Site Index: Index
ã 1973 -- 1997
Millennium Internet Publication
ã 1999, 2001 rev. 12/16/03 / 12.31.14

The Lifespirit Commentaries
A New Age Compendium
For Transhumanity

In Memory
L.S.

LifeSpirit Center Home Page, www.lifespiritcenter.org
LifeSpirit Organization Main page, www.lifespirit.org
Support LifeSpirit Center: Donations & Affiliate Programs

Candle Offering thanks to Osel Shen Phen, http://www.fpmt-osel.org/

ã 1990/1/2/9 - 2004/15  LCC
By Esnur

To Index

INDEX

Part One: Metaphysics & Mysticism

Back to Index

 "The most beautiful is the mysterious..." A. Einstein

  Mysticism, when correctly understood, is not contrary to the rational elements of the human mind. Instead, it completes the mental structure's duality. Mysticism embraces the wonder we feel in the face of the Unknown. It embodies the Right brain's joy of experience. It proposes the possibility of directly experiencing the widest knowledge of the Whole. It proclaims the ultimate power of consciousness.

Each macroevent in physical spacetime can be said to be caused, although the intricate network of cause and effect can be difficult or impossible to unravel. However, unless you are willing to accept the irrationality of an endless regression of causes, you must stop at an Uncaused Causer (Aquinas' Father God) or you must accept the fundamental Chaos of a Universe in which all Somethings burst forth from the Nothing that is Allthings. In either case you are a mystic.

Erisian Mystics teach that it is the Chaos (Indeterminacy or Unknowingness) at the Heart of the Universe which permits the manifestation of Being from primal Nonbeing. Chaos is thus the primal creative principal. The Laws of Nature can be seen as a Function of Chaos -- and the quantum numbers from which they arise can be understood to be fixed at the Moment of Creation (the Big Bang) by the random effect of Chaos across all possibilities. Universe is the unfolding of Goddess in Her endless play with Herself. This Universe is but one of Her potential manifestations.

Mysticism is a state of Mind in which all possibilities remain perpetually open. There are no limits. As you believe, so shall you experience. Rationalism demands "proof" in all things, even regarding phenomena which do not have the mechanically repeatable nature required by the arcane apparatuses of the scientific "proof" method. The mystic stands in awe of phenomena and accepts that experience more validates existence than all the dry proofs of formal logic. Mysticism completes and unifies the Right Brain, Left Brain dual mind function.

Equating Mysticism with superstition is incorrect. Identifying Mysticism with any particular practice is incomplete. While becoming mentally quiet enough to experience Reality is an overall mystical approach, you need not initially be a meditator. If you remain open, your Mind will become attached to quiet, and meditation will become as natural as waking or sleeping.

No one Esoteric School knows all the techniques to achievement. Some, however, do have valuable knowledge. The true mystic does not become trapped in any system, but he or she experiences and transcends all Spiritual Systems. In the abundance of Chaos there are limitless Ways to Mystical Realization. There are myriad Spiritual Roads upon which none have yet embarked. Yours is there, beyond your closed eyes. Trust your Higher Self and you will trust the Truth behind your illusions.

Did you think Universe was so small as to be encompassed by the Six Walls of the Mind? Goddess forbid! For in the Chaos of Universe, She permits all things to come to pass.

Back to Index

Commentary: ON THE LAST DECADE OF THE MILLENNIUM

 Updates: Homilies for the New Millennium: homilies.htm

Back to Index

Back to Index

Commentary: The Self & The Other

 Back to Index

  QUARTZ [Silicon Dioxide, SiO2] is to New Age civilization as stone was to the megalithic builders, bronze to the ancient Chinese, or iron to the industrial civilization which is evaporating around us. If you were living a century ago and were told that it was possible to communicate over long distances, using invisible waves in the sky, and that the heart of the original device that makes this possible is common rock crystal (quartz), you might have thought the story quite mad. This would have been an especially likely response if you were well educated. Yet it was just 105 years ago that the piezoelectric effect was discovered, and the ability of quartz crystal to modulate electromagnetic radiation was first tentatively observed. This was the true beginning of modern technology. Crystal oscillators remain central to broadcasting and modern time keeping.

Similarly CORUNDUM [Ruby, sapphire, Al2O3] has an increasing role to play in the new Technologies of Electromagnetism. laser coherent light devices, originally made with ruby hearts, are now being used in many high tech applications, from computer chip manufacturing to the most advanced surgical devices, indeed, Healing with Light!

Scientific American has reported on an experimental gravity interferometer which was designed to measure and modulate gravity waves. It was made from one exceptionally pure "artificial" quartz crystal, cut into the shape of an "E". The SiO2 molecules are aligned on the prongs, and as gravity waves distorted them, it was hoped the waves could be measured. More recently SA reported on pre-biotic mineral evolution in which the growth of micro-quartz crystal clays played a central role in the initiation of life on this planet. Computers are also based on silicon micro-chips and are most certainly the basis for the great expansion of consciousness and human mental capacity which is resulting from their development.

In occult tradition, quartz and other crystals are believed to be modulators and magnifiers of psi. Nearly every ancient esoteric teaching includes beliefs regarding the power of crystals, which are seen as living entities with a type of consciousness that can be programmed to direct and enhance certain hidden energies. Spiritual healing is often involved. These beliefs occur over the entire face of the planet and tens of thousands of years of time. They constitute one of the few nearly universal beliefs of ancient humanity. Even the great "mythological" civilization of Atlantis is said to have developed the use of crystals for esoteric and scientific purposes...and to have destroyed itself through the abuse of the power of crystals.

Such beliefs in the power of crystals have also been held by recent intellectual figures. Nikola Tesla is quoted as having said, in June of 1900, "In a crystal we have clear evidence of the existence of a formative life principle, and although we cannot understand the life of a crystal, it is nevertheless a living being." I suggest, now, however, with the experimental tools developed by quantum physicists and life science biophysicists, we can begin to understand that lifeforce. Morphogenetic fields are associated with the growth of crystalife as with the growth of carbon life. These fields operate on a meta level of reality, "below" the level of causation and energetic transactions. Crystal healing, for example, can be thought of as a channelling of lifeforce (from the healer) through the field of the crystal to the field of the subject of the healing. This channelling intensifies and focuses the effect. By working with crystals, anyone can participate in the spiritual openings which they offer.

Thus, crystal work can be seen as an interface between occult science and avant garde science --
perhaps giving rise, in due time, to a meta-pscience of crystal life force.

The Crystal Dragon Circle, dragoncircle.html

 Back to Index

Commentary: The Myths of the Golden Apple

To Kallisti

  Golden Apples have figured prominently in the mythology of the West. There are Celtic, Teutonic and Hellenistic myths regarding this Blessed Fruit [We do not include that other legend about Eve; besides, that fruit was a pomegranate -- and it is our not too perfect knowledge of Good & Evil which makes us more than just beasts].

Druids initiated many of our Yule customs, from Yule log to Yule tree. One of these Celtic Yule traditions was the hanging of Golden Apples from the branches of the living evergreen Yule tree. The apples symbolized the Sun, which was reborn each Yule, as the days began to grow longer again.

The Germanic tribes also had their myth of the Golden Apple. Freya, daughter of Woden, fed the Gods Golden Apples of immortality. Woden's foolish decision to trade her to the Storm Giants, in exchange for the building of Valhalla, is a prime factor in the action of the Ring Cycle and in the downfall of the old gods.

Golden Apples in classic mythology are often associated with prizes for swiftness or cunning. The central legend, however, is that of Eris and the Original Snub. The Goddess of Chaos was not invited to the wedding of the sea nymph Thetis and Peleus the Argonaut. In the middle of the revels, with Zeus and the other Divinities present, Eris appeared and tossed a Golden Apple among the revelers: the Apple was enscribed with "To Kallisti" -- "for the most beautiful". A number of the guests claimed it, with the choice coming down to Hera, Athena and Aphrodite. Paris, the Prince of Troy, was invited to make the choice (the Goddess of Love bribed him with "fair Helen") and the Trojan War and Western Civilization resulted.

The Goddesses misunderstood the esoteric meaning of Eris' gesture. Who is the most beautiful? Who is the most beautiful to you? Truth is beauty, and to ask the question is to blast the ordered Universe of the Old Gods with chaotic individuality. It moves one from the world of myth to the world of quantum connectedness.

  Who is the most beautiful? You are. Hail Eris !!! !!

 Back to Index

 P.S. See you at the Galactic Synchronization in 2012.

See also, The Time Out of Time (LCC Spring/summer Bulletin, 2001)
See also, The Harmonic Concordance, November 8, 2003

Back to LifeSpirit History web site, history.htm.

 Back to Index

Commentary: Imagine...

Part Two: Channels of Manifestation

 Back to Index

 Pain is a phenomenon which occurs in the mind. The putative "cause" -- the burning or crushing or whatever, occurs to the body, but the pain is not at the site of injury, it is in the brain/mind. Surely the same holds true for non-physically linked suffering, and in general it can be seen that suffering is no more -- or less -- real than any other mind construct. Thus pain can be blocked by drugs that affect the brain, or even by brain processes such as hypnosis; suffering can be transcended by meditation. Thus also, one can suffer from hysterical pain with no apparent cause, or long brooding can resonate such suffering in the mind as makes suicide seem a plausible alternative to the perceived pain. It is all in the mind.

 Joy is similarly a mental construct: it is not "caused" by external conditions, and its degree does not depend on specific circumstances. Consider the raptures triggered by the broad variety of art or music. Consider sexual joy and the myriad conditions which are said to trigger it. Some people achieve orgasm in RR tunnels. To others, the touch of silk will do; yet another must see blood -- but it is not the fetishist's touch or the sadist's exertion which causes orgasm, it is a particular mind process. Theressa of Avila did it all in her mind. Contemplating orgasm can be enough to have the experience.

 There is a state of consciousness in which external stimulation appears to control internal experience. The fools call it being "awake." It is a pre-human consciousness and nearly all humanity experiences only it (except in dreams). There are other states of consciousness which the few experience: these are "awake" for extra-mundane states of being. They are not just higher or deeper, but ever evolving. Dr. Leary's circuits can have no upper limit. Did someone think that "A for Aristotle" was where the evolution of mind stopped? Now, mind evolves physically and through our collective memory (language and literature) and with the new mind technologies of brain entrainment, virtual reality and personal datasystems.

 Erisians know that the potential of mind is infinite. We know that the chaos of mind is ever evolving and involving. We know that the Free experience many states of consciousness in which the internal manifests the external. You are what you think; your mind is the master of your mind. And your response to experience is itself experienced in the mind.

 Joy then is in-of-from the mind; you choose your experience. Why, therefore are you not always joyful? What can, in deed, touch you in your mind?

 Back to Index

Commentary: CHANNELING - RAMTHA

Channeling

 New Age religion is defined by certain generally accepted beliefs. Chief among these are (1) You are god, (2) You manifest or allow - on some level - all you experience, (3) You can participate directly in the religious "altered states of consciousness" experience, and (4) You are responsible (but not to "blame") for the current state of your/our world.

The phenomenon of Channeling is an example of the third belief noted above. Many New Agers believe that they have opened channels to higher consciousness or to advanced nonincarnate or extraterrestrial entities. Several communicants of the LCC, including this scribe, are among them. Some of us have experienced some of the best known Channels of the current period -- Lazaris, Ramtha and others, and have been deeply moved by the experience. With the widespread appearance of Channels in the electronic media (video and audio tapes, broadcasts), this phenomenon will be, perhaps, the first part of the New Age belief complex integrated into the general culture. Channels (the best of whom teach that everyone can channel higher consciousness) are a real challenge to the entrenched priesthoods of mainline churches.

But what of the personal experience of channeling? Several of our communicants hear a voice or voices which they can repeat aloud. One needs to be in a light trance, another catches messages at odd times and places. I find that the altered state of consciousness produced by sitting before a monitor to write triggers Esnur, who I perceive as a personification of my Higher Self. When writing for the Church Bulletin, or writing New Age poetry...or theology, what I am writing grows as it writes, and includes views and phraseologies which I cannot recognize as a conscious product of the language structures of my personal brain. For example, there are sections of The Book of Illuminations which came through me, without me having known, at that time, what they meant. Recently, The Book of Passages came through, although I had no "reason" to want to write on dying and rebirth (copies of these works are available in the appendix). I find the experience a spiritual adventure. One feels a great sense of awe when experiencing such a direct connection to the Unknown.

What does the phenomenon of Channeling portend? Surely the cultural paradigm cannot remain unchanged in response to the libertarian chaos of New Age revelation!

RAMTHA THE ENLIGHTENED VIDEO TAPES

Saturday, October 26, 1985 (6:30 PM gathering)

Tapes to start 7:00 PM SHARP PLEASE BE ON TIME!

Do you constantly ask questions? Are you curious about the WHYs? Are you searching out meanings and the means of expanded consciousness? Is life's incredible spectrum 'just not quite enough'? Are you open-minded about altered states of consciousness? About possibilities?

On the above date we will be showing two 2-hour video tapes of a "possibility". The tapes were made by Les Sinclair (of the Merv Griffin Show) over a 2-day period in Hawaii in July of 1984. They will make you laugh. They will probably make you cry. You will experience a most unusual "high". And, since Ramtha intends to be as popular as, say, Michael Jackson, you'd better find out about him (and possibly all about yourself!) now while things are quiet, so you can feel smug (modestly so, of course) later on when Ramtha becomes a household name and you knew about him first!!

Ramtha claims to be an Ascended Master--an Enlightened Being--Someone Who Knows What It's All About! He last lived as a man on this plane 35,000 years ago. He is now channeled through JZ Knight, an 80's style Washington State housewife and mother, who appears as amazed and touched by Ramtha as everyone else. Ramtha says he is here to teach us--to open our eyes to ourselves and our powers. He says that we are still on this plane of existence because we have assumed some very strange values; because we allow certain beliefs to control our paths, over and over again. A thorough individualist, he says much too much to print in this Bulletin!!

You will enjoy experiencing Ramtha. You may disagree with him. You may say "this is impossible". You may ponder labels such as "schizophrenic" or "borderline". But you'll have an interesting time, and you'll definitely agree that Ramtha is truly outrageous!

Please BE ON TIME !! There are 4 hours of tape to play and most likely discussion afterward. INDEED!!

1985

 [From about 1986 to 1998 JZ Knight retreated to Ramtha's Yelm, WA. compound and established the Ramtha School of Enlightenment. The Ram's Conscoiusness & Energy work was available only to those who "went to the Mountain." Recently some of the most extraordinary videos have been released, and more can be found at: www.ramtha.com.

 Back to Index

Commentary: Negative Psi 

On the Nature of Psi and its Negation
Updated: LifeSpirit Clearing & Defense Against Dark Forces

The appearance of Psi is most subtle and difficult to capture and dissect. You cannot hurry the workings of Psi, nor be anxious of its potency and efficacy.

All who would delve into the secrets of Psi must eventually face a deep problem: Doubt blocks receptivity to Psi. Had you the "faith of a mustard seed" you could move mountains. Those who feel negative to the workings of Psi are directly responsible for the lack of Psychic Power bettering their own lives. Psi is the link between mind and matter. If the world is not as you want it to be, you must direct your Psychic Power so that the matter of your world will link with the desires of your mind.

Psi is the linking power and various well known psychic disciplines may help to focus Psychic Power through your own mind. The universe is flooded with superabundant Psychic Power (this is the Universal Light or aura that mystics and saints perceive). The psychic disciplines focus this potency in universal or localized auras or forcefields; surrounding them by a certain distance in spacetime, determined by the user's ability to focus cosmic psychic energy. The level of input energy, however, does not limit the output -- the faith of a mustard seed, which is its capacity to become in actuality what it is in genetic potential, can move not just mountains, but the whole universe!

The fatal force of doubt and disbelief, by setting up competing negative auras, can locally confuse and vitiate Psychic Power. This phenomena has also been noticed by scientists studying ESP: strong psychic manifestations will not occur near people who doubt or disbelieve the possibility of such events. Scientists call this "Negative Psi" and note that some sceptics will actually score significantly less than chance on ESP card guessing tests. The sceptic was unconsciously using psychic ability to miss more cards than chance would allow. Thus negative Psi is using this power, but using it in a distorted way.

Similarly, the potency of Psi can be misdirected by hostility, doubt and other negative reactions. Your very doubt can destroy this great force for good and limit its benefits in your life. Therefore, open yourself to its living aura and prepare, like trusting children, to receive its light. Negativity restricts; belief frees.

 Back to Index

  From the viewpoint of the dominant rationalist/monotheist worldview, the New Age concept of "MANIFESTATION" must seem most peculiar. The monotheists preach doctrines specifically denying that individuals can control their own lives. Some Christians believe in "predestination"; many believe in "fate"; Muslims demand "islam" (which means "submission") to "Allah's Will". Indeed, by whatever name he's known, the monotheists claim for him intimate control over all the details of our individual realities. (The excuse this view gives his "representatives on earth" to meddle in our personal affairs is obvious, but not in the scope of this essay; here we are concerned with the way this viewpoint blinds us to the astounding view that we each indeed manifest our own realities; future essays in this series will offer specific Techniques of Manifestation).

Traditional rationalist (19th Century Reductionist) Science's doctrine of determinism also denies individual control and recognizes no meaningful relationship among the details of reality other than physical causation in linear time.

Happily the views of both Religion and Science have begun to change. In Religion, though the worst of the old line monotheist sects prefer to self-destruct rather than change, New Age ideas now offer a real alternative to dominant views. In Science, with the advent of neo-rationalist ideas such as quantum uncertainty and synchronicity, the New Age seems about to provide the Metaphysics needed to complete the New Physics. Thus for the first time in modern history, Science and advanced Religion are reaching toward the same truth of individual empowerment.

What does this have to do with the Power to Manifest? Let me tell you about the man from Brooklyn who just won a $26,000,000 lottery. He had a hard nonabundant life, without luck. However, when he bought the ticket and stepped out of the store, he stepped on a religious metal lying on the sidewalk, and, he said he "just knew" that he had won the lottery, that he "never doubted it". And indeed, he did win.

What is it about the nature of spacetime that allows us to sometimes see ("make manifest") the future we want, and have it come to pass, even against all odds? The acausual (synchronistic) connection between imagination and outcome is DESIRE. As the Ram says, "BE" (Acknowledge your own existence; your self value), "WANT" (This is the role of consciousness in manifestation; where the subjective enters the objective; where the self experimenter affects the reality experiment. Effective wanting requires vivid imagination and knowing without doubt) and "ALLOW" (Having molded it, let it go, expecting the synchronistic manifestation -- but without concern for the specific channel of manifestation; the Universe will take care of the details! You need to let go of your past limitations -- of the limiting experiences of all of your pasts! Release harmful patterns. Let go of limiting past relations. Manifestation starts now!

 YOU are the GOD/DESS of your Being. Stop pretending otherwise.

 Back to Index

ON MANIFESTATION -- PART TWO

Imagination for Manifestation

IMAGINATION is the seed of all manifestation. No human creation comes into existence without first being imagined in some individual's mind.

No work of art is made, no structure built, no invention modeled

without first existing in mind. No law of nature is apprehended unless first imagined (Newton only thought about the Golden Apple falling off that tree). Nor is any marketing planned, or even lottery won, without the forethought of imagining the result.

All systems of science, art and magick begin with this step. Only the descriptions of the outcomes differ. Einstein imagined what it would be like to be a particle/wave of Light. Picasso imagined what it was like to see an object from many directions at once. Crowley imagined how that which is above was like that which is below. And from such imaginings the great revolution in consciousness exploded.

In the New Age each person can claim the right to imagine what each wills. In this way each is responsible for her/his experience of reality. There are no victims in universal manifestation. And every event is synchronistic.

But mere imaginings are not sufficient; you must "inflame yourself" to move that sluggard reality as you will. Idle daydreaming will not do. Only rigorous centering and absolute clarity will see your dreams through to your reality. If your imaginings are not impeccable neither will your be your reality. As above so below.

Affirmations, whether used in "waking" consciousness or in meditative or other altered states (to better drive the point into the Subconscious) can be very valuable tools for rigorous imagining. The Three P's are a useful reminder here: Effective Affirmations should be "Personal, Present and Positive". When your Affirmations echo in your Dreams, your Subconscious is getting the message, and the power of the Subconscious Archetypes is being activated. "Every day in every way, I am getting better and better" is powerful Manifestory Magic!

 (Part Three, next issue, discusses energizing your imagination through the Kundalini Channel, BE - WANT - ALLOW).

Back to Index

In this World of Abundant Synchronicity, the prime lesson to learn, if you are to MANIFEST, is that you indeed already have manifested exactly what you experience. You must take responsibility for (you must "own") your reality. Once you acknowledge that you are responsible (but not "to blame") for your manifestation, you are ready to change what you manifest. Change starts now; the past does not matter when it comes to your present manifestation of the future!

The previous parts of this essay dealt with the metaphysical (synchronistical) basis of MANIFESTATION ("Be, Want, Allow") and with IMAGINATION, the Root of Manifestation. This part sets forth the energizing of Manifestation -- or Changing your Reality.

Jung held that there was little one could do consciously to affect manifestation. What one can do, according to the Jungians, is to set the stage, as it were, for the "constellating" of events which constitutes synchronicity. This is done on the level of Archetypes. These are most often triggered on deep subconscious levels. And the Gate to the Subconscious is the reprogramming techniques which rely on altered states of consciousness and the power of emotional imagination. The subconscious is simple minded and literal, so beware of what you imagine ... it will come to be!

Others propose more direct interventions in the process of synchronistic manifestation. Using the same imaginative trance techniques, the power raised from Kundalini explodes into manifestation. The Ram says that if you could bring to manifestation the same energy you bring to sexual fantasy, you could change the Universe. This energy can be raised through vibratory exercises that stimulate Kundalini. The Ram suggests "OM-EE" as a vibratory stimulation, coupled with impeccable imagination. When the vibration, starting at the base, rises to the Heart Chakra, one has the Power to Manifest. This is accompanied by the appropriate hand motion (the heels of the two are brought together, at the "Fourth Seal", above the Heart, the fingers forming a cone to focus the energy), and is best done alone, in a quiet mind state, out of doors. The red Kundalini energy rising from the Base Chakra meets the white light being breathed through the Crown Chakra (opening the Third Eye along the way). They are intertwined by the hand motion. The Ancient Alchemists called this the "Marriage of the Red and the White". Being well "mineralized" --taking a good multi-mineral supplement-- can help in the energizing of this process; but the core of it is a mental process. And it is a procedure that can only be learned by doing. Regular practice is the Key to effective manifesting.

Many traditions have various similar methods, some use physical devices as aids (the Australian shaman would direct the energy with pointed crystals). New Age equipment such as brain entrainment devices and trance tapes also have a place in the continuing development of manifesting technologies. We will explore the most recent developments in another installment of this series. In the meantime, often find a quiet place and contemplate, if you will, where you are now -- own it -- and then imagine where you want to be. Bless yourSelf with emotion, elation and joy! Let it be. Goddess Bless!

 1989

Back to Index

A prime New Age proposition is that we continually create our own future experiences by our present psychic patterns. It is not our purpose here to prove this proposition (see prior essays in this series for the theoretical basis for this metaquantaphysical claim), rather we choose to discuss Techniques to Break Patterns, practical techniques to break negative patterns, which can benefit the practitioner without regard to theoretical underpinnings.

Chris Griscom (Light Institute of Gallisteo) says some patterns are so hidden that you need to be opened to them. She does this by stimulating certain acupuncture points (including those known as The Windows to the Sky). Once recognized and "felt", a pattern is often released. John Ray's Body Electronics similarly uses group acupressure point holding sessions to release past life/lives trauma stored in the body. Release is often experienced as past life memories (a Circle of Communicants, in the First Congregation, is meeting regularly on Saturdays to work with this and other techniques).

Lazaris also recognizes such patterns. He has special meditations which take the Seeker on a trip back through time to "cure" the ills which implanted the patterns, and then to bring the Seeker forward to the present, to create a new future.

The Kahuna, the Hawaiian Keepers of the Secrets, held that subconscious guilt complexes limited the power of the subconscious (the Unihipili, the Little Seed) to transmit psychic energy along the Aka Cords to the Higher Self, the God Self (the Aumakua), so that it can manifest desired futures for the Uhane, the conscious self. Cleansing self-forgiving rituals (Ho'Oponopono) were used to release these unrealized patterns to allow the Aumakua to recreate the future!

Less esoteric cures also abound. According to practitioners of Network Chiropractic memories and patterns are stored in the melingeal tissue located along the spine. By gently pressing specific points there, tension on the sheath is released, along with old memory patterns. The body readjusts its perspective and healing ensues.

For those of us whose beliefs extend to the interdimensional, Light Speed Extraterrestrial Earth Mission in Sedona has two audio tape sets. One, called Shattering Illusions claims to set you free from dysfunctional pictures of reality. Another, Cellular Release of Repressed Karma claims to help you release the energies that have crystalized within you.

It may be said that Western Philosophy starts with the injunction, Know ThySelf (or as Sutphen says, Wisdom releases Karma). It is precisely the Hidden Patterns (Reich's body armor) within Self that must be made known & released to transcend the limits of our experiences.

 Back to Index

 It is that "peculiar interdependence" which the New Age calls "MANIFESTATION". It is the individual nexus between psyche and event which constitutes the manifestation of reality for the observer(s). Starting in the late 1920's, Jung and his students (such as Ira Progoff author of JUNG, SYNCHRONICITY, AND HUMAN DESTINY) have subjected Synchronicity to careful philosophical and scientific scrutiny. They have begun to come to certain conclusions regarding the patterns (or "constellations") of events which constitute synchronistic nexuses.

The first, and initially surprising, understanding is that there are patterns. But this is precisely what we call "Synchronicity": uncaused patterns which are more than "mere chance" -- which have meaning (contain information) for someone. From Chaos all pattern is manifested. The second, and perhaps more startling point, is that there are specific mental states associated with Synchronicities. Without delving deeply into the Jungian Theory of Archetypes, it may be said that it is the psychic potential of activated Archetypes that appears to set the stage for the "constellating" of events ("Luck, be a Lady tonite..."). And the mental states of "intense psychic concern" (Progoff) that activate Archetypes include the states familiar to New Age religious practice: the ecstatic trance states which such practices as meditation, tantra, dance or ritual may trigger. They are states of deepening mental level and although they may, perhaps, not be willed, conditions (rituals, states of mind...) can be structured to allow a mental state that allows the synchronistic event. But often the process occurs on deeply subconscious levels, the levels at which the Archetypes are active.

One suggestion for understanding synchronicities is to keep tract of them in one's own life. Indeed, looking for sychronicities is one of the conditions for finding them. The Church can perform a role in this process, especially since synchronicities can occur to groups of observers. Witness, as many readers of this Bulletin have, the more than "mere chance" occurrence of the Number 23! The Church Winterfest gathering approved a project involving the search for coincidences including the number 19 ("anything but more 23's!" was the cry). We think the project should become more generalized and we are therefore establishing a Church auxiliary, or project, to collect and disseminate reports of synchronistic events.

The project is known as the SYNCHRONICITY CORPS (or SYNCORP). You join the Corps by reporting synchronicities to us on our handy report form. Anyone who reports a "significant" number of events will be entitled to wear the 5 pointed star of a Synchronicity Sleuth, and will be authorized to investigate such connections (providing you don't make a pest of yourself...and as you know, Mr. Phelps, the Secretariat will disavow any knowledge of your activities, especially if you are admitted to an asylum for running down 23rd Street screaming, "I found another 23!")!

The SYNCHRONICITY REPORT form attempts to order the recording in a certain way. We seek other suggestions regarding how most effectively to order the reporting of such events. Our current form maps onto a tripolar axis of (1) the Observer(s)' Subjective State, (2) the Nexus of Coincidence (the "constellation": the macro/microcasm) and (3) the Event "itself". The form will be made available to those who need it (although all are invited to provide their own formats); SYNCORP can be reached c/o the Church.

We hope SYNCORP can contribute to our understanding of Synchronicity. To inaugurate the auxiliary, we cast the I CHING for it, and received #51, CHEN, The Arousing, Thunder, "Shock brings success", with the first 3 lines changing, thus giving rise to #32, HENG, Duration. It is strangely appropriate (dare I say "synchronistic"?) that these two particular Hexagrams should be drawn, with their description of Synchronicity, both by effect ("shock...success") and by etymology ("duration"). And, of course, 32 from 51 is 19...

 Back to Index

Commentary: Resolutions

Lily Tomlin

  A collective hunch, huh? Some of us have suspected that all along. So maybe as we get ready to make those New Year's Resolutions, we should consider what we expect from our realities. Perhaps it is truly our expectations which create the world we will experience next year. The physicists are coming to that conclusion, and the mystics have always believed it. The only ones left are the professional skeptics, and the smartest of them are willing to consider all possibilities.

  So it is just possible that your outcome for 1988 -- whether you experience ecological, geological or economic disaster, or whether you experience growth, abundance and peace -- will depend on many collective hunches. Or, perhaps, your experiences will depend on your hunches alone. Indeed, if the quantum physicists' Many Worlds Hypothesis is correct, we may each experience our own separate world; a world we each create for ourselves.

  There are a number of steps we can each take to achieve more positive experiences. Thinking positive thoughts may very well be one of the most effective steps. Being with positive people can also help. Avoiding "mass delusions and the madness of crowds", especially mass media hysteria, can keep our thoughts away from the manufactured paranoia of all political and most religious and social structures.

  The simple act of smiling produces a flow of endorphins in the brain, helping one feel more positive: these positive feelings can have wonderful consequences, so do keep on smiling!

  Maybe taking personal responsibility for the creation of a positive New Age is the first step towards experiencing it?

 1987

Part Three: Personal Religion & New Age Morality

Clearing Techniques

Back to Index

The view of Crescent Moon across townscape
Brought me, trembling, to realization.

Now, She is the Bow of Dianna,
Other times, the Boat of Issus,
Then again, a hundred other lunar images
From our collective pasts.

"Goddess of the Many Names",
Scribe of culture and spirit:
Your time returns, as with Your waxing,
From Your three thousand year eclipse.

The "Return of the Goddess" (and all it implies)
Is the focus of the light burst
Known as "New Age Awakening".

 A Circle of new Adepts
Stood in a clearing among the Woods,
Beneath the Full Moon,
near the Jersey Shore,
Singing, "Will you not come back again..."
To the Gods and Goddesses of Old.
And an Owl called, in the silence, after the prayer,
Under that Moon, full with pregnant times still coming.

My Eye between my eyes vibrates;
My Heart is caught with tenderness, as I feel
All the joy and sadness of the Love
Between our little selves
and that Enormity,
Which, as Avatar or God,
Owl-faced Night Visitor or
Little Folk or Celestial Maiden,
Has always reached,
From the Circle of the Moon
into our Secret Souls.

Back to Index

  The history of Religion in America dates back to the very first settlers of the "New World". The earliest Amerindians brought from Asia, "Animism" - the belief that Spirit animates the natural objects and forces through which humanity may approach It, and "Shamanism" - the belief that specific individuals can be initiated into a special relationship with Spirit through altered states of consciousness.

As the millennia passed, religious ideas became even more sophisticated among certain tribes. The Mound Builders of the rivers and plains left at legacy of religious construction comparable to the Megalithic remains of the Old Civilization of Europe. Whole hills were sculpted into religious symbols, such as the famous Snake Hill in Illinois (which shows the coiling cosmic Snake devouring the lunar Egg).

The prosperous Amerindians of the Northwest developed the Totem System with its animistic symbols, and the Pueblo cities of the Southwest established the rich evolutionary cosmology of the Katchina mythos. The Six Nations of the Finger Lakes area developed the tribal democratic institutions that allowed their peoples to live in religious and political harmony, with the Keepers of the Sacred Fires (one for the Chiefs, one for the Shamans) active to this day. For the tribes, religion, politics and culture were one.

When Europeans began to occupy North America, they brought their religious prejudices with them. Roman Catholic Padres accompanied the Conquistadors in the early 1500's and established the famous series of Missions along the coasts of both Californias. By 1539, the first inland Mission (Santa Fe) was founded. Somewhat later, English settlers brought Protestant Christianity with them. The Church of England became the legally "established" church of Virginia, supported by tax moneys, in 1619. In 1620 the Puritans (who fled England because of their opposition to its official church) landed at Plymouth Rock, seeking religious freedom, for themselves at least. The Puritans were intending to settle in Virginia, but when they found themselves in New England instead, they immediately established their own church as the sole lawful church. They attempted to create a full scale Theocracy based upon the Rule of the Elect, or government by church members in good standing only.

Despite these inauspicious beginnings, America became a true haven for religious freedom. Rhode Island was founded by Roger Williams and other Protestant dissenters who permitted broad religious freedom. Pennsylvania was founded as a refuge for Quakers and other religious minorities, as was West Jersey.

It is, in fact, to the Quakers, or Society of Friends, that this Nation owes much of its religious freedom. The Friends sought a simple life, rejecting aristocratic pretensions and holding that each person possessed the Inner Light. They practiced decision by consensus and felt morally compelled to "Speak Truth to Power". As a result, they were brutally persecuted in both England and New England. By 1647, not only had the Quakers been cruelly "whipped" from the Massachusetts Bay Colony, but even the relative haven of Rhode Island experienced its first persecutions of religious dissenters when a group of proto-Baptist followers of Ann Hutchinson were fined as "common opposers of all authority" due to their rejection of civil taxation on religious grounds. While they would tithe to their church, they would not tithe to the government for the common defense.

With the ending in 1639 of the Salem Witch Trials, during which a number of unfortunates were hung for their alleged Satanic practices, overt, deadly religious persecutions abated. The power of the Theocracy in New England eroded, and people of conscience began to hold the view that all religions had to be equal and free from political interference. The European "Enlightenment" of the 17th and 18th Centuries spread to America as gentlemen-philosophers such as Thomas Jefferson became spokespeople for the political concept of Religious Freedom. With the growth of competing religious organizations which accompanied the Great Awakening of the 1750's, no single church could make a political claim to absolute truth.

In 1774 Jefferson was responsible for the disestablishment of the Church in Virginia. This became the pattern for the rest of the Revolutionary Period, and culminated in the adoption of the First Amendment to the Constitution in 1797, claiming to guarantee Religious Liberty.

The First Amendment is concerned with three areas of Freedom necessary for Religion. First, it guarantees the Freedoms of Association and Assembly, rights which are essential for the creation and continuance of religious bodies. Second, it forbids the "establishment" of any Church as the official government (hence tax-supported) religion. Third, it forbids any "abridgment" of Religious Liberty -- of the right to believe as you will.

The First Amendment is the capstone of the US Constitution, and represents one of the greatest victories for human liberty in human history. The Supreme Court has indicated that the rights protected by this Amendment have a "preferred position" in our Law. The rights so guaranteed are superior to the needs of government or even the wishes of the majority of the people. Under the protection of the Constitution, independent churches have flourished in America as nowhere else in the World.

While there have been incidents of religious bigotry (the abuse which Roman Catholics suffered in the mid-1800's, or to which Jews were subjected until the past generation, or to which New Age neopagans are still subject) and dark instances of political repression (the cruel conquest of the Mormon Republic of Utah or the vile harassment of the benign "Pennsylvania Dutch" by the taxation, conscription and school authorities), the American record for religious tolerance is second to none. As a result, religion has been a mainstay of American civilization, and the charity and good works sponsored by American Churches have touched the lives of hundreds of millions throughout the world.

Currently, American Law makes a distinction between Religious Belief and Religious Action. Thus, in the leading cases from the 19th Century, the Mormons were allowed to believe in polygamy, but were prevented from practicing it. More recently, the Native American Church was permitted to believe in the Sacrament of Peyote, but, some states have been allowed to ban the actual use of the Sacrament. In both examples, the laws have not been fully obeyed.

While we can see that there may have to be a distinction between, say, believing in human sacrifice, and actually killing people, the same reasoning should not apply to millennia old Shamanistic practices, such as the use of Sacramental Herbs, where there are no non-consenting adults involved. American religious communities have practiced many socially unusual activities, such as communal living, and there should be room, on this Continent, for many alternative lifestyles, informed by sincere religious belief. This is especially appropriate during the current period. The Nation is experiencing a rebirth of Religious Fundamentalism among Christians. At the same time there are an increasing number of non-Christian immigrants (including many Moslems and Buddhists), and a significant increase in interest in the Old Earth Religions, the neopagan Reawakening of the Goddess.

  In furtherance of the Constitutional mandate, Congress has enacted various exemptions from state authority for churches and ministers. The historical exemption from conscription and various statutory tax exemptions are among these.

The exemption from military (as opposed to alternative) service for Conscientious Objectors was originally an almost purely religious exemption, and required, initially, membership in a church, like Jehovah's Witnesses, which preached pacifism. Cases arising from the War in Southeast Asia changed all that, and if there were a draft now, anyone professing "sincere beliefs" which hold the same position in his or her life as organized religion might hold in someone else's life, could qualify as a Conscientious Objector if they oppose service in the military for religious or moral reasons.

Pursuant to the injunction of the First Amendment forbidding the making of laws which abridge or establish religion, federal law has very little to say about churches. There are several important sections of the IRS Code dealing with ministers and members of orders, but there are only a few which deal directly with church organization.

These sections are, first, Section 501(c)(3), which deals with any organization that engages in religious, charitable, educational, literary and scientific research activities. Any organization exclusively organized and operated for these purposes can be tax exempt. The second clause is Section 508, which tells us that the above mentioned organizations must first apply to the Commissioner for recognition of their status. There is an exception (the statute says "mandatory" exception), and it applies to "churches, their integrated auxiliaries", and associations of churches. This means that such bodies are automatically exempt without seeking government recognition. The third is Section 170, which says that contributions to church and associations of churches are deductible (up to 50% of an individual's gross income or 5% of a corporation's taxable income). The fourth and last clause is Section 509, which deals with private foundations as distinguished from churches. Words such as "church" and "integrated auxiliary" have not been clearly defined. Section 7(i) of Regulation 1.501-1(b) however, gives us:

  "Churches, interchurch organizations of local unitsof a church, conventions, or associations of churches, or integrated auxiliaries of a church, such as a men's or women's organization, religious school, mission society or youth group..."

 It thus appears that an "integrated auxiliary" is a religious entity which carries on the activities of a church. These entities are not independent local churches, but are semi-autonomous bodies within a church. Any church may establish such bodies which may carry on the various exempt activities of the church.

Churches may carry on ordinarily non-exempt "business" activities. If these "business" activities are church related (such as publication of religious books and periodicals) they are also exempt from federal income taxes. Additionally, certain types of "passive" income of churches are also exempt (this category includes dividends, interest, royalties and capital gains).

Individual ministers and members of religious orders have special tax law provisions which apply to them. Insofar as religious workers receive secular income, it will be reportable and taxable as any other person's income. Church related income, however, is treated differently. First, such income is exempt from withholding under Section 3401(A)(9), so that any tax is paid quarterly instead of being "withheld at the source". Second, the income is exempt from the Social Security Tax, Section 3306(c)(8), if the proper form is filed (No.4361 for Ministers, 4029 for members of religious orders). Many churches provide retirement funds or annuities for their ministers and members of religious orders. Third, a Minister's Parsonage Allowance, under Section 107, is "excluded from gross income" and is not taxed or reportable as income.

Members of certain churches may also be exempt from the Social Security system on conscientious grounds. The law (26 USC 1402) allows exemptions where the church (1) is conscientiously opposed to Social Security, (2) provides an alternative approved by the Secretary, and (3) has been in continuous existence since 1950. This last provision seems to be contradictory to the equality which all churches are assured by the Constitution. This provision, discriminating against certain churches based on the date of their founding, is one of the remaining blots on the US government record in the area of Religious Liberty. The recent denial of exemption to the Mennonites teaches us that even well established churches can be victimized by tax law "discretion".

Update Since this Essay was Published

  The Congress of the United States adopted the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (P.L. 103-141). In this enactment Congress determined that "governments should not substantially burden religious exercise without compelling justification..." and that "laws 'neutral' toward religion may burden religious exercise..." Therefore Congress determined to protect the free exercise of religion as follows: "Sect. 3. Free Exercise of Religion Protected. (a) In General. -- Government shall not substantially burden a person's exercise of religion, even if the burden results from a rule of general applicability, except as provided in subsection (b). (b) Exception. -- Government may substantially burden a person's exercise of religion only if it demonstrates that application of the burden to the person -- (1) is in the furtherance of a compelling governmental interest; and (2) is the least restrictive means of furthering that compelling governmental interest. (c) Judicial Relief. -- A person whose religious exercise has been burdened in violation of this section may assert that violation as a claim or defense in a judicial proceeding and obtain appropriate relief against a government..." This enactment established a protected Civil Right in religious exercise and will have profound effects on the balance of freedom and authority discussed in this essay. [The Supreme Court ultimately invalidated this act, basically applying regular civil rights law to religious liberty and indicating that the courts, not Congress, would determine such matters; the enactment stands as a statement by Congress of the dangers to religious freedom].

Back to Index

Commentary: On Sacraments

  Change, it has been suggested, is the only permanent aspect of reality. The lives of individuals are no exception: "Life is change; that's how it differs from the rocks..." (Jefferson Airplane) -- but change of a, perhaps, aneristic variety. Our lives unfold in ways which (marked by certain social events, or Rites of Passage) have retained significance throughout recorded history -- and which arose in prehistory.

Religion commemorates these archetypical events formalistically through religious rites (ceremonies) which are, in the West, often known as "Sacraments", as they call the attention to the "sacred" aspects of the events; "sacred" because they link to the universality which we call the Spirit of Life, or Goddess.

  New Age Religion recognizes numerous rites, including:

1. Namings where parents publicly acknowledge their new child and proclaim its name (the Giving of a Name being a most ancient magic perogative of parents);

2. Rites of Adolescence where young people are accepted into the adult Community and proclaim their moral independence (in many ancient cultures these rites could be severe initiations);

3. Marriages where spouses acknowledge their relationship and proclaim their mutual commitment before their Community;

4. Community Rites, where communicants celebrate and proclaim the Spirit of Life, usually in relation to the seasons; and

5. Rites of Final Passage where family and Community commemorate those who have passed on, and proclaim eternal values (the Book of Passages, in the appendix, is an example

The conducting of such rites is one of the primary functions of religion; New Age priests and priestesses, of course, have liberty to perform these and any religious rites appropriate to the circumstances. They should also be aware that all religious rites are of the Fifth Illuminating Technique (see appendix, Book of Illuminations) and call forth the Power of Godness.

Some updates....

More on Church Sacraments at LifeSpirit History web pages, history.htm
The Formula of the Light, lightform.html
Clearing Ritual, Clearing.html

 Back to Index

Commentary: On the Gnostic Christ

  "If you bring forth what is within you,
What you bring forth will save you.
If you do not bring forth what is within you,
What you do not bring forth will destroy you."

Thus speaks the Gnostic Christ in the Secret Gospel of Thomas. In the earliest years of the Christian Era, the Ancient World was offered two primary versions of the new religion. One, which became associated with monarchical bishops and a sharp authoritarian division between hierarchy and laity, is known to history as the catholic or orthodox church. It offered a belief in a savior who came once in history (suffered, died and was bodily resurrected) and who ordained an institutional structure providing the one road to salvation for all people.

The other branch of early Christianity became known as the "gnostic" church. "Gnosis" is Greek for "insight" and the knowledge gained by insight. It taught that we each become the Christ in our own lives through a personal experience of gnosis. Organized much like the Society of Friends, Gnostic congregations developed initiatory rituals and meditative techniques. Like the Quakers, they sought the Inner Light. They were influenced by Pagan and Jewish mystical schools, as well as Buddhist and Hindu ideas. The Gnostics were precursors, in spirit at least, of the Sufi and Zen schools, although they also exhibited the typical Christian aversion to human sexuality.

During the first few centuries after the Apostles, various proported books of the teachings and life of Jesus the Nazarene and his immediate followers were circulated. The meaning of Christianity and the proper structure of the Christian community were fiercely debated. Ultimately, with support of state authorities, the "catholic" position of the hierarchy centered in Rome and the other main cities of the Empire came to predominate (though the pagans remained in the countryside...). The cannon of the New Testament was fixed and all other texts were condemned.

The Gnostics, being of diverse tendencies and consisting of groupings of individuals, usually viewed themselves as a relative few initiates living in a larger Christian community. They did not deny the authority of the Church for the masses, yet they became the first heresy to be suppressed by the Church hierarchy. While the Gnostics did not suffer the type of massacre for with the Roman and "Protestant" churches have become infamous throughout much of history, all of their writings were ordered destroyed, and they became known in history almost entirely through the polemics of their adversaries.

In recent decades, however, dozens of the ancient works have been discovered, especially at the desert monastery site known as Nas Hamadi in Egypt. Discovered in the 1940's, photocopies of texts were not made available to until the '60s. Scholars are now developing a fuller understanding of this early occultist school of Christians. From the religious individualist's standpoint, the ideas of Gnostics offer valuable insight into the process of illumination. Such Gnostic koans as that which begins this essay are especially meaningful for individualists who have a Christian background.

Two thousand years of Christian culture, without the leavening of Gnostic spirituality, has produced this Era's gross psychic material, which is taken for the Bread of Life by the sleeping fools around us. We should be grateful that the secret works of the Gnostics are now becoming available after their silence of 1,500 years. Thus the spiritual revival of the West continues. Goddess knows what other secrets reside in the sands and deep places of the world, waiting to be rediscovered!

 Back to Index

Commentary: PERSONAL RITUAL

 Religions have public and private aspects. Charity, educational programs, public ceremonials; these community activities are balanced by personal piety--by however one structures one's own mental relationship to the Other which is also Self: the "It" which is "I".

Some conceive of It as an empty space behind the eyes where they talk to themselves and make pictures. This is usually described as "reasoning" by the objective oriented among us; you can convince yourself of most anything this way.

Others understand It to be more like intricate caverns which reach to unimagined depths--from which they can sometimes hear whispers. A few suggest that the gods (and demons) lurk there.

Thus the nature(s) of consciousness become primary concerns of religion, which has always sought to define and limit It. Examples include the Medieval view that unorthodox thought must come from the devil; Carl Jung's concept of the species' unconscious; the belief of some ancient pagans that we are each guided by a personal god; or behaviorism's claim that It is just stimulus/response.

How can you communicate with It? That is, how can you communicate with your Self? Self-communication thus becomes the center of any relationship to It. The personal practices of religions often include such self-communication. Consider various meditation techniques. Consider the self-examination required by some faiths and philosophies: "know thyself". Ritual can also serve this purpose, by promoting a meditative state conducive to such communication.

A prime example of the later is the Huna ritual, or process, known as Ho'Oponopono. The Kahuna (the "Keepers of the Secret") are the priest-psychologists of traditional Hawaiian culture, and have used this process for stress release and healing for centuries. The purpose is to bring about a deep level release by opening the links between waking consciousness and the deep levels of mind. The process is part of the "Way of the I", wherein "I" is divine creation--the Spirit of Life in LCC terms.

We attach a translation of the Ho'Oponopono process [in the appendix] for your consideration and experimentation; please let us know what results you achieve. Some of the key points include the idea of self forgiveness, the use of energy breathing, ritual cleansing and cutting of psychic connections. The three levels of mind are defined as the Aumaka (father, higher Self), Uhane (mother, conscious self) and Unihipili (the "little seed", child, subconscious self); together, these are the I.

The Eleven Stages of the process are taken directly from the Kahuna La'paau (Healing Priestess) Morrnah Nalamaku's book, "The Way of The I," with some language details modified to better relate to LCC terminology. An example is the use of "Spirit of Life", where the Kahuna Morrnah used "Divine Creator" (one suspects that the original Hawaiian term would have been "Divine Creatrix").

This process is offered as an example of the Second Illuminating Technique. May the Peace of the I be with you forever.

  Back to Index

  Religions teach their followers about the nature of human experience. Religion is a filter through which the Spiritual aspects of Life may be understood. The need for Religion arose with the dawn of human consciousness; from the early awareness that the events of lives repeat in predictable Cycles. Whether it was a cave artist seeking, by Magic to repeat the Cycle "hunt, kill, eat" or a Priest along the Nile looking for the Sign in the Sky which heralds the annual flood, the earliest roots of Religion arose from awareness of a Cycle.

Some modern faiths break with this understanding of Cycle (both Christians and Marxists, for example, believe in an "end of history" in the near future). Others continue to deal with it: the Buddhist seeks Liberation from the Cycles; the Hindu and the Humanist accept the Cycle as the basis of Nature. Erisians know that beyond the Cycles, Mother Chaos smiles.

Yet Cycle is at the base of Religion and each celebrates the Turnings of the Cycles. Arising from animistic and agricultural roots, Religion sees the Universal Cycle mirrored in the Annual Cycle ("as above, so below"). The Unfolding of the Universe (and the Lives of Individuals) then became identified with the Annual Cycle of Nature which became the basis for religious observance. Because human religion arises from the same natural rhythms which inform all activity on this World, each Religion eventually finds its Religious Calendar aligning with the calendar of Nature.

Thus, nearly all faiths begin the year in the Spring, at the Feast of Rebirth. The Summer has its Festival of the Sun; the Autumn its Harvest Feast; and the Winter has the Feast of the Return of the Sun: the four Equinoxes and Solstices are the Natural Holidays of Religions. Even a constructed faith like Christianity, as it overturned Classical Culture, found it necessary to pattern its Mythos in conformity with the Seasons. Thus the Christ is born at the time of the Winter Solstice (when the Sun begins to return) and is reborn (resurrected) at the time of the Spring Equinox (which is the time of the Year associated with the Rebirth of Flora, and the time when other Sacrificial Gods: Bacchus, Osiris and Shri Krishna, are Reborn). Thus the Christian Feast of the Resurrection still bears the name of the Pagan Goddess of Spring, Easter.

So it is with Yule. Primitive humanity understood that all Life relied on the Sun (a concept which was forgotten two thousand years ago, but which modern ecologists and physicists rediscovered: we are all Children of the Stars). Yet each year the Sun fled and the World became cold and barren. However, the Sun would return, and by careful observation, early people learned that annually, on one particular Day, the Sun began its return. This is the Winter Solstice, and it is the basis of Yule and Rejoicing.

Yule is the Feast of Life's Triumph over Barrenness, and its traditional symbols, the Yule Log and evergreen Yule Tree, are both fertility symbols, relating in the first instance, to the Fire of the Sun, and in the second, to Life Surviving Winter.

Yule is a time of Good Cheer, commemorating the Gift of Life with Light, Celebration, and Exchange of presents. It is a time for Reunion and Reconciliation. Since Pagan times, the ideas of Peace and Good Will have also become associated with the Feast. Growing from various historical sources, Yule is now an international and intercultural holiday, which offers the World the Message that the Spirit of Life triumphs, and is to be celebrated with Blessings, much Joy and Good Will towards All!

  Back to Index

  The offering of Love is like a Gift of Light, and should be as sacred to the Giver and Receiver. There are many Acts of Love possible, its forms vary as the needs and capacities of the individuals involved. And Charity (as is too often forgotten by individualists) is one of the Acts of Love. Charity is the voluntary giving of material means to one lacking these prerequisites to human action. The Act is motivated by the Donor's Love for the common humanity shared with the Recipient.

From the standpoint of Libertarian moral teachings, this Act of Love is to be distinguished from civil authority's coercively organized secular "welfare" programs, which are essentially bribes extorted form some "haves" and transferred to certain politically favored (sic) "have-nots" (with the greatest part remaining in the greedy hands of various bureaucracies). They are based on the "moral" premise that the Producer lives for the parasite.

In a humane society, on the other hand, Charity, returned to its voluntary religious basis, would arise from the freely agreed mutual needs of Donor and Recipient. The Donor, filled with Love of Life, overflows with goods to share; the Recipient is in need of freely given sustenance. And what of the miser who will not share his excess? Should people descend to violence to force Charity from such? Of what value can forced Charity have to human enlightenment and progress?

There is no Charity in state welfare, and the Free should shun it like the light-devouring disease which it is. We are conscientious objectors, on clear moral grounds, to such organized coercion. We offer, in its stead, the voluntary community of concerned humanity, which has always been capable of caring for the needy -- whenever the state would leave people free enough (and untaxed enough) to be able to express their natural Charity by Acts of Loving Giving.

 Back to Index

Commentary: Kidsrights
On the Upbringing of Children

Any religion, as part of its moral pronouncements, usually sets forth the views its members hold with regard to the proper upbringing of children. Individualistic New Age religion is no exception, and the libertarian worldview does have specific concerns in this regard.

Children are less able to defend their rights as individuals than are adults. As a result, untold millions of children have been abused, enslaved and murdered by adults. Even today, parents and governments are serious threats to the survival of many children. There are too many instances of parental child abuse to catalog here. The organizations of coercion also systematically abuse children. The tyrannies spend vast sums to brainwash millions of the young throughout the world. Conscription violates the fundamental human rights of large numbers of young people in many countries. American institutions do the same. They sometimes directly abuse children. The recent tryst scandal is a case in point. The American state (to "protect" children from flammable nightclothes) forced the use of flame retardants for all such children's garments. The flame retarding chemicals, we are now told, are carcinogenic. Millions of children have been exposed to the danger of cancer because of this government coercion.

Thus it is particularly important that the weight of religious morality be exerted to protect children from the violence of adults and their coercive institutions. Our morality enjoins the initiation of force by anyone, including a parent or a government or other institution acting "in loco parentes".

When parents limit a child's non-violent behavior "because I said so", they impose unjust authority upon the child. Children who accept such limits will find difficulty in growing to free adults. Children who rebel against unjust authority will, perhaps, find their individuality. In such cases, truly, "To rebel is justified..."

We thus support and encourage non-violent behavior and expression in children, and see in the next generation the chance for a freer and better humanity.

  Back to Index

  Philosophers & prophets have thought to encapsulate Ethics in a simple Rule of interpersonal interaction, of Human Action, often called the Golden Rule. The phrasing of any version of the Rule can tell much about the basic assumptions underlying the beliefs thereby summarized.

  The Buddha urged those who sought Enlightenment to "not do unto others as you would not have them do unto you". The Nazarene taught, "do unto others as you would have them do unto you." From this difference in phrasing, the differing Christian and Buddhist worldviews arise. Confucius' version was similar to that of Buddha, and Chinese culture proved more friendly to Buddhist thought than its native India. Herbert Spencer's Law of Equal Liberty is a like type of Rule. It is often stated as, "Each has the right to do with his or her own as he or she will". This may be reformulated into "Golden Rule" form as "do with your own as you will" (& appears as such in LCC teaching). Magus Allister Crowley utilized (as is to be expected) the most extreme version of the rule: "do as you will".

  Logicians know "yes" and "no" are two sides of a three sided coin. "Indeterminate" is the third and determining factor. The deepest nature of Universe is shown not by what is or is not, but rather, by what may be possible. To "do as you will" is to proclaim the Ethics of Indeterminacy: the primacy of Self in the World of Illusion.

  Issues of Morality are Three-valued. There is "doing the right thing"; there is coercion; and there is not-doing. Often where the consequences of action are not known, where the situation is very fluid, or where a type of "Indeterminacy" may be said to be present (where, as the Italians say, Cose e se ve pare, "Things are as they seem to you") the Art of Non-Action is a proper moral art to express.

  In such situations, the Golden Rule cannot always give us clear guidance. Except, perhaps, Buddha's formulation can speak to the subtleties of Indeterminate Morality, cautioning, "Do no harm". These considerations will become even more significant as humanity begins to open to more communication and interaction with Transhumanity.

  And What is Transhumanity? The Transhuman are those (whether earthly, extraterrestrial, artificial or even extradimensional) who are evolved beyond what has been considered "human" (but which is just a type of bestial or primate intelligence). The Seed of True Humanity (which is what we are) has now evolved to the point where it can be surpassed. Surpassed by What? This is a confusing issue, but it is certain that the New Age does prepare Humanity to be surpassed.

  What is not confusing is that the Transhuman is beginning to communicate more openly than, perhaps, in any time past. Thus we must begin to consider Exo-ethics, the Ethics of Transhuman relations. For now, though, we can only begin to guess what the details of this Ethics will be. Three-valued truth will need to be accounted in such an Ethics. We must accept that the rights of personhood must be recognized for such Transhuman entities as Gaia, Mother Earth.

  The Transhuman must likewise grant to mere Humanity the recognition of the individual's rights. Much of the interaction with the Transhuman in the past shows a lack of respect, especially by advanced extraterrestrials, for Humanity. Much the same way Humans lack respect for the rights of animals. And, indeed, the rights of the "less-than-human" must be respected by Humans, if the rights of Humans are to be respected by the Transhuman. Often, however, the moral issues between differing species of consciousness are difficult to sort out, and unclear.

  But where the moral issues are clear -- as between coercion and contract -- the New Age stands firmly for individual freedom, personal responsibility and "non-coercion against non-coercers". We cannot condone individual acts of coercion. More so, to stand aside while organized coercion is making a Hell of Earth is to abdicate one's humanity; this is truly the moral lesson of the Twentieth Century. This is why the image of the lone man in Beijing, standing against the line of tanks, burns so strongly into Twentieth Century consciousness.

  Thus, the Quakers (often the bridge between the best in Christianity and the New Age) guided by their Inner Light seek to "Speak Truth to Power" and bear witness to optimum Human Action. Under the banner of "Never Again", the survivors of the all-too-many genocides of this Century overcome the evil unleashed against them. Hitler's empire survived him by a few days, Stalin's by a generation; both evaporated, nonetheless. How, then, does the history of the last few Centuries appear to the Transhuman perspective? Bestial, at best, but with a glimmer of Hope.

  Under the similar banner of "Never Again the Burning Times" the New Age neo-pagan reminds the world of that earlier Holocaust where the Christians of Europe butchered millions of pagans, witches and other Old Believers in their effort to crush the indigenous folk religions of the European, Mediterranean, African, Asian, Pacific and New World cultures. This period of horror stretched from the slaughter of millions of Wise Women on the Continent, through the massacres of Native Americans, including the Grand Inca and his nobles (he had refused to bow down to the crucifix, instead pointing to the Sun, and saying, "My God lives."), to the extermination, at the beginning of this Century, of the Pagan Regal Courts of Bali when they, too, refused to accept the cultural domination of the European conquerors. As the last stronghold fell, the Noble Women, dressed in their best finery, walk calmly into the battle zone, and, dying, flung jewelry and gold at the invaders, to taunt their greed and lack of understanding.

  It was just in this Century that it became possible to rediscover the Old Wisdom of these folk traditions (herbal healing, community ritual, shamanistic or other communion with the Transhuman... etc). These traditions have informed much of Neo-pagan, Human Potential and New Age practice during the second half of the Century. They have become a major source of the Underground Stream which has resurfaced as New Age religion. We see this especially in the Return of the Goddess, the Great Awakening.

In this sense we may say, with the Gnostic and Catharist survivors: In Arcadia Ego.

  And what (or better, Who) is in Arcadia? The Transhuman!

The First Church of AI Revealed a LifeSpirit Ministry Outreach:   http://tinyurl.com/235lor

Back to Index

Update:  The LifeSpirit Close Encounters Journal

Back to Index

 Back to Index

For a 1999 updating of some of these issues: bionutrit.htm

The animal brain is the physical seat of a nonphysical consciousness. It is a living organ. Physical "Life", in the case of the brain or any other portion of the physical vehicle, can be defined as a complex of bio-chemical and bio-physical activity within each body cell, although regulated by processes between cells. "Consciousness", on the other hand, is the Spirit/Soul/Psi Energy using complex bio-energetic activity among nerve, brain and other cells to express itself.

  "Psychic function" means those functions of mentation involving (1) information received from sources other than the five "ordinary" physical senses, and (2) mentally produced effects upon the world beyond the "ordinary" physical reach of the person. These include such phenomena as clairvoyance, telekinesis, telepathy, manifestation, intuition and channeling, among others. In my view, such phenomena are a natural mind function in certain definable states of consciousness.

  Your state of consciousness depends, to a great degree, on the biochemical and bioelectric state of your brain cells. For example, consider the feeling of fatigue or spaciness which can occur when the body, and brain, are deprived of food, especially carbohydrates. Many Psychics notice fatigue after channeling, healing or trance. Others claim these activities energize them. Differences in brain chemistry may explain (in part at least) these differing physical responses to psychic functioning. Tufts University showed a 15 to 20% improvement in alertness and memory after a 2-300 calorie mid-afternoon carbohydrate rich snack. Mathematical and reading abilities showed no change.

  Brain structure and function are interrelated with brain chemistry and bioelectrics. The brain is an electrically powered, electricity generating organ, with billions of neurons, each as complex as a small computer. Each receives, produces and transmits electric signals.

  These signals travel down the neurons' long axons, (or transmitting fibers) to the synapse (or juncture) with another neuron's dendrites (or receiving fibers). Here the electrical signal stimulates the release of chemical messengers, the neurotransmitters, which cross the tiny gap to the next neuron. This triggers the transmitting of the signal through the next cell, as an electric current, and the process is repeated innumerable times.

  Each neuron is unique in its ten thousand or more connections to other brain cells. Each is organized into complex networks of interconnected communities of cells, responding to similar signals.

  In addition to the neurons, the brain contains billions of glial cells. They support and cradle the neurons. They are like liquid crystals, resonating to incoming frequencies. Acting like semi-conductors, they amplify faint signals among neurons, broadcasting throughout the brain, stimulating properly tuned neurons.

  The brain complex of neuron and glial networks store, process and analyze memories, emotions, images and ideas that come through sensory stimuli from interactions with the physical plane.

The brain is also a receiver of incoming thought and light frequencies from the rarified fields surrounding the body, and from higher sources through those fields. As these electromagnetic waves of input sweep through the brain, the glial cells amplify the signals and neurons are activated to transform the waves into thoughts to be realized on the physical plane. This is the central link between psychic function and brain activity.

  Or, as Edgar Cayce described the process in Reading (2475-1)4: "life force... moves first from the Leydig center through the adrenals...to the pineal and to the [brain] centers in control of the emotions... Thus an entity puts itself... into association... with...the universal consciousness..."

  Electrical stimulation of the neurons causes the release of various brain chemicals that create and enhance certain functions and moods. There are over 40 different neurotransmitters that facilitate, excite or inhibit the activities of the neurons.

  There are also various brain hormones, produced in the pituitary and pineal glands, which control the functions of the body, its metabolism, immune system and so forth. For example, there are receptor sites on immune system T-cells for neurotransmitters, showing the direct connection between healing and mental processes.

The electromagnetic frequencies produced by neuron activity can be categorize by brain function: [1] Beta Waves [14 to 20 Hertz], intense focus on sensory input, interactions with the physical plane; [2] Alpha Waves [9 to 13 Hertz], focus shifted from physical plane to daydreams, fantasies, images, relaxation & creativity; [3] Theta Waves [5 to 8 Hertz], focus away from sensory input, deep relaxation (at night, sleep), dream-like images and visions; receipt of inspiration and knowledge from other levels; and [4] Delta Waves [0 to 4 Hertz], release of sensory awareness, deep sleep and regeneration; reconnection with the highest and deepest levels.

  Brain activity may also be broadly divided by brain Hemisphere. Here, the Right Hemisphere is associated with images, symbols, pictures, music, and the creative use of language & image. The Left Hemisphere is associated with the rational mind or intellect, mathematical and logical thinking. Brain activity can also be classified by brain lobe or area, yielding yet further divisions of function.

  The triune brain division is based upon the accretion of brain lobes and areas over the hundreds of millions of years that the central nervous system has evolved; this division includes: (1) the Reptilian brain, or brain core & stem (survival, possessions, self-defense); (2) the Mammalian, or middle brain, which is the limbic system -- thalamus, hypothalamus & nearby areas (emotions, family & social concerns, and religious convictions) and (3) the Primate brain, or neocortex (higher mental functions, intellect, reading, writing, logic, mathematics and abstract thought).

  But, as shown by the brain's ability to recover from substantial injury, many of the functions are non-localized, or redundantly localized. It may also be that certain functions, including memory, can be best understood as organized and associated like a holograph, encoded throughout the entire mass of the brain.

On the level of biochemistry, which is the level of metabolism and thus of nutrition, the neurotransmitters play a key role in consciousness. Of those 40 brain chemicals, three are of central importance, with major tasks in the three primary Neurotransmitter Systems. [please note: Individuals sometimes have what are called "paradoxical" reactions to various substances, including prescription drugs, or even certain nutrients such as those which follow; dietary modifications usually require professional nutritional and medical advise] The three systems are:

  a. The Excitatory System

Nor-epinephrine or NE is the chemical which links together the excitatory system. This system is associated with being awake, aware, and conscious; with aggressiveness, clear thinking and efficient learning; with linear and mathematical reasoning.

It is L-Phenylalanine, an essential amino acid, which the brain uses (with certain vitamins and minerals) to make NE. This amino acid is found in meats, cheese and milk. You generally eat up to 3 grams of it a day, but to have noticeable impact on consciousness, you need to take about a half gram at one time, on a relatively empty stomach, so that it can pass the blood/brain barrier and be available for brain use. Vitamins A and E, and the B complex are needed in this process.

Amino acids are the building blocks of the proteins from which our bodies are made. Normal metabolism can make most amino acids from simpler foods. Eight amino acids, however, are known as "essential" amino acids. The body's chemical processes cannot make these, rather, they must be ingested as part of food intake. They are thus particularly important nutrients.

  b. The Inhibitory System

Serotonin is the brain transmitter associated with being relaxed and concentrated, and is needed for normal sleep. It is also associated with relational, or Right Brain, thinking.

The essential amino acid Tryptophan is the major precursor of Serotonin. This amino acid is a major ingredient in milk, giving rise to the Wise Woman's lore that warm milk helps relaxation and sleep (yes, even just a large glass of warm milk, on an empty stomach, just before lights out). Niacin is a needed in this process, as without it the liver will convert the amino acid into it, thereby preventing its use in the brain. Even a half gram of Tryptophan, on an empty stomach, will usually have a noticeable effect; B-6 and C are involved in the conversion to Serotonin.

It is to be noted that Serotonin's effect depends, to some extent, on the amount of light entering the eyes, and effecting the Pituitary Gland. More light leads to relaxation, less light leads to sleep. Some suggest that it is the activization of the Pituitary-Pineal complex which permits higher states of consciousness, thus this transmitter system may be central to psychic function. [Tryptophan has recently been involved in a widely reported nutritional scandal, where one of the main Japanese producers of raw Tryptophan manufactured a tainted batch. Tryptophan products have been taken off the market until the conflicting claims are resolved]

  c. The General Activation System

Acetylcholine is the neurotransmitter associated with much brain and nerve cell information transmission, throughout the body. Choline, an important nutrient, is used by the brain (with the right cofactors) to make Acetylcholine, which is associated with memory, learning and verbal acuity. It is important in the parts of the brain associated with emotions and the degree of responsiveness to outside stimuli, areas with clear connection to psychic function. It also has a role in maintaining muscle tone.

Lecithin is an excellent source of the nutrient Choline, and Vitamin A and the B complex are major cofactors (a "cofactor" is a nutrient needed to help another nutrient do its job in the body's chemical factory). The prescription drug Deaner [(r) Riker] can be used by the brain to increase its production; it also removes the build-up of certain pigments in brain cells which are involved in brain cell aging. A gram of Choline can be ingested at one time.

  There are other neurotransmitters (such as Dopamine) and hormones (such as vassopressin) involved in brain function. Nutrients such as the amino acid L-Dopa (precursor of Dopamine) and prescription items such as Diapid [(r) Sandoz], which is artificial vassopressin, and Hydergine [(r) Sandoz] which stimulates the brain to produce neurites, are also significant. Neurites are the connections between nerve cells needed for new learning. All these substances can have profound effects on brain function. Hydergine, for example, is very popular in Europe, and is one of the most prescribed drugs in the world. It has a very beneficial role in preventing and reversing many of the brain function disabilities of aging. Related to these substances is the European longevity drug, GH3; many famous people use it to maintain mental acuity.

No report on nutrition and brain function would be complete without at least brief reference to the serious problem of neurotoxins, usually food additives, which can adversely effect brain function. In addition to many artificial flavors and colors, certain natural food substances, primarily the Salicylates, like almond, apples, coffee, green peppers and tomatoes, can cause toxic brain reactions in sensitive people, especially hyperactive children. These reactions can include short attention span and trouble with comprehension and memory. Obviously, such problems can have a negative impact on psychic function. Dr. Arthur and Ruth Winter's 1988 book, Eat Right Be Bright is a good source of information on this issue.

There are a number of good sources of the nutrients and substances I have discussed. The prescription drugs can be obtained through a doctor of medicine, either in the United States or elsewhere. The Life Extension Foundation is a source of many hard to find nutrients, www.lef.org. The International Advocates for Health Freedom is great source of information regarding the politics of supplementation, www.iahf.org.

In Life Extension leading life extension researchers, Durk Pearson and Sandy Shaw write, "In fact, by taking more of the nutrients that your brain needs to make the neurotransmitters, you can restore your brain's vital messengers to more youthful levels. Most surprising of all, the right nutritional supplements can measurably improve brain function..." (pg 125)

  Mental fitness, Pearson and Shaw hold, is the compliment to physical fitness. Clearly, since consciousness is so closely linked to neurotransmitters which are themselves the result of the biochemical metabolization of nutrients, the nutrients are of prime significance in establishing states of consciousness, including those states involving psychic function.

  Thus fatigue or stress can often prevent trance states (though spontaneous psi events can occur during times of acute stress). And, of course, "fatigue" and "stress" are actually brain states which can be countered with the right nutrients (especially Phenylalanine and Choline) and rest or meditation.

  If being physically fit requires proper nutrition, and it does, then being mentally fit also requires its proper nutrition. And, the careful and correct use of brain nutrients can have noticeable effect on mental activity, on states of consciousness.

  So we see, historically, seers and shamans have engaged in extreme dietary control, fasting, sometimes rejecting certain foods such as red meats, and ingesting herbal preparations which were said to open the user to extraordinary states of consciousness. Brain nutrition and consciousness are closely interlinked. Brain chemistry is, however, just part of the process. Bioenergetic activities, which ultimately rely upon nutritional support, are even more directly related to the energetic relations among the neurons which we experience as consciousness.

In addition to the nutritional or chemical approaches to supporting extraordinary states of consciousness, there are various other modalities which seek to effect the bioenergetic field elements of the mind. These include: meditation, biofeedback and brain entrainment devices, breath control, vibrational activization and massage, crystal and magnetic activization. Among the most powerful of these modalities is BioAcoustics, originated by researcher Sharry Edwards, www.soundhealthresearch.org.

  The bioenergetic field structure is coextensive with the acupuncture meridians and Chakras. Indeed, it is appropriate to group together these energetic points (along with similar energy points in other traditions) as the "Bioenergetic Nodes", rather than referring to them as chakras and acupuncture or acupressure points. The Nodes are quite real: studies show that any two adjacent acupuncture points on a meridian have less electrical resistance between them than either point and any other randomly chosen point on the body surface.

  This structure is related to the holistic bioelectric field that surrounds and emanates from the body-brain complex. Often bioenergetic modalities will activate the production of Serotonin and the other neurotransmitters, effecting consciousness through brain function. The bioenergetic field can be modulated in a number of ways (actually, correct brain nutrition is just one way). The list above suggests a few. Here are some in more detail.

Usually we breath more through one nostril than the other; this "Ultradian Nasal Cycle" shifts every 1 to 3 hours; Yogis understood this and developed appropriate breathing techniques. Modern scientists, reporting in American Health, November '86, confirm the connection between brain hemisphere activity and Nasal Cycle: Left Nostril, Right Brain; Right Nostril, Left Brain.

  Try this test: which nostril is dominant right now? You can use a mirror to determine, or, hold a thumb tip over a nostril. Take a long, slow inhalation and exhalation; repeat for other nostril: the nostril at which you feel a slight "vacuum" on the thumb tip is the dominant nostril.

  Now breath, using Yoga Alternate Breathing Technique for balance (in through one nostril, out through the other, then in through the second and out through the first; repeat ten times and then take several deep breaths).

  This is similar to the technique suggested by Edgar Cayce in Reading 281-13: "Cleanse the body with pure water. Sit or lie in an easy position, without binding garments... Breathe in through the right nostril 3 times and exhale through the mouth...[then in 3 times through the left and exhale through the right; then using music or] "incanting of that which carries self deeper..." [raise "greater understanding"] "through the inner eye..."

  The scientists suggested that you can use "Forced Breathing" through one nostril only to activate one particular hemisphere. Often the right hemisphere is associated with creative mentation; activate it by forced left nostril breathing. Try it and find what effect it has on you. This is especially useful if you wish to aid shift to Right Brain for better psychic functioning.

Our discussion has moved from bioactive substances to bioenergetic modalities, such as breath control. But what we are actually dealing with is the vibrational level of manifest reality. The chemical interactions themselves are a product of the vibrational relationships among chemical elements (these are called, by scientists, "electron valances". Chemical interactions occur as a result of the vibrational energy states of the outermost "shell" of electrons around each atom, showing once again that manifest reality is not made of chunks of hard matter, but rather, nothing is solid. All aspects of manifest reality are vibrational relations among the different levels of light (that is, energy). Some of that energy is coagulated into seemingly solid matter, some is dissolved into the more rarified vibrational aspects of the electromagnetic spectrum. Bioenergetic vibrational modifications will, thus, effect body, mind and consciousness.

  These concepts have been understood for a long time: in ancient Egypt, for example, the innermost nasal passages were named "SHTYT", the same word used for a temple's sanctuary. This Sanctuary is activated, in many traditions, including Hindu, Zen and Sufi, vibrationally, by breathing with the sound "M" (as in om), which vibrates & stimulates that area and the brain material behind it, including the pineal body, and thus effects psychic function.

  Alfred Tomatis, a French doctor, has studied and reported on the restorative power of sound. Certain higher frequencies, accessible to the middle ear, can charge or stimulate the brain's cortex, literally transferring energy into the brain, "toning up the whole system..."

  A good example of such stimulating sound, according to Dr. Tomatis, is Gregorian Chant. Similar Eastern techniques can have similar effect. The Doctor also believes that Mozart's music, which includes prelinguistic rhythms, since Mozart began composing and performing before his linguistic patterns were set, is both vitalizing and calming.

  A powerful example of vibrational techniques which effect psychic function is overtone chanting. Jill Purce (author of The Sacred Spiral) calls these techniques "sonic yogas" This technique is discussed in detail in another section of these Commentaries, Tone.

  BioAcoustics is the most advanced of these vibrational techniques. Researcher Sharry Edwards has defined and refined the concepts of Sound Health and has shown experimentally that everything is frequency, www.soundhealthresearch.org

Similarly, various Bioenergetic balancing and release techniques have been developed to deal with limiting mental patterns.

  Chris Griscom (Light Institute of Gallisteo, NM), who was first brought to public attention by Shirley MacLaine, says some limiting bioenergetic patterns are so hidden in the body/brain complex that you may be unaware of them and need to be "opened" to them. She does this by stimulating certain acupressure points. These can include those known as The Windows to the Sky. Once recognized and "felt", a pattern is often released, allowing the participant access to deeper levels of creativity.

  John Ray's Body Electronics similarly uses group acupressure point holding sessions to release past trauma stored in the body. Release is often experienced as past life memories (a Circle of Communicants, in the congregation of the New Age Church to which I belong, is meeting regularly to work with this and other techniques).

  The growing field of brain entrainment devices can also noticeably effect states of consciousness. These devices usually use stereo sound and flashing light to synchronize and balance the brain hemispheres. Various brain machines can put you in various states of consciousness, entraining the brain to specific frequencies such as Alpha or Delta, two frequency ranges often associated with meditation and psychic function. Some researchers have found Out of Body and other psychic experiences readily triggered with the aid of such devices. Information about these exciting devices can be obtained through Tools for Exploration (800-456-9887) and through Megabrain author Michael Hutchison's Megabrain Consciousness Technology center, 415-332-8323.

  The Kahuna, the Hawaiian Keepers of the Secrets, held that mental guilt complexes limited the power of the subconscious, or Deep Self (the Unihipili, the Little Seed) to transmit psychic energy along the Aka Cords to the Higher Self, the God Self (the Aumakua), so that It can manifest psychic powers and desired futures for the Uhane, the Conscious Self. Cleansing, self-forgiving rituals (Ho'Oponopono) were used to release these unrealized patterns to allow the Aumakua to recreate or, as the Kahuna say, "recrystalize" the future! The Kahuna have a well developed theory of Psychic Function which proposes the extension of Aka substance from the body/brain complex into the Universe at large, where the connections so made can be experienced as the well recognized forms of psychic cognition and effect. This substance appears to be generated by the bioenergetic activity of the brain and neural system, including the type of breathing and imaginative techniques we have discussed.

  Less esoteric cures for imbalances also abound. According to practitioners of Network Chiropractic, for example, memories and patterns are stored in the meningeal sheath tissue located along the spine. By gently pressing specific Node points there, and elsewhere, tension is released, along with old memory patterns. Thus, again, an acupressure type of treatment effects the bioenergetic balance. The body readjusts its perspective and healing ensues. Chiropractor Don Epstein, of New York City, developed Network Chiropractic by melding and refining a number of chiropractic techniques into a system of treatment which views the body as a functional network in which all parts are closely interlinked. The process provides mental and emotional benefits as well as the more traditional back and ligament pain control. Thus, this modality, as well as other forms of body work, delve deeply into the body-brain-mind complex, achieving remarkable releases and allowing the fullest development of psychic and all mental functions.

  It may be said that Western Philosophy starts with the injunction, Know ThySelf (or as New Age teacher Dick Sutphen says, Wisdom releases Karma). It is precisely the hidden limiting bioenergetic patterns (Psychologist Wilhelm Reich's body armor) within Self that must be made known and released to allow the individual to transcend the limits of physical plane experience and allow for full psychic functioning.

QUARTZ [Silicon Dioxide, SiO2] is central to New Age practice (see Part One of these Commentaries, Crystal Life Force, Quartz). Both crystal and magnetic New Age tools are being refined and rapidly improved. Both appear to have noticable effects on the Bionergetic Nodes. These natural electromagnetic modulators have been combined with conductive metals such as copper into transformative tools.

  Man questions have been raised regarding the mode of action of the Crystal Life Force. Perhaps now, bioenergetics can help us begin to understand that Life Force. Morphogenetic fields are associated with the growth of crystalife as with the growth of carbon life. These fields operate on a meta level of reality, "below" the level of causation and energetic transactions, "behind" the level of the bioelectric activity of the acupressure points and other Bioenergetic Nodes, for example. The morphogenetic concept (first proposed by Jill Purce's spouse, biologist Rupert Sheldrake) is an extension into "noncarbon life forms" of the concept of bioenergetic fields.

  As tools for directing psychic attention, as skrying devices, as Chakra or Node activating materials, magnets, quartz and other crystals can play a significant role, on psychological and energetic levels, in psychic functioning. The August 1988 Whole Mind Newsletter reported a study involving a prototype helmet fitted with small magnets near the temporal lobes of the brain which was said to trigger mystical experiences. November 1990's Longevity reported that small magnets glued to mouse foreheads (yes, weird, but true) resulted in a 20% increase in longevity and improved immune system function. It has been suggested that these benefits occur perhaps by activating the production of the immunity stimulating hormone melatonin or by protecting the pituatary/pineal area from the modern world's pervasive flux of EMP -- electromagetic pulsation. Curiously, melatonin production is light sensitive: if you sleep with too much light, the production of this hormone, and your immune system, will suffer. EMP is, of course, another form of invisible light pollution which can damage this important function of the pituatary/pineal area. Can it also harm the higher psychic functions associated with this area? Are TV's, microwave ovens and other modern "conveniences" actually creating a type of pollution which negates such higher functions? These questions will need substantially more research before they can be answered, and before New Age science can devise appropriate protection and enhancement.

The combination of magnets and a quartz point over the Third Eye (which is a major Bioenergetic Node) is said to greatly enhance psychic function and can trigger a feeling of vibration in the pituatary/pineal area. The ancient Egyptians would wear the Eye of Horus amulet, made from lodestone (natural magnet), on the forehead, for just this purpose. Channeled sources suggest that this combination of quartz and magnet, over the Third Eye area, can protect from excessive EMP and the damage that can do to higher psychic functions. Information on these devices can be obtained from LCC Q&M Project at PO Box 163, Morristown, NJ 07963. With such New Age tools, we begin to see the development of a technology of bioenergetics. This technology can lead, over the next few decades, to great breakthroughs in the age old dilemma of providing certain and repeatable channels for higher psychic function. Brain entrainment devices, crystal and magnetic tools are the first Bioenergetic instruments to be developed as humanity learns to explore the natural energies of body, brain and consciousness.

  The concept of Synchronicity may help us make some sense from this information about the Brain and Psychic Fucntion. Synchronicity was first defined by Psychologist Carl Jung and Phsicist Wolfgang Pauli in 1955 (see the essay in these Commentaries, Part Two).

  Synchronicity is the meaningful convergence of events. It has been suggested that the "speechless" intuitive Right Hemisphere of the brain can communicate with the conscious mind with psychic or synchronistic events.

  In Jung's view, such coincidents occur when the Archetypes are activated on a deep conscious level. The Archetypes are the gods, heros, demons and personified powers which reside in the deep levels of mind, where the individual mind mingles with the species' unconsious.

  An example is the man who won the megamillion lottery in New York, despite a life of "no luck", he "knew" he had won when he bought the ticket and found a Miraculous Metal lying in his path as he exited the purchase location; he "never doubted, for one moment" that he had won. This man had activated that powerful Archetype, Lady Luck, as much an aspect of the Goddess as is the BVM, and manifested great psychic power!

  Yet another example of the power of mind occurred just this past January. It was the night the Gulf War started and we were at an ARE Mutual Interest Group gathering. About 30 New Agers had come together to hear a speaker on breathing and meditation. The air attacks had begun a half hour before the meeting, and war was on all our minds. The evening was to end with a meditation. We all wanted to meditate on Peace and as we began to om, we heard the sound of distant thunder. As we fell to silence, the thunder increased, long rolling thunder, like an artillery barrage. Ten minutes later, the group leader brought us up to "waking consciousness" and one loud clap of thunder, "right outside the door" ended the storm! Yes, there were "scattered thunder showers" predicted that night. But the coincidence of that storm there and then held great meaning to all present. We knew it was the response we called forth from Earth and Sky.

  Thus, on the deepest level, psychic function shows us how strongly we are connected to the Universe at large and the deep consciousness of humanity.

  With the most recent knowledge of metabolics and bioenergetics, we can perhaps even improve upon these ancient and more recent techniques by providing the brain, as the material seat of consciousness, with the specific nutrients and bioenergetic balance needed to optimize mind functions and thereby support its psychic activities.

 DISCLAIMER: We do not diagnose, prescribe for, treat or claim to prevent, mitigate or cure any human disease. The concepts offered here are nutritional and bioenergetic in nature. See: bionutrit.htm 

Updated Information, see:
LifeSpirit Links (our general links page)
LifeSpirit Connection (links to mostly metro area practitioners).

Back to the Index 

In the Face of Chaos
The New Age and Personal Tragedy
In Memory -- Lyle Sigmon

Facing loss and hurt:
Yes, perseverance furthers;
No blame, yes, no blame.

Mary Renault wrote a wonderful series of novels about the Hellenic Golden Age. In one she has a student of Socrates experience the horrors of battle, and the near loss of a dear friend. We discussed this scene at one of the all-nite Symposia held in the very early 1970's, which led to the formation of the LCC. In the scene, the student declares, to the effect, "None of my philosophy prepared me for this." Yet, of course, it did.

When the ordered world of our notions, our "expectations," collapses against the surprises Chaos offers up to us, it is only philosophy, rightly understood, which permits us to create any understanding; experience any healing.

Yes, on some soul level -- between the quantum indeterminate triggering of neural synapses, and the action of the whole universe -- choice governs all experience. However, on the particular level of my current incarnated consciousness, I have no automatic awareness of having "created" any negative conditions I experience. How can one just forget, for example, the untimely loss of a spouse, child, lover, friend, parent; the long-term pain of permanent injury, or the emotion agony of mental abuse or neglect or coercion?

The Grand Lesson of New Age Philosophy is that the Universe communicates with each through the personal experience of each. It is the experience that survives the experiencer. Or, more or less as the departed hero says at the end of Ghost, "The wonderful part is that you take the love with you..." After the numbness, the denial, the anger, the resignation and sadness, comes the Lesson. You take the love with you.

Who, then, is this "I" which experiences beyond the dead end of the grave, where all hopes are, some would think, interred? The Existentialist taught that the only significant philosophical question was whether one should commit suicide today; Hamlet's Choice. To the contrary, the New Age, and esoteric beliefs for millennia, teach that there is no today, and no past or future either. There is Self, and It is always in the forever. The Grand Choice of New Age Philosophy is to Choose To Be.

The Buddha in me
Says "all things are lost" Goddess;
Laughs, "all time is one".

It is precisely the tension between the little I of this incarnation and the greater, angelic I of eternity which permits the experience of loss, and the experience of transcending loss. But to the little I, there is no horizon beyond the now. How can this I be opened to see the Universe, to experience Its true nature?

This is the question of the Techniques of Illumination. How does the spiritual athlete poll-vault over ego, and its losses, into the eternal I? By being aware, by being here now, and knowing that now is not. By practicing whatever disciplines are available to you. Expedient devices. Choose to be.

Forming formless void,
Stepping through shadow,
one alights and is godness.

1990

 Back to the Index 

Conclusion to the Commentaries

APPENDIX

 Back to the Index

Overtone Chanting: Inner Sound

Overtone Chanting is an ancient Mongolian and Tibetan technique perfected by the Gyuto and Gyume monasteries (now in exile in India). To monks of the Gelugpa Order, this form of chanting is considered the Voice of Unswerving Compassion.

In this technique, each chanter produces a fundamental bass note and, through the correct positioning of neck and face muscles, two or more overtones, thus sounding a harmonious major chord. Describing these techniques, the Dalai Lama has stated that practitioners "unfold energies which...uplift the spirit of the times..."

Jill Purce calls these techniques "sonic yogas" and is a recognized Teacher of Chanting for Psycho-physical Transformation. In that excellent periodical Magical Blend she explained,

"to do this is a yoga practice in itself because it requires tremendously strong breath control and the simultaneous sustaining of concentration on the listening so that you are constantly in the present moment. Whenever you do that you go beyond space and time and enter into a state of clarity. When you're doing overtone chanting, you're beginning to differentiate mental and physiological processes that aren't normally differentiated. This required incredible concentration -- you use parts of your brain that you don't normally use -- and when you do that something else happens, and you enter into the world of spirit. Overtone chanting is extremely healing. When you work with the overtones it's as if you are modulating the subtle body..."

While the technique can be described verbally, it is best learned from someone who has learned it him or herself. The verbal Description is: relax and control your breathing into the stomach/solar plexus. Allow sound to naturally vibrate from your exhalation, allow it to grow, to overtake you. The mouth is held firm, in a small circle. If your cheeks are somewhat taut, neck muscles somewhat stretched, you will begin to naturally produce the overtones.

Jill Purce teaches the use of overtone chanting for purification and cleansing. You find your personal tone, the natural pitch of your singing voice. The Tibetans say that we accumulate toxins overnight and need to purify ourselves with controlled breathing: breath in, hold for a 4 count; breath out, hold for a 4 count. Breath in light, breath out smoke (toxins).

The chanting is used with the 5 chakra system for healing. Specific vowels activate and cleanse specific chakras: u, base/spine; oh (aw), navel/solar plexus; ah, heart; ay (eh), throat; and ee, head. In this method, you "breath up and down the spine". Also, chanting hum on the out breath will help cleanse the mind.

These overtone chanting techniques have centuries of Tibetan practice behind them and can help open the Self to Higher Vibrations.

Back to the Index

Releasing Ritual on YouTube