WOW by Janet Ray
In This Issue:
An Encounter With The Numinous by Wayne G. Lanham (Nahu)
Imagination by Nardine Neilson
The Reification of Time by Bob Makransky
Beyond Invictus by Donald R. Johnson
The Road To Elmira: Chapter Five by Richard Kendall
An Encounter With The Numinous
by Wayne G. Lanham
It was December 1978 and bitterly cold. Besides being one of the worst blizzards Oklahoma had experienced in the southeastern section of the state, it was my misfortune to get caught out in it after a long, hard walk up from Florida, where a friend and I had gone searching for work in an old milk van, converted into a camper.
After a few weeks of slim pickings and little if no work, we began to feud and it was clear that one of us had to leave or we might end up destroying what was left of a great friendship. So it became obvious that one of us would have to leave, and since it was technically his van, it was clear it would be me.
We parked near a beach, and later I decided to pack what little clothes I had and head off hitch-hiking to Oklahoma. I optimistically figured it wouldn't be any trouble at all for one person to get a few rides and in no time arrive there; even if I had no more than a five-dollar bill in my wallet. I was accustomed to going the distance lean, after all, we had struggled for a month to make it on little money or food.
In the darkness of the van, I got up, tossed the backpack on my back and said, "Good by, old buddy, I'm sorry, but one of us has to go and it might as well be me." I closed the door and walked out into the warm night air, feeling slightly saddened but very positive, thinking how could anything go wrong? But that was in sunny Orlando, Florida where the nights were balmy and the days beautiful-not a hint of what lay ahead for me.
Though it was late, I stuck my thumb out and fortune smiled on me. The first car that came by stopped and I got in. The driver was a pleasant older man, out to see the world, and in need of companionship and a second hand to spell him from the hypnotic effects of the road. We talked for awhile, I drove and went on through the night. I guess that first ride lasted about two hours when I found myself entering Alabama. You see, I had decided to take the southern route, where it was warm, cut up through Louisiana into
Texarkana and from there to Oklahoma. I said, "Thank you," and stepped out of the car into the night as he drove off in the distance, his taillights dimming the further he went, until they winked out.
I loved walking and hitchhiking. It was always good to me. Why, in those days a person could stick their thumb out and hitch anywhere they wanted in the U.S. in a few days. But that was, as I recall, back in the sixties when everyone was a little more trusting. I guess I expected it to be that way again-but it wasn't. Instead, after about a couple of hours walking and hitching I began to realize that no one seemed to care. Several hours later, I lost some of my enthusiasm, sat down on the side of the road and tried hitching from there, but to no avail. Strange, I thought, it never had been this hard before. So I made a sign like those you sometime see held up by hitchhikers to catch your attention. Mine read: TULSA OR BUST! Thinking back, maybe that wasn't the best of signs.
Anyway, to make a long story short--it didn't work. So I got up and hitched some more while walking. Between bouts of walking, sitting down and holding up the sign, I tried singing, then meditating on my Oneness with the Universe. That was one of my favorite mental-spiritual past time, especially when I had a lot of time and things were starting to worry me, plus humming old Beatles songs. Suffice it to say, this singing, walking and meditation went on for several days, sustained only by brief rides, in which I immediately fell asleep when I got a lift, and diversions to get water, buy fruit or an inexpensive sandwich. By the time I got to Louisiana, it was clear this was not my day or week. It was as though Spirit had abandoned me, left me to the wolves, to survive on my own wits without a bit of help.
I began to feel a little sad and frustrated. It was winding on into three days and during some of the weary nights a soaking, cold rain fell upon my weakened condition, and I began to feel the onset of a throaty cough welling up in my respiratory tract. That, I
didn't like. Struggling against the elements and feeling the rejection of people on the road was one thing, but suffering from a physical ailment was new to me. I guess that came from a part of my ingrained self-confidence that I could always make it, that is, the knowledge that my health was reliable. But now, with this cold and my weakened condition, it began to dawn on me that this trip would test me in new ways I had never experienced before.
Coming up through Texarkana and moving into Oklahoma, a Native American brother gave me a lift and half his sandwich, which was next to a minor miracle, because I had long ago ran out of cash. He dropped me off somewhere South East of Tulsa, near McAlester, Oklahoma, which was perhaps 190 miles to my destination. I was so grateful to see a sign indicating that I was getting closer to Tulsa, even if it meant facing one of the worst storms Oklahoma had seen in years. I laughed it off, thinking, no sweat-I'll make it, even if I have to walk all the way!
It was around 1:00 A.M. in the morning, the bleak sky and frozen landscape seemed to compound the feeling of desperation that began to gnaw at me, that this just might be my last hitchhiking trip I would ever try to undertake. Looking up at the driving snow, feeling the biting cold, wet slush as it was flung up on me by the roaring trucks that rushed by like heartless ghosts in the road, and sensing the weakness running through my rapidly tiring legs, told me that things better change and quick, or I could be the victim of freezing or hyperthermia. My situation really wasn't funny. In fact, it became horrifying how my body started caving in. Where was my strength that I had always relied on? Now I felt like a hacking weakling. "No!" I cried out at the frigid night, "I will not give up!" I will keep on, regardless, relentlessly to my goal. Like always, I would make it, no matter what!
After about twenty miles of slugging through the slush, it became obvious that no one
cared. In fact, they nearly ran me over, maybe not even seeing me, so I stayed far over to the side, walking on the shoulder or in the grass. And believe me that was even more difficult walking, if you have ever walked through high, frozen grass late at night.
The powerful wind drove the crystallized snow particles into my face as I fought to keep moving ahead. Just about the time that I felt tears welling from my eyes in desperation and I began talking to myself like a raving lunatic to keep moving, I noticed something that caught my eye, high in the night sky and off in the distance. It was a thick, roseate cloud that moved suspiciously toward me, as if gravitating in my direction. Something about its movement and sudden appearance attracted me, almost with rapt curiosity to its presence; I cannot say what that intuition was, except that it spoke to me in a personal way. Sure, many will think me delusional, a maddened victim of my condition, driven to fanciful hallucinations and odd dreams.
Certainly, I was exhausted, ready to fall, if the truth was known. But none-the-less I stood stock still, magnetized by that cloud's presence as it drew near me. One thing that stood out clearly, as it slowly passed over, was its odd, red color that grew brighter as it turned toward me, exposing a figure in its midst. There, lo and behold, in its shape and form, I could see the wondrous outline of a figure that I immediately knew to be the Holy Mother. Miraculous though it may be, there she was, her arms outstretched toward me, her face smiling benevolently. From her hands poured a glowing light that radiated down on me, and as it did, I jumped, thrilled by her touch like a person receiving the Holy Ghost. Waves of heat passed through me. I began crying and laughing all at once! An incredibly powerful force permeated my body and every part was warmed.
Without a moment of doubt, my whole Spirit changed! I sang songs again, laughed and cried out loud to the night, reveling in my blessing. And things did change. Rapidly and without my efforts, a car came through the blowing snow and blackness to stop in the highway across from me. I could see a man wiping the window and looking. I didn't even
try to catch his attention, because I knew he came for me!
Sure enough, he cut through the snow banks piled high on each side and made his way up to me. I stopped, looked over at him as he rolled the window down and said, "Someone laid it on my heart to come and get you." I said, "Yes, I know, it was the Holy Mother!" He continued, "Come on, get in. When was the last time you ate?" I replied, "Yesterday," and sank into the warm interior of the seat next to him. "Come on," he continued, "I'm going to feed you."
From there we drove to an all night diner. We went in and he ordered eggs and waffles for me, drank a cup of coffee, and read a newspaper. I felt love for this stranger fill my heart. When I got done eating, he looked over at me and said, "I'm going fifty miles in the other direction, but because someone laid it on my heart to rescue you, I have decided to take you the 175 miles you need to go to Tulsa." I was overjoyed and thanked him profoundly, knowing in my heart that if Spirit hadn't touched him, my fate would be to face the harsh elements and, in my desperate condition, perish.
After eating, we went out to the car and I got in and layed back on the seat, promptly passing out. Hours later, I awoke to find us pulling up to the address of the house I'd given him, of my good friend, Barry, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. As I got up and shook his hand, turning toward him, I suddenly knew exactly who he was, looked him in the eye and said, "I know who you are." He smiled, looked at me with sincerity and replied, "Who do you think I am?" I said with unwavering certainty, straight from my heart, "You're an angel!" He continued to smile and said, "Bless God, my friend."
Epilogue
When I went up to the house and knocked, my friend Barry opened the door saying, "You look like you have lost a lot of weight and must be very tired. Come on in." As I stepped in, full of happiness in spite of my exhausted condition, he suddenly pointed to a
shadowy figure, "Look," he said, "There's an image of the Virgin Mary on the wall over you!" I looked and was amazed to see that there she was again, shimmering in the light of a lamp, her arms outstretched, just like I had seen her on the road. And you know, to this day, I can still feel her presence near me during times of crisis, ever vigilant. I will never forget that moment and feel that her presence bestowed upon me the opportunity to share my spiritual experiences with others.
Imagination
by Nardine Neilson
Rustling leaves in a gentle breeze
a wind-chimes lilting tones that ease
and birds do chirp play or dance
to natures beauty I’m held trance
these sounds evoke my hearts delight
as I reflect my inner sight
a ladybird upon my knee
affirms my joy then flies free
I marvel as this life I make
unfolds each day and I create
such beauty to behold my joy
imagination - a wondrous toy!
The Reification of Time
by Bob Makransky
"At one time I waded through the river and at one time crossed the mountain. You may think that that mountain and that river are things of the past, that I have left them behind and am now living in this palatial building - they are as separate from me as heaven is from earth.
"However, the truth has another side. When I climbed the mountain and crossed the river, I was time. …. I have always been; time cannot leave me. When time is not regarded as a phenomenon which ebbs and flows, the time I climbed the mountain is the present moment of being-time. When time is not thought of as coming and going, this moment is absolute time for me. …
"Do not regard time as merely flying away; do not think that flying away is its sole function. For time to fly away there would have to be a separation between it and things. Because you imagine that time only passes, you do not learn the truth of being-time. In a word, every being in the entire world is a separate time in one continuum. And since being is time, I am my being-time. Time has the quality of passing, so to speak, from today to tomorrow, from today to yesterday, from yesterday to today, from today to today, from tomorrow to tomorrow. Because this passing is a characteristic of time, present time and past time do not overlap or impinge upon one another."
- Dogen-zenji
"The shamans of ancient Mexico never regarded time and space as obscure abstracts the way we do. For them, both time and space, although incomprehensible in their formulations, were an integral part of man.
"Those shamans had another cognitive unit called the wheel of time. The way they explained the wheel of time was to say that time was like a tunnel of infinite length and width, a tunnel with reflective furrows. Every furrow was infinite, and there were infinite numbers of them. Living creatures were compulsorily made, by the force of life, to gaze into one furrow. To gaze into one furrow alone meant to be trapped by it, to live that furrow.
"A warrior's final aim is to focus, through an act of profound discipline, his unwavering attention on the wheel of time in order to make it turn. Warriors who have succeeded in turning the wheel of time can gaze into any furrow and draw from it whatever they desire. To be free from the spellbinding force of gazing into only one of those furrows means that warriors can look in either direction: as time retreats or as it advances on them." - Carlos Castaneda, The Wheel of Time
Contrary to popular belief, space and time have no objective existence. Therefore, to base our science and philosophy - not to mention our everyday lives - upon the assumption of reified space and time is about as absurd as basing them on the existence of Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. Indeed, Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny are considerably more real in the cosmic scheme of things than what we call "space" and "time".
Space and time are merely tools - techniques for organizing cognition - which evolved as sentient beings evolved. Just as the sense of vision is a cognitive tool which evolved as animals evolved; and visual acuity is more pronounced in predatory animals such as eagles than it is in e.g. blind cave fish; so too are the sense of space and time cognitive tools which are sharper (more highly evolved) for humans than for "lower" animals. The belief that they are centered in space and time enables beings to focus attention upon one thing at a time instead of everything at once. What time really is, is not how we perceive it to be in our normal, everyday consciousness. Although human perception and cognition make sense to humans, the universe itself doesn't make sense in the way that humans believe. There is no space or time out there.
Where materialistic science sees time as linear, magic sees time as rhythmic. Materialistic science measures points and intervals along a well-ordered continuum, whereas magical science measures cycles upon cycles. This is what astrology is all about: the moment of birth can be viewed as a point along a linear continuum, as it is in materialistic science; or, conversely, it can be viewed as a stage in the unfoldment of potentialities on various levels - i.e. as the intersection of many different interpenetrating cycles, as it is in astrology.
It is more accurate to describe time as an emanation of birth - death - rebirth. The so-called real number system has no model in nature: the universe is not continuous, but rather explodes into being and dissolves into nothingness with every passing instant of "time". What we take to be linear time is but a fragmentary way of apprehending and dealing with this phenomenon, which has evolved in tandem with human consciousness.
While animals are vaguely aware of the passage of time - i.e. while animals also organize their cognition temporally - animal consciousness is far less focused than human consciousness. Animals have far less sense of being separated individuals than humans have - they have less awareness of a separated self, are less "there" than humans feel themselves to be; and as a result their experience of time is less "there" as well. We humans - especially we modern humans, are in a big hurry. Being in a big hurry is how we define ourselves. "We" are something that is in a big hurry; being in a big hurry is what "we" are made out of. Linear time is a completely human invention, like golf or the latest Paris fashions - a set of rules which have no reference to anything outside of human experience. Linear time is predicated on linear thinking. When linear thinking stops - when the constant internal dialogue which most people engage in from the minute they awaken to the minute they go to sleep ceases - then so too does linear time.
The argument in favor of linear time really boils down to the old post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy - that things make sense because they make sense; that there's a reason why this and not that; that everyday life, our experience of waking reality, is not just a dream - a mere flood of random hypnogogic hallucinations to which we quite arbitrarily (and unskillfully) attribute sequence and causality: "First this happened, then that happened, then the other thing happened; and that's who I am. That's how I define my self as an individual - my sense of being centered in a body, in a world, in a reality."
In hypnogogic hallucination - the flood of images which pass through our minds as we are dropping off to sleep - we can view the process by which we create our own dream reality; our waking reality is created analogously. In waking life, as in hypnogogic hallucination, there is no reason why this image or situation is chosen and not that one. Reasons why things are have to be cobbled together in retrospect, to provide a post hoc justification for why things are the way they are. Although causes do give rise to effects, and these effects are even predictable at times, there is in truth no reason why this and not that. In other probable realities it came out that and not this.
While brain research being carried out in neuroscience will undoubtedly lead to many useful discoveries, it has nothing to do with the study of consciousness. The so-called physical brain, like the physical body it inhabits, is merely a projection of the mind, exactly in the same fashion that the dreaming body is a projection of the mind. The only difference is that the waking body and brain are persistent enough for us to dissect. If we could make dreaming hold still long enough to examine minutely we would find that our dream bodies and brain were made out of molecules and cells and neurons and whatnot too. Or whatever. None of this actually exists, it's all just a dream - an arbitrary hypnogogic hallucination.
In the magical model moment-to-moment decisions are not made by mind, much less by a physical brain; they are merely reflected in mind. Mind conjures up reasons after the fact to justify the decisions that have already been made on a level of feeling (dreamless sleep). In the magical view decisions are made "first", and then circumstances arise "later" which reflect those decisions.
That is to say, mind - and the so-called physical brain - are like the scoreboard at an athletic contest. The scoreboard reflects what is happening on the field, but it doesn't create it. Similarly, mind and the brain reflect decisions that are being made on a feeling level, but they certainly don't create anything. They don't even apprehend anything. They just keep count, keep score, keep tabs on what is really going on. A body - whether in dreaming or waking - is merely a counter: first this happens to it, then that happens to it, then the other happens to it, then it dies.
The actual situation is one of complete randomness - of all likely outcomes occurring simultaneously in different probable realities. And in each probable reality mind clicks out a thought form to justify / explain why this or that particular reality occurred. E.g. there is no "competition for scarce resources" going on; this is just the presenting problem, the superficial appearance of an energy dynamic in which sentient beings appear to be in turmoil, preying upon and devouring one another's energy. This is what W.B. Yeats' termed Deception - the appearance that the acts of creation and destruction are not exactly identical, flip sides of the same coin, like the snake devouring its own tail. Elephants don't have long proboscises because this confers an evolutionary advantage. Rather, they just have them, period. Any evolutionary advantage this bestows is a post hoc, materialistic interpretation: things are the way they are because that's how they are, and this explains why they are that way
Anyone who discerns any purpose in the outworkings of the universe - whether this purpose is conceived of as the will of God, or survival of the fittest and most prolific reproducers, or the selfishness of genes - is looking at things backwards. Both Christianity and rationalistic materialism (science) are projecting images which aren't there. Like the cabalistic Gematria which finds hidden connections in every biblical name and phrase, or like a paranoid who detects sinister plots against him in every chance occurrence, Christianity and materialism project meaning and purpose onto complete chaos. There is no purpose to anything except as in retrospect it can be argued that things are the way they are because that is how they were meant to be. But this is an illusion, the post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy, which in turn is predicated on the fallacy of linear time.
This is not to say that there is no causality in the universe: effects do not arise without a cause. However that causality is not embedded in linear time, and indeed it is too complex to analyze rationally (though here and there its results can be anticipated or predicted by intuition / feeling, as we do in astrology). What most of us take to be causality is merely an illusion - mistaking how humans in our society make agreements amongst themselves for laws of the universe; as if golf or the latest Paris fashions were somehow universal principles with application outside of human society. What we take to be causality is merely post hoc sophistry: "See, I told you so!" But it doesn't prove anything whatsoever.
For example, we mistakenly believe that first things happen to us, and then we react to them. E.g., first we get laid off from our job, and then we feel depressed and helpless. However from the magical point of view, the decision to feel depressed and helpless is primary - is made "first" (on the level of dreamless sleep). The "getting laid off" thought form is conjured up "later" to justify feelings of importance - that it's important to feel depressed and helpless. In astrology we can often see bad times coming up in the future, in the progressions or transits, although it's not always possible to predict the exact thought form situation which the bad times will take. The point is that either causality has nothing to do with linear time, or else astrology is a false doctrine. Q.E.D.
If we're going to understand this point of view we have to get over our prejudice, which is all it is, about time being linear. The fact is that time is not linear. Here's a way of looking at it: survivors of near-death experiences often report having seen every single event that ever happened to them during their lives flash by them in no time at all. Sometimes they report seeing everything that ever happened to them zip by, but still being able to see each scene discretely, in a few seconds' time. Others report seeing each individual event of their entire lives in one, complete take. In any case, it would seem that we experience the thought forms of our lives twice: once in linear fashion over a lifetime, and then in a timeless fashion at the moment of death.
This idea that time can be non-linear is easiest to see in dreams. Dream time is sequential, but not linear in the same sense in which waking time is linear. Dream time doesn't have the same cause-and-effect inexorability that waking time has. This is because there is less focus in dreams, so everything is more here-and-now. Unlike waking consciousness, in dreaming we are rarely influenced by past or future events. We don't define ourselves in terms of personal history and future so much as we do when we're awake. Things happen too fast and too intensely in dreams to dwell upon: everything is just too vivid and too now.
When we are awake and confronted by a life-threatening situation, e.g. while we are having an automobile accident or during a big earthquake, time slows way down. We can see everything that is happening with great clarity, in great detail, as if it were unfolding in slow-motion. This slow-motion perception of time is closer to the truth. It is more like dream-time perception and less like our normal, everyday, gloss-over-things-quickly-and-superficially-in-a-hurry perception of time. However, we are incapable of acting in the normal way in this slow-motion perception of time because we can't think. If we are going to act or react in this frame of mind, we can only do so on intent, on our gut-level instinct, not on thought. Therefore the slow-motion perception is not as useful in performing all the humdrum tasks of everyday life as is normal time perception; but it is the more useful form of perception in the practice of magic, where decisions have to be made faster than normal thinking allows.
When time slows down enough we lose our sense of separated selfhood altogether and move into altered states of consciousness. Indeed, we can define "altered state" as the feeling of timelessness. This can happen due to shock, psychedelic drugs, or even spirits. Some spirits have the power to temporarily erase our importance (self-pity) so that we experience a state of selfless grace. Enlightenment is such a state - people who are enlightened can move into and out of timelessness and selflessness at will, by focusing their attention one way or the other. But even enlightened people don't exist in a state of nirvana all day long. They have normal lives to lead too, and altered states are not particularly functional in everyday society. That's why our normal time sense evolved: it is more functional for agriculturalists than the NOW time sense of hunting-gathering.
Altered states can be inspiring, can give us a glimpse of the goal we are shooting for, but they are always temporary. Normal, everyday life is the battleground, the place where the real work has to be done, the place where it all begins and ends. The goal of magical training is to bring an awareness of timelessness and selflessness (which are the same thing) into the routines of our everyday lives. We do this by detaching from the hurried me-me-me with its endless fluster of self-pitying moods from the past and concerns for the future.
Linear time is the matrix of our separated, lower self. Self and time arise together and fall together (dissolve into selflessness and timelessness). Our hunter-gatherer ancestors, like infants, didn't have anywhere near as much sense of a separated self as we moderns do. They were not as individuated as we are today. They paid more attention to their feelings, their intuition, than to their thinking. Ancient humans lived in a more timeless frame of mind, a sense of belonging to the universe. Their mental processing wasn't a matter of constant thinking, but rather of direct knowing what their ancestors, spirits, and the earth were telling them. They felt themselves to be part of an ongoing, natural process in the same way that we feel ourselves to be part of our society. Because they were not as separated as we are today, they felt less Angst than we do, because they had no future to worry about.
If the future didn't exist, would we care about it? If we stop thinking so much about the past and future, then the past and future lose much of their meaning. They are just not as important, so they are not as "there", just as they aren't as "there" for infants or ancient humans as they are for us. Infant and ancient human consciousness isn't a matter of the constant dissatisfaction and relentless striving which enables modern humans to focus enough attention to think.
When humans were still hunters, they did not draw as sharp a distinction between being awake and being asleep as we do today, since they slept in snatches when they felt like it instead of in long stretches during the night. Similarly, they didn't draw as sharp a distinction between past and future as we do now because they didn't need to - they were more centered in the now moment, hence they experienced their past and future in a more immediate fashion than we do today. They didn't define themselves as much in terms of personal history (moods) and future aspirations (concerns).
We say, "I am no longer who I was back then" - separating who we are now from who we were at an earlier age. We say, "Someday I will be or do such-and-such" - separating who we are now from who we fantasize we will become. But our hunter-gatherer ancestors didn't have that much of a sense of separatedness - things that happened to them a long time ago, or that would happen to them some future day (what we would call prescience or sense of destiny), were more a part of who they conceived themselves to be now than they are for us. They were in closer touch with their intent - the feeling of their past and future; they didn't have as many thought forms interposing a linear order upon their consciousness, imposing some ponderous past and inexorable future upon their present.
It's precisely us moderns' caring and worrying about the future that conjures up its existence. We care about the future, it's important to us, because we believe there's glory for us somewhere in our future - that we're going to win the lottery, or find true love, or become famous, or go to heaven, or some other such malarkey. What impels each of us individuals forward is the mirage of instant relief from our sufferings and release from our bondage - that miraculous change of luck that we imagine is just over the next hill.
The other side of that coin is our past, the things that we are ashamed of and are trying to forget about (as well as hide from other people).
That striving towards a future and slinking away from a past is what creates the illusion that there is such a thing as a future and a past. When striving ends, so too does linear time. This is what we experience in altered states of awareness. In altered states we just don't give a damn about the past or future - we're too centered and joyous in the present.
Feeling is spatial; that is, what we call space is merely the sense of having feelings and what we call time is the sense of having thoughts - hence everyone's need for their own personal space or right to their own feelings, and their own time to make up their minds. Physical, three-dimensional space is a symbol for feelings, just as time is a symbol for thoughts; hence space still exists in the dream state, but time doesn't - at least not in the same sense in which it exists in the waking state. Our sense of personal continuity in the dream state is not based upon a linear, sequential, unfolding of events, as it is in waking. Things jump around too much in dreams for us to be able to operate on the assumption of personal continuity such as we make in waking consciousness. Rather, our sense of selfhood in dreaming is based upon an awareness of self as experiencer (i.e., of death).
That vibrant, alive quality which characterizes dreaming is actually awareness of death. In dreams we are aware of death every second, willy-nilly, because there's nothing solid in dreams to cling to: there's no way of toning down the intensity of what we are experiencing. We're face-to-face with death every second. That's why we feel more alive in dreams than we do in wakefulness - because we are seeing with the eyes of death.
The point is that what we call time is a falsehood. To us moderns space and time are real, and feelings and thoughts are symbols for space and time; but in fact, exactly the reverse is true. Linear time is an illusion similar to the illusion of motion produced by the series of still pictures which make up a movie. Babies (and even young children, who sometimes talk about memories from other lifetimes) are not as centered in a one-track existence as adults are. Babies and young children are consciously impinged upon by influences (feelings) from other lives and probable realities which most adults have learned to ignore. The same socialization process which props up a baby's sense of being a unitary, abiding, separated individual also imprisons that individual in a furrow of inexorable linear temporality.
In other words, the illusion that time is linear - that there is a sensible progression from one moment to the next - is merely an agreement that human beings make. Just as during courtship people focus entirely on the positive aspects of their relationship and ignore the negative ones; and later when the marriage falls apart all they focus on are the negatives and ignore the positives; in the same way people focus all their moment-to-moment attention on that which seems to be familiar and persistent. But the truth is that each passing moment is an entirely new ballgame with completely different rules: nothing persists, and everything is ineffable. Familiarity is a lie people tell themselves and each other to keep from completely losing their marbles: "Oh no, I'm not completely disoriented here, everything's just fine and dandy!" It's this lie that makes society (waking consciousness) possible.
Time isn't a line. It's more like a plane, an infinite-ring circus, an eternal NOW moment, in which everything that has ever happened and ever will happen, in all lifetimes and realities, is happening all at once. But each individual thought form involved thinks that it is a real, separated being with individual self-existence and a personal history and future. Each of the infinite thought forms which make up "us" - all of the things we have ever experienced or ever will experience; all of the monads of every instant of awareness in all our probable realities from this life and all our past and future lives - thinks that it is the real "us", centered in a universe in which things make sense. Each individual thought form (since they are indeed discrete) thinks it's the top dog (most important). And from any given thought form we can move to an infinite number of possible futures or remember an infinite number of possible pasts. And once that decision is made - the decision to move from the standpoint of any given thought form now moment to any other given thought form future moment or remembered past moment - mind will stamp upon that decision the notation: MAKES SENSE! (is "real"). That's the only reason why things make sense (seem real) to us: because we are constantly telling ourselves the lie that things make sense. We tell ourselves the same lie when we are dreaming (that what we are experiencing makes sense, is "real").
Admittedly, some probable futures or pasts are more likely than others; it's more likely that your next thought form will be moving a bit further along reading this sentence rather than suddenly appearing on a Caribbean beach sipping a pina colada. That's the sort of thing that happens in dream consciousness - the jump from thought form to thought form tends to be a lot more haphazard than in waking consciousness. But it's nonetheless a random process, shaped by tendencies from human and individual memory, whose only claim to fame is that it makes sense - there's no doubt about it!
Mind is what makes sense out of this selection. This is easier to see in dream consciousness where even the most bizarre and improbable (from the point of view of wakefulness) thought forms can pop up and yet make perfect sense at the time we are dreaming them. Similarly, our waking consciousness (experience of everyday life) also only makes sense because we have decided to let it make sense. That assumption is what traps us in our furrows.
To lose our sense of linear time implies living moment-to-moment with all of our memories - at least the feeling of them if not the actual thought forms. Only by recapitulating all of our memories are we in possession of all the memories (feelings) of all our past and probable lives, as well as this one. At that point we're not really centered in any given one of them anymore. The waking state is controllable only as long as it seems familiar and important - i.e., centered in a past and future. The trick, then, is to be quite comfortable with everything out of control, as it were. When things are out of control then we are dreaming. The more out of control we let our daily lives be, the more we are actually dreaming rather than being awake, and the closer we are to our intent - to being able to act on our true feelings rather than our social conditioning. This is what the practice of magic is all about.
(excerpted from Magical Almanac Ezine
Copyright © 2007 by Bob Makransky. All rights reserved).
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About the author: Bob Makransky is a systems analyst, programmer, and professional astrologer. For the past 30 years he has lived on a farm in highland Guatemala where he is a Mayan priest, runs an eco-hotel for travellers, and is head of the local blueberry growers association. His books, articles, stories, cartoons, free monthly astro-magical ezine; complete instructions on how to channel by automatic writing and how to run past life regressions; free downloadable Mayan Horoscope software; etc. are available at: http://www.dearbrutus.com.
Beyond Invictus
by Donald R. Johnson
(It's nice to know what we are - but what can we Be?)
Inspirational words abound
To be found
They help us in ways
To endure the days
(I am the master of my Fate)
Shoulder the familiar burden
That which we would shun
Carry it or be undone
Meet the light of the next sun
(I am the Captain of my Soul)
Words that inspire are welcome
But one can soon become numb
From carrying the baggage
If he will not budge
(I am the slave of my past, a puppet doomed to play the part that has fallen to me in default... I have not bothered to write my own role)
To break forth, in wonder
The cage burst asunder
Set free by words of Freedom
Hints of what I can Become
(I am my Selves; my destination - everywhere)
Peering wide-eyed after my rebirth
Through the broken shell of the Earth
I eagerly search for new stories
To become, to explore, to seize
(I am all. I am the god of ME)
I search, and laugh as a god should
At all that I had misunderstood:
The universe is mine to explore
Thru worlds of meaning I will soar
(I am not content and who would want to be? The infinite depth of a moment and the infinity of moments to dive into will never end. Why trudge towards eternity when one could instead quicken one's step, eagerly anticipating unending wonder and delight?)
The Road to Elmira (Chapter 5)
by Richard Kendall
On March 21, 1972 at about 1:30pm I found myself at the start of what was becoming a very familiar trip: New York City to 458 West Water Street, Elmira, New York. As I pondered the universe over a bowl of pea soup at the Roscoe Diner, a favorite stopping point for many a traveler along Route 17, I hoped that Seth’s lack of attendance at last week’s class was not going to be repeated tonight. As class began, discussion centered around the tape recording Jane had played concerning her alteration of consciousness experience with a piece of paper blowing in the wind. Seth came through early on and informed us that contrary to appearances, or shall I say non-appearances, he was in attendance at last week’s class, and moreover, was aware of each of our reactions as we listened to that tape. Once again my customary view of reality was being challenged. If Seth was here, where was he? Did he look out into the room from a specific physical point, or is space as we normally think of it irrelevant to the functioning of consciousness. Also, we are so conditioned to rely exclusively on our outer senses to assess our environment, it never occurred to me during last week’s class to try using my inner senses to detect Seth’s possible presence. Such an attempt might have led to some very interesting results. Tonight however, whatever senses one chose to use, Seth’s presence was unmistakable. Referring to the tape recording Jane had played last week, here is part of what Seth had to say:
“Many of you ran away from the joy on that tape as you would run away from a murder or an avalanche or an earthquake. Joy will not gobble you up. You will not be lost in it and not be able to find your sorrowful selves again.”
Seth’s comment about being frightened by joy seemed silly, yet a small dose of honest introspection led me to realize I did indeed have some very limiting ideas about the nature of joy. I wondered where I had picked up such concepts and had a feeling that a look back at my religious upbringing might provide some answers.
When I was younger I attended Hebrew school, and as Jewish custom dictates, upon reaching the age of thirteen I celebrated my Bar Mitzvah. A Bar Mitzvah is a coming of age ceremony. As part of this event I stood in front of the congregation one Saturday morning and read passages from the Torah. The Torah consists of the first five books of the Old Testament which are ascribed to Moses as told to him directly by God. The father also participates in this event by reciting a blessing where he thanks God for removing the burden of being responsible for the son's sins, who is now considered old enough to be held accountable for his own actions. Before this age the child's responsibility to follow Jewish law resides with the parents.
By the time of my Bar Mitzvah it wasn’t religion my thirteen year old self was interested in pursuing. Yet religious impressions made upon the young mind are not easily lost. The following quote from Ecclesiastes, one of the books of the Old Testament, typifies the kind of Judeo-Christian attitude toward suffering that would have been part of my early religious training: “The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.” We are further instructed to rejoice in our sufferings, for suffering is seen as a doorway through which wisdom emerges. In addition, God is said to look with favor upon those who suffer. As to what happens to those who fall out of favor with God, the Bible has no lack of examples. Suffering is also equated with holiness; the state of affliction bearing witness to one’s spiritual nature. With all the benefits associated with suffering it’s easy to imagine how at a young age I seized upon a belief in its value, a belief that remained unquestioned for many years. The fact of the matter was I did run from joy, believing it to be a threat to my spiritual aspirations. On the way home that evening I had images of cars filled with JOY chasing me down the highway. As I desperately tried to stay ahead of them I wondered what might happen if they were to catch up with me. The scene might have gone something like this:
“This is the Joy Patrol. Pull over—NOW.”
I pull over and sit motionless; fear rushing through my body as my hands remain frozen on the steering wheel.
Joy Patrol: Take your hands off of the wheel, slowly, and hand over your license and registration.”
The officer reads aloud what’s written on the License: "Sorrowful Self, 335 Negativity Road, State of Despair."
Joy Patrol: “Well Mr. Sorrowful Self, your license has just expired! You need to come with us so we can reregister you as a Joyful Self.”
Sorrowful Self begins to tremble and refuses to move.
Joy Patrol: “We can do this the easy way or the real easy way, it’s up to you. There are no hard ways when it comes to being joyful.”
I go with the Joy Patrol and appear before the judge.
Inside the courtroom:
Judge: “What’s the charge?”
Officer: “The suspect is being charged with violating sections 34-a through 42-c of the Joyful Code of Existence. Specifically, Mr. Sorrowful Self is being cited for the following:
1. Willfully harboring negative expectations on a daily basis.
2. Seeing himself as a victim of an unfair and cruel world on numerous occasions.
3. Believing suffering is good for the soul and joy is detrimental to one’s spiritual growth.
“We could go on your Honor but in the interests of justice we will leave it at that.”
Judge to Sorrowful Self: “How do you plead?”
“Guilty your Honor. VERY guilty. Teeming with guilt.
Judge: “You really need to lighten up. Have you ever thought of croquet? It’s a wonderful game, relaxing and yet stimulating at the same time. Before I pass sentence is there anything you would like to say?”
Sorrowful Self: “I have but one request: Whatever punishment you decide upon please do not take away my Sorrowful Self. I have become extremely attached to this aspect of myself and fear that too much joy will separate us forever and end my life as I have known it. Lastly, if I refuse to go along with the court’s orders, what happens then; are you going to slap the cuffs on me and cart me off to jail?”
Judge: “Son, you’re already in jail, and you are the one handcuffing yourself, not I. So it’s entirely up to you what will happen, as it always has been. Bask in joy or wallow in sorrow. Live for today or fear tomorrow. I’d love to stay and chat further but I have a date to play cribbage and no offense, but it becomes rather draining being around someone like you. It isn’t that you aren’t a nice fellow and all that stuff, but your aura just exudes negativity. Dark circles of despair orbit its perimeter, sucking in all light and laughter within a two mile radius. I really need to go now but good luck, though luck has nothing at all to do with it.”
Judge leaves the courtroom. Sorrowful self looks at bailiff who is wearing a tee shirt that reads, “Let us help you escape.” A poster on the wall blinks on and off with the following message: Joy guaranteed in thirty days or else a full refund of your Sorrowful Self with no questions asked.”
Over the years Seth spoke about the nature of joy and suffering many times, and in response to his comments I composed the following lyrics in 1975. The name of the song is Joyful Rain and the music was written by a girl I knew whom I haven’t been in contact with for over twenty years. Her name is Penny Wilbur. I wonder what joys and sorrows have accompanied her life during the past two decades. And Penny, if one day you happen to be reading this, do drop me a line. Doesn’t have to be a lifeline; a simple Hi will be fine.
Joyful Rain
Together we dream and spin life’s song
Been singing the blues for far too long
So afraid to touch, afraid to smile
As if being human was out of style
I’d rather sing of joyful rain
That peaceful falls on purple plain
But I’ve been singing blues so long
Help me find a happy song
Some people say you must pay your dues
Before you win you must learn to lose
Was life really meant a vale of tears
Where laughter dies in empty fears
I’d rather sing of joyful rain
That peaceful falls on purple plain
But I’ve been singing blues so long
Help me find a happy song
If I would leave this world today
These are the words my heart would say
Be you a beggar or a king
Let the life inside you ring
This earth was not conceived in pain
Joyful falls the morning rain
But I’ve been singing blues so long
Help me find a happy song
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William Butler Yeats’ Theory of Reincarnation Explained
What is reincarnation? To begin with, reincarnation does not take place within a matrix of linear time. It’s not as if e.g. you had a life in ancient Greece and then you died; then you had a life in ancient Rome and then you died; then you had a life in the Middle Ages and then you died; etc. Rather, all of your past and future lives are going on at once, in an eternal NOW moment.
Think of it like this: survivors of near-death experiences often report seeing all the events that ever happened to them flash by them in no time at all. Thus it would seem that we experience the thought forms of our lives twice – once in linear fashion over a lifetime, and the second time around in timeless fashion at the moment of death.
In an analogous manner, while there is indeed an evolution going on in the universe, this evolution is not taking place in linear time: it’s all happening at once. Space and time have no objective existence. They are merely cognitive tools which evolved as sentient beings evolved, to enable them to focus upon one thing at a time instead of everything at once. The linearity of time is an illusion, a falsehood, which Eastern philosophers have termed maya or samsara. It is this false appearance that there is such a thing as an objective reality out there unfolding in linear time, which animates the striving of all sentient beings and keeps the wheel of reincarnation – of life and death and rebirth – turning.
Babies (and even young children, who sometimes talk about memories from other lifetimes) are not as centered in a one-track existence as adults are. Babies and young children are consciously impinged upon by influences from other lives and probable realities which most adults have learned to ignore. The same socialization process which props up a baby’s sense of being a unitary, abiding, separated individual also imprisons that individual in a furrow of inexorable linear temporality.
For most people, 99.9% of decisions are made on the basis of socially-conditioned actions and reactions – what they were taught by their parents and society. But every now and then everyone has poignant moments – moments of consciousness or conscientiousness or conscience – when they sense that probable realities are branching off this way or that; or they feel echoes from other lifetimes and realities; or they hear voices from deep inside them. When this happens people feel connected to something more profound than their customary hustle and bustle; and that something is their true purpose in this lifetime – the reason they were born.
Nobel laureate William Butler Yeats’ masterpiece A Vision (channeled by his wife) explains the true nature of reincarnation – what it really is and how it really works. Starting this coming month Magical Almanac, Bob Makransky’s free monthly ezine of astrology and magic, will be presenting a six-article series which explains the theory of reincarnation as described in A Vision. This series includes complete instructions for safe and easy techniques you can use on your own to run past life regressions and probable reality progressions; and to recapitulate memories from your present lifetime (thereby releasing the pent-up emotions which you have invested in your memories).
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“We all to some extent meet again and again the same people and certainly in some cases form a kind of family of two or three or more persons who come together life after life until all passionate relations are exhausted, the child of one life the husband, wife, brother, sister of the next. Sometimes, however, a single relationship will repeat itself, turning its revolving wheel again and again.”
– William Butler Yeats, A Vision
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Explore the works of Visionary Artist Shirley Hadley!
The photographs you see below were created by Shirley in her studio, and not through electronic manipulation. Each photo is available in 5x7 or 8x10 and includes a poem that goes with the photo.
Entrance to Awareness
The journey of the self is
to see without using your eyes
to hear but not with your ears.
Listen to your inner voice, it will lead you
to an awareness of new ways to view your
selves and the world you live in.
Rainbow Dimension
Mysterious shadows suspended in the sky
rainbows connected, self-awareness is reflected.
Shades of color and dimensions of light,
holographic images, illusions of night
