The Cosmic Bridge, the Visitors appeared in the form of 'fun' little cartoon characters. While on the surface, they seemed to be positive, there were definite darker undertones to the 'fun and games' of these childhood events - but at least on the surface, there was a positive facade. In Lucy's case, there was apparently no such thing.
As we talked, it became apparent that Lucy's experiences were far more numerous than those of most. She indicated that the experiences were nearly nightly, a prodigious rate. If the abduction phenomenon is a physical one, this means that a UFO has had to (her experiences are still on-going) enter Earth's atmosphere and remain undetected as it took its position over Lucy's home every night for several decades. This suggests either that the phenomenon has some incredible level of stealth, or that - at least in some cases - there is an other-than-physical explanation. And yet, given the emotional effects of the experience, it seems absolutely and powerfully real.
From the emotional intensity and the mystery of Lucy's account, we can once again see the power and magnitude of the phenomenon. The biggest of all the effects, however, is that few if any people accept their account. Peers, doctors and psychologists, nearly all dismiss the events, which are so brutally real to the experiencer. Unless the experiencer happens to live in a community where the topic is ‘acceptable,’ she finds herself alone, bearing the weight of two conflicting realities upon her shoulders.
On that day, as the woman I call "Lucy" cried on the phone - the magnitude of her isolation was fully and brutally apparent. After a lifetime of nobody believing her, I can fully imagine her relief when somebody on the other end of the phone line finally listened to her and accepted what she had to say. While there was nothing I could physically do to help her, for the moment just my ear was enough - confirmed by the e-mail the next day when she wrote, 'At last, someone finally believes me...'
The challenge of the answer...
I have had a number of interesting replies to my last post 'What will we see when...'. The most interesting thing to note is who responded. Nearly all respondents were metaphysically oriented. I have met many of them personally and know and respect each of them. And in each case, the comments they have made are - shall we say - not for the left brained. Like the question, itself, the answers are challenging.
The prevailing theme I hear is that the date 12/21/2012 is unimportant per se. The process has begun and the actual date is arbitrary. I have heard this from many people, including viewpoints ranging from the strongly metaphysically oriented and the most left-brained rationalists. So in the end, the answer to the question, 'what will happen on 12/21/2012' may just be 'not much.' And yet, at the same time, that date may be a marker - a roadsign on the path to transformation.
One interesting analogy is of just that - the roadsign. If one imagines driving on the interstate, entering a city - say, Saint Paul. At some point, one might pass a sign saying Saint Paul, next five exits. This is a sign that we are approaching Saint Paul, but at what point do we actually say that we are nearing the city? We see signs that this is happening, but the actual moment of arrival is uneventful. All we see are indicators, including a view of tall buildings nearby - but we never have a distinct moment when we can say 'I am in Saint Paul.'
Another example, in Christian theology the story of the empty tomb is probably the ultimate turning point. When Mary, Mary and Salome arrived to find the tomb empty, only those three people (and a couple of sleepy Roman guards) knew that something extraordinary had happened. Yet at that very instant, the course of history had changed.
Yet another example I have heard; when a handful of Aztec-era indigenous people saw a boat full of spanish soldiers land on the shore of Mexico, they could perhaps know that the whole world was about to change - and yet only they knew it. What happened instead might just have been the contemporary play of regional politics - regional resistance to an imperial power (the Aztecs) finding a sudden ally in a group of strangers from the sea. While at that moment, the world turned upside down and the full nature of the change was not visible to anyone in the scene - Spanish, natives, etc...
I often wonder, will we notice anything on that day - 12/21/2012? what I conclude from the comments I've heard back is 'probably not.' Yet on or about that time, I suspect that we will notice a lot of change. Indeed, we do now - on this very day - as I hear of a snowballing of psychic and spiritual awakening. Many more experiencers appear to be remembering extraordinary events within their lives. Many more are awakening with gifts suddenly activated, the 'suddenly psychic' phenomenon we occasionally hear about.
Yet the biggest change appears to be simply that of outlook. My ultimate hope is that the change is one of social viewpoint. As transformation comes to pass, I would hope that, as with every social change, it advances the quality of our world civilization. Like the decline of slavery, the rise of democracy, etc., the change will certainly not be painless. Many upheavals and wrong turns occur in every change. But ultimately, I believe the final awakening is certain.
In the end, I believe we will grow and mature into a civilization worthy of the Cosmic Community we find ourselves facing. Our biggest challenge now is to face and surmount what I see as 'the challenge of the answer...'
The prevailing theme I hear is that the date 12/21/2012 is unimportant per se. The process has begun and the actual date is arbitrary. I have heard this from many people, including viewpoints ranging from the strongly metaphysically oriented and the most left-brained rationalists. So in the end, the answer to the question, 'what will happen on 12/21/2012' may just be 'not much.' And yet, at the same time, that date may be a marker - a roadsign on the path to transformation.
One interesting analogy is of just that - the roadsign. If one imagines driving on the interstate, entering a city - say, Saint Paul. At some point, one might pass a sign saying Saint Paul, next five exits. This is a sign that we are approaching Saint Paul, but at what point do we actually say that we are nearing the city? We see signs that this is happening, but the actual moment of arrival is uneventful. All we see are indicators, including a view of tall buildings nearby - but we never have a distinct moment when we can say 'I am in Saint Paul.'
Another example, in Christian theology the story of the empty tomb is probably the ultimate turning point. When Mary, Mary and Salome arrived to find the tomb empty, only those three people (and a couple of sleepy Roman guards) knew that something extraordinary had happened. Yet at that very instant, the course of history had changed.
Yet another example I have heard; when a handful of Aztec-era indigenous people saw a boat full of spanish soldiers land on the shore of Mexico, they could perhaps know that the whole world was about to change - and yet only they knew it. What happened instead might just have been the contemporary play of regional politics - regional resistance to an imperial power (the Aztecs) finding a sudden ally in a group of strangers from the sea. While at that moment, the world turned upside down and the full nature of the change was not visible to anyone in the scene - Spanish, natives, etc...
I often wonder, will we notice anything on that day - 12/21/2012? what I conclude from the comments I've heard back is 'probably not.' Yet on or about that time, I suspect that we will notice a lot of change. Indeed, we do now - on this very day - as I hear of a snowballing of psychic and spiritual awakening. Many more experiencers appear to be remembering extraordinary events within their lives. Many more are awakening with gifts suddenly activated, the 'suddenly psychic' phenomenon we occasionally hear about.
Yet the biggest change appears to be simply that of outlook. My ultimate hope is that the change is one of social viewpoint. As transformation comes to pass, I would hope that, as with every social change, it advances the quality of our world civilization. Like the decline of slavery, the rise of democracy, etc., the change will certainly not be painless. Many upheavals and wrong turns occur in every change. But ultimately, I believe the final awakening is certain.
In the end, I believe we will grow and mature into a civilization worthy of the Cosmic Community we find ourselves facing. Our biggest challenge now is to face and surmount what I see as 'the challenge of the answer...'
Saturday, December 19, 2009
What will we see when...
In the last month or two, while collecting rejection slips from literary agents regarding my first novel, The Fifth Key, I have continued writing the sequel story, Children of the Stars. One of the biggest themes I am attempting to capture in the second story is the role of the individual (human, hybrid and alien) in the global transformation that appears to be occurring in our time. Thus, as I plink away on CotS, I find myself attracted to the question of the day - what will happen on 12/21/2012? What will the average person see as they go to work, do their Christmas shopping and see/hear the news on the days immediately preceding the critical moment?
Over the last few months, I have been glued to the History Channel on Wednesday nights watching their series The Nostradamus Effect, depicting the intricate web of (supposedly) corroborating prophecies from multiple sources throughout history. While entertaining and informative, it has offered little actual predictive value in its own right, yet has done a great job of exploring the various predictions and those making them. The series does a good job of exploring the ambiguity of the question - highlighting the multiple, often contradictory predictions. Thus, it merely accentuates the lack of answers to the biggest question of all - what will we see when...
I have posted this same question 'what will we see when...' on several blog sites with varying results. I have also spent myriad hours on the web researching various sites and theories, and have simply asked a lot of people online and in person, what they think will happen. In short, nobody knows but there are a lot of theories.
Scenarios of 2012 are many and varied. Yet they seem to fall into a number of major categories:
Over the last few months, I have been glued to the History Channel on Wednesday nights watching their series The Nostradamus Effect, depicting the intricate web of (supposedly) corroborating prophecies from multiple sources throughout history. While entertaining and informative, it has offered little actual predictive value in its own right, yet has done a great job of exploring the various predictions and those making them. The series does a good job of exploring the ambiguity of the question - highlighting the multiple, often contradictory predictions. Thus, it merely accentuates the lack of answers to the biggest question of all - what will we see when...
I have posted this same question 'what will we see when...' on several blog sites with varying results. I have also spent myriad hours on the web researching various sites and theories, and have simply asked a lot of people online and in person, what they think will happen. In short, nobody knows but there are a lot of theories.
Scenarios of 2012 are many and varied. Yet they seem to fall into a number of major categories:
- Natural disaster. This is the biggest, most powerful and probably the most entertaining (unless you are at ground zero) set of predictions. One proponent of this scenario, Richard C. Hoagland, is predicting glogal disaster as a result of some form of hyperdimensional energy shift. [I've been looking for a reference on this. So far, no luck]. Others have predicted pole shifts (physical shift of Earth's rotation, shift of magnetic field, shift of the planetary crust, etc), asteroid impacts, etc. The global disaster scenario is the one in which scientists have weighed in most heavilly on, generally skeptically.
- Human-created disaster: These generaly include nuclear war, coupled with economic collapse or some other massive societal breakdown. If a major cataclysm occurs in conjunction with 2012, I suspect a combination of these is the most likely.
- Sudden climate change - the "Day After Tomorrow" scenario: The biggest advocate for this is probably Whitley Strieber in his book with Art Bell, The Coming global Superstorm, in which he advocates that climate chage will be sudden, catastrophic and unexpected. In short, the result of global warming (whether natural or human-caused) could be an ice age. This may be nearly instantaneous and take society largely by surprise. Other examples of past civilizations collapsing because of climate change appear to be those of Easter Island, the Viking colony on Greenland, and the Mayan civilization in MesoAmerica.
- The arrival of Planet X (Nbiru) passing through our neighborhood raises all kinds of holy heck with our planet. This is a favorite of those who have followed Zacharia Sitchin's work. While it is not particularly compatible with what astronomers tell us of nearby planets (or the lack thereof), it still gives pause for thought.
- Political shift - this could be either gradual or sudden, peaceful or violent. In my view, this is likely, whether there is anything special about 2012 or not. My guess is that at the critical moment, this change could take a sudden, unexpected turn - for better or for worse.
- Global psychic/spiritual transformation: This is my favorite, a scenario in which somehow, the psychic interconnections of newly-awakened human beings reach critical mass. I describe this extensively in my book, The Cosmic Bridge. In a relatively short time some form of expansion occurs of the mass human consciousness. It's not clear to me what the effect of this would be on the individual at that moment. Would it be immediate or would it be gradual? Perhaps this is the core of my whole question - what would we see when...
- The singularity - current events, and the information they generate in the aggregate human communications grid, field consciousness, etc., will reach a mathematical singularity - suddeny going to infinity. What this means, I don't know - perhaps it will tie in to the previous item - consciousness transformation. Or maybe it results in a breakdown in the human communications grid.
- Extraterrestrial contact - This is the best-loved scenario of many UFOlogists. It would assume that the Cosmic Community has concluded that humanity is ready for contact. Whether this takes the form of fleets of UFOs appearing over one or more populated regions of the world, or whether it is more of a bottom-up strategy (as I suggest), it might just be an objective of the Visitor phenomeon. Whether 2012 is a critical milestone, I don't know. However, I suspect that if a 2012 transformation is a distinct event, then contact will tie into it - in some way...
- Disclosure of previously secret UFO-related knowledge, held within the most secretive governmental organizations - most noteably, the USA. What would be the impact of this? It will depend upon the information disclosed, of course. This seems to be a steady course of events throughout the world. Hopefully the USA will join the world in bringing its presumed vast collection of UFOlogical data/evidence into the public light.
- Historical transformation: Currents in history seem to shift in ways that are often not visible at the moment. Like the events at the start of Christianity (in Christian theology, the story of the empty tomb, found by the two Marys) or other similar key moments in history, few if any are aware of them at the key moment. Perhaps none present at some key event on 12/21/2012 would notice that their world had changed. It might take many years for such a change to take hold, yet the change will always be seen as occurring at that key instant.
- Absolutely nothing noticable occurs - In this scenario (the favorite of most skeptics), either nothing will happen at all (maybe there is absolutely nothing to 2012), or the change will not be apparent to the perception of the everyday person (see above). In either case, the morning of 12/23/2012 would dawn like every other morning in modern times.
So, which of these will happen? I certainly don't know, but I doubt the items on this list are mutually exclusive. I also doubt that I have identified all of the possibilities (indeed, the list has continued to grow as I write this article).
In addition, I believe that it is impossible to predict what will actually happen. In the words of one contemporary arch-skeptic, "prediction is difficult, especially about the future." If human thought and consciousness are quantum in nature (which I believe), then there is a random element to human thought and action. Thus, current events in human affairs, become inherently unpredictable. Given this quantum scenario, we can only speak of probabilities of events occurring, rather than events themselves.
Ultimately, I suspect that even with the key date fast approaching - two years or less by the time this article goes to press, the future is not cast in stone. I doubt if I will know until the date actually arrives, what will happen when...
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Nobody expects the Minnesota Inquisition
There is a wonderful line in Monty Python's Flying Circus, when out of the blue we hear the line "Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition..." This line has always amused me. Today, it seems like synchronicity.
I had arranged to do a trance workshop with a student group at a college in the Twin Cities - a Catholic school, though the student body is of all faiths. There was a lot of enthusiasm for this, as the students were interested in meditation, guided imagery, etc. In addition, progressive relaxation and stress management were very timely as they were just heading into exam week. So, following the talk with the guy who was arranging it, I planned out my presentation, looking forward to a great evening of meditation work.
I got a call from the organizer yesterday, telling me that there was a hitch. It turns out that the church bureaucracy was opposed to the workshop. Catholic doctorine forbids hypnotism, and even thought I referred to it as guided meditation, it was too close to comfort for the conservative folks in the school and church bureaucracy. At the organizer's request, I wrote up a bio and an article on what hypnotism and meditation were all about, sending it to him last night. Today, I got a note from him saying the workshop had not been approved. Nobody expects the Inquisition.
When I told my wife about this, she said that it was good that the school remains true to it's beliefs. I can't argue with that. However, it is still suprising to realize that there are many folks out there who do not understand what hypnotism and meditation are all about. Furthermore there have been many misconceptions propogated about these gifts of the mind (sometimes by mistake, sometimes deliberately). They obfuscate what is, in my view, a healing gift from God. And the biggest propogator of this misinformation is the traditional church - the two thousand year old bureaucracy whose roots date back to the Roman empire of Emperor Constantine.
I have always been fascinated by the history of Christianity, two thousand years of tradition, currents and trends in human thought and action. Still, that same history that brought us the Sermon on the Mount, also brought us the Inquisition, the extermination of the Cathars and Templars, etc. History is so often checkered that way.
A few weeks ago, I watched a History Channel piece on Gallileo, and other thinkers during the rennaisance. Among them, Nostradamus was an interesting example in that he needed to carefully conceal his work from the inquisition. Any questioning or variation from orthodox doctorine was considered heresy and could result in being hauled in front of the tribunal, imprisoned or even killed. During a trip from Provence to Paris for an audience with the Queen, herself, Nostradamus once narrowly escaped being caught by the inquisition in Paris, warned at the last minute by someone in the royal court. Fortunately, modern civilization holds such drastic affairs in check - but not entirely.
In fact, the current head of the Church is from the organization which is, in fact, the direct descendent of the Inquisition. My own sense is that old habits die hard. Any big organization - especially one that is two thousand years old and is, in fact, an independent nation, greatly resists any exceptions to its orthodoxy. Place in this context, this stress management and imagination workshop for a small student group; perhaps you can see it for the microcosm that it is.
I doubt that the Congregation for the Preservation of the Faith, formerly known as the Inquisition (Note: to be fair, the website makes clear distinction between the "Holy Inquisition" or "Holy Office," and the Spanish Inquisition) cares much about a present day stress management workshop. Yet the philosophy remains. Any departure from orthodoxy is treated with suspicion. The bureaucracy which takes upon itself the role of preserving orthodoxy takes its job seriously - whether formally as in burning Templars and astronomers at the stake, or informally, as in denying approval for a student workshop. Even two thousand years into the Christian era, the shadow remains, even as the body itself has (hopefully) receded into history.
Indeed, in dealing with a large orthodox theocracy, Monty Python has a point. To paraphrase and place it into a local context, "Nobody expects the Minnesota Inquisition."
I had arranged to do a trance workshop with a student group at a college in the Twin Cities - a Catholic school, though the student body is of all faiths. There was a lot of enthusiasm for this, as the students were interested in meditation, guided imagery, etc. In addition, progressive relaxation and stress management were very timely as they were just heading into exam week. So, following the talk with the guy who was arranging it, I planned out my presentation, looking forward to a great evening of meditation work.
I got a call from the organizer yesterday, telling me that there was a hitch. It turns out that the church bureaucracy was opposed to the workshop. Catholic doctorine forbids hypnotism, and even thought I referred to it as guided meditation, it was too close to comfort for the conservative folks in the school and church bureaucracy. At the organizer's request, I wrote up a bio and an article on what hypnotism and meditation were all about, sending it to him last night. Today, I got a note from him saying the workshop had not been approved. Nobody expects the Inquisition.
When I told my wife about this, she said that it was good that the school remains true to it's beliefs. I can't argue with that. However, it is still suprising to realize that there are many folks out there who do not understand what hypnotism and meditation are all about. Furthermore there have been many misconceptions propogated about these gifts of the mind (sometimes by mistake, sometimes deliberately). They obfuscate what is, in my view, a healing gift from God. And the biggest propogator of this misinformation is the traditional church - the two thousand year old bureaucracy whose roots date back to the Roman empire of Emperor Constantine.
I have always been fascinated by the history of Christianity, two thousand years of tradition, currents and trends in human thought and action. Still, that same history that brought us the Sermon on the Mount, also brought us the Inquisition, the extermination of the Cathars and Templars, etc. History is so often checkered that way.
A few weeks ago, I watched a History Channel piece on Gallileo, and other thinkers during the rennaisance. Among them, Nostradamus was an interesting example in that he needed to carefully conceal his work from the inquisition. Any questioning or variation from orthodox doctorine was considered heresy and could result in being hauled in front of the tribunal, imprisoned or even killed. During a trip from Provence to Paris for an audience with the Queen, herself, Nostradamus once narrowly escaped being caught by the inquisition in Paris, warned at the last minute by someone in the royal court. Fortunately, modern civilization holds such drastic affairs in check - but not entirely.
In fact, the current head of the Church is from the organization which is, in fact, the direct descendent of the Inquisition. My own sense is that old habits die hard. Any big organization - especially one that is two thousand years old and is, in fact, an independent nation, greatly resists any exceptions to its orthodoxy. Place in this context, this stress management and imagination workshop for a small student group; perhaps you can see it for the microcosm that it is.
I doubt that the Congregation for the Preservation of the Faith, formerly known as the Inquisition (Note: to be fair, the website makes clear distinction between the "Holy Inquisition" or "Holy Office," and the Spanish Inquisition) cares much about a present day stress management workshop. Yet the philosophy remains. Any departure from orthodoxy is treated with suspicion. The bureaucracy which takes upon itself the role of preserving orthodoxy takes its job seriously - whether formally as in burning Templars and astronomers at the stake, or informally, as in denying approval for a student workshop. Even two thousand years into the Christian era, the shadow remains, even as the body itself has (hopefully) receded into history.
Indeed, in dealing with a large orthodox theocracy, Monty Python has a point. To paraphrase and place it into a local context, "Nobody expects the Minnesota Inquisition."
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