Re-re-reading for the umpteenth time..

Robert Monroe's "Far Journeys" (which I consider to be his best book).  I'm convinced: there's a there there. One thing of note, in the thirty or so years when I first read it: His description of a parallel astral area next to, and slightly out of synch with, the physical, populated with those who don't know that they're dead. This realm is vividly described in many NDE accounts... In fact, it's largely an NDE touchstone. Other authorities--notably Michael Newton, who looks at the process from the other end (regression hypnosis)--downplay the idea. I lean toward the Monroe hypothesis, largely because it makes more sense, and it explains a plethora of "paranormal" phenomena. Otherwise, his descriptions dovetail with other researchers, particularly in the various staging areas associated with death and rebirth.  I would actually like to do a textual comparison on the two accounts. I think it could be veridical (particularly since I doubt that the esteemed Dr. Newton has subjected himself to the Hemi-Sync process).

Life Before Life: A nugget from Volume 3 of Seth's "Early Sessions"

It is easy to become blasé about some of the early Seth material because much of it has been mainstreamed in New Age and metaphysical circles.  However, I stumbled upon the following, which I immediately recognized as significant, due to one important fact:

Now, since we are thinking in terms of archeological layers, we would continue to express ourselves along those lines. So. Directly beneath personal subconscious you will find upon examination either through hypnosis or applied association, a layer dealing with the period before this life, and after the life before this one.

Since this period was to some degree at least free of camouflage, from it communication can be received dealing with the entity's knowledge of itself, and of uncamouflaged reality. From this undifferentiated gap of experience between camouflage existences, valuable information may be received dealing with the reality which exists behind, and independent of, matter.

From this focus position communication may be set up between personality essences no longer in the physical field, and those still in it, provided that those still in it are able to remove focus from the ego to this particular level. It is from this focus point then that communication between what is termed the living and the dead may take place. The necessary focus point may be achieved through trance, hypnosis or self-hypnosis, or through certain other disciplines.

Basically, Seth is saying that if you hypnotize someone, you can extract information about that person's past lives and "between life" state.  Nowadays, you can't throw a rock in a bookstore without hitting a book explicating "life after life" or "life before life."  However, these concepts were unknown in 1964, when the above was dictated.  As far as I know, the first popular, mainstream book that purported to examine conscious existence "between lives" was Helen Wambach's "Life Before Life" (which I bought in 1981).  The method by which she compiled her data was a sort of group hypnosis.  No one, apparently, had thought to use hypnosis to obtain this data--and publish the results in the mainstream--until then.  Michael Newton, of course, perfected the process and published his classic studies beginning in the 1990s.  The point is, it's extremely unlikely that Jane Roberts could have articulated such a process in 1964.  Not only do I believe that this is a validation of the Seth material, I also think it validates Dr. Newton's work.

Seth's "Early Sessions" volumes 5 and 6 are now out on Kindle

I always download these books when they are first offered. Maybe it's a throwback to my pre-digital fear that somehow they will become sold out. Or maybe I fear that they will vanish. I have seen some Kindle editions offered at Amazon.com, then withdrawn. (Case in point: "The Cygnus Mystery.")

In any case, I continue to highly recommend these books to any Seth fans out there (and there are probably more than a few). Have Seth's ideas succeeded in changing the world yet, as Seth predicted they would?  I'm tempted to argue "no," yet, somehow, through some vector, "his" ideas are becoming widespread--mostly in the "New Age" community, but also in the esoteric realms of "edge" science.  Generally every New Agish sort of book that I've perused makes a nodding reference to "Sethian" ideas, albeit without reference and in a distorted fashion.

And there are some interesting tidbits. Near the end of Book 2, which I am finishing up, Seth compares / contrasts Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud, and counterintuitively gives Freud more credence. He also notes that Jane Roberts is reading "Cayce," stating that "many" of Cayce's observations are "extremely valid."  This could be none other than Edgar Cayce, and to my knowledge, this is the only reference to Cayce in Seth's writings.  Which causes me to wonder: what did Seth think of the whole Cayce channeling phenomenon?  (His opinion of the various contemporary "reincarnations" of Cayce might be easier to predict.  But I'm no prophet--not even a sleeping one.)

Kindle Matchbook is live!

I was able to pick up the digital version of one of the best metaphysical books that I've ever read:  "Secret Vaults of Time: Psychic Archaeology and the Quest for Man's Beginnings" by Stephan Schwartz. It was pleasant surprise... For weeks, I've been browsing the crappy picking in this subject and wanting to stumble upon something truly good. But "Secret Vaults Of Time" is great, and I didn't even know that it had been e-booked. So, if you happen upon this blog and are even remotely interested in the subject, check out Dr. Schwartz's groundbreaking study.

Will anyone stop the suicide bombers of the American Republic?

I have been around the 'net, looking for some tea leaves to read.  I dropped by my old haunt, "Coast To Coast AM," to see if Evelyn Paglini has done a recent show.  Except for an Art Bell broadcast from 2001, I saw nothing.  Then I dropped by Unknown Country.  There was an interesting article there: John Hogue says that the next 18 months will be "among history's MOST IMPORTANT" (as if this has never been the case).  It's a special subscriber interview; I could download it and hear what he says.  (Perhaps I will, should the government default.)  But no one seems to be concerned about the looming default that's staring us in the face, as I type.

Will anyone stop the suicide bombers of the American Republic?  Do not the Koch Brothers, who financed the tea party movement from whole cloth, not understand that a federal default will impact their bottom line?  Is there no buyer's remorse?  We've always been told that "money" controls the American government.  Where are the money men, then?  Why aren't they pulling their strings?  Financiers, high rollers, leveraged buyers, and your ilk:  Listen up.  You get one chance at this.  Call in your suicide bombers, or there will be no party left to party.

"Chicago: Meanwhile, Back At The Ranch"

I am departing somewhat (and semi-regularly) from the predominant theme of this blog to indulge in another interest of mine, namingly, popular music of the various genres, from all eras. Little-known fact: I almost became music major, but I lacked a critical ingredient: talent.

Question to the universe: does the above-titled show exist as an official medium (DVD)?  I've seen the bootleg copies online, but I doubt that they are any better than the YouTube excerpts that I've already downloaded.

I watched it on my black-and-white television in 1974 and got reacquainted with it again just this year, when I found it on YouTube... Although, truthfully, I've been searching so long for it--almost forty years.  At the time, a newspaper preview indicated that Chicago (the band) did not like doing television presentations because of the resultant poor audio quality--but they relented for this show. And they were proven right... The audio of this broadcast is pristine. It was quite the revelation for my budding audiophile ears at the time, and I was a mega-fan of the group (though this breakthrough might be lost on the digital generation).

Currently reading "The Growth of Truth: A True Story of the Heaven and Hell of a Psychic Medium," by Debbie Raymond-Pinet

I've oft written that I'm a disbeliever in almost all "famous" mediums (you know who they are), and I put no credence in most mediumistic accounts. I've read quite a few of them, and they are all universally boring, rote, and trite. Ms. Raymond-Pinet's book is different. Not only is it an engrossing read, but there is a certain authenticity about her story. The Kindle version is currently only $3.03--in itself an anomaly, since the more famous accounts are priced quite a bit more--and I invite anyone stumbling upon this entry to check it out.  I found myself liking the author quite a bit, and the story of her lifelong experience of seeing "dead people" is both fascinating and spooky.  I plan to write a fuller review of it later, but in the mean time, I wanted to examine one of the many themes that Ms. Raymond-Pinet presents in her peculiarly nuanced way.

Of all of the concepts that Seth expects his readers to accept, the hardest is that "there is no such thing as evil."  I'm oversimplifying--true Seth students recognize that Seth is arguing that "good" and "evil" are essentially dualities that have meaning only on the physical plane. In the grander scheme of "reality," the division that causes us to perceive certain experiences as "good" or "evil" disappears. It's an important distinction, one that I've spent the bulk of my adult life sorting out. How can Seth say that there's no evil, when I've personally been on the receiving end of quite a bit of it?

It is here--the examination of good and evil--that "The Growth Of Truth" excels where other mediumistic accounts fall flat. Ms. Raymond-Pinet's account can be read as a twenty-first century morality tale whereby a gifted but flawed individual wrestles with the burden of her unwanted insight into the non-physical realm, and all the responsibility that comes with it, while attempting to live a life that vacillates between sensual indulgence and spiritual altruism. Throughout, she confronts a number of archetypes that remind me of shamanic initiation rites, as well as the peculiar coupling of a young, benign spirit friend named "Bobby," and the Gentleman--a "man in black" who surfaces regularly to torture the youthful Debbie and, years later, her children. I see a direct analog with the UFO "abduction" experiences of the last century, and I wonder: are these part and parcel of the same thing?  And if so, what is going on?  If these experiences are "real"--and I have no reason to disbelieve them--what are they trying to teach us?

I think that it's important that we find out.  Ms. Raymond-Pinet does not say, but we are tempted to think, that her horrible encounters with true evil are punishment for her various youthful indiscretions. (It's certainly what I often think about myself.)  But "The Growth Of Truth" suggests that reality is more complex than that. The ominous man-in-black is, according to the author, simply doing his job. He is evil, to be sure, and while the angels that surround the author clip his wings on occasion, they never destroy him. He is allowed to do his "job." Intriguing stuff, and worth the effort to understand.