Here is another video blog. It answers the question what it means to reimagine reincarnation and should it be reimagined. It is important to remove the eternal treadmill wheel concept. Please like and subscribe to my YouTube Channel Cosmic Consciousness.

Reimagine Reincarnation

 

An Introduction to the Kybalion.; Video Blog

I am going to begin posting video blogs to go along with the written ones. I will continue with the written blogs as well. I am using an AI program called Pictory AI. Please like and subscribe, and enjoy.

Introduction to the Kybalion

The Conscious Cosmos: Unified Field of Consciousness

This is an explanation of my theory of panpsychism. Assuming that consciousness is the foundational element of reality then it seems to follow that consciousness and energy are interchangeable. As the words of the poem, the primal dream flowed into my mind in 1974, I wrote “energy and thought, inseparable conceived the primal dream.” The above illustration is in the shape of the current graphic representation of the universe. Everything within the universe consists primarily of waves. The waves have particle potential and can result in matter. The original creative observer is consciousness itself which historically has been called the Logos, by Greek philosophy, Hermeticism, and Christianity.

Consciousness created individual conscious agents through sacred geometry. These conscious agents are integral to all of the dimensions and yet, the sum of conscious agents is greater than the individual parts. When I speak of conscious agents, I think of them similarly to Dr. Donald Hoffman in his book “A Case Against Reality.” This leads to the paradox of pantheism and panentheism. Both are true, as the Kybalion states in the principle of polarity. “All truths are half-truths; all paradoxes may be reconciled.” The way it is resolved is in the truth that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts which is pantheism, and the individual conscious agents are a part of the whole, cocreators and that is panentheism.

To what purpose you may ask? I like a variation of how Dr. Hoffman answers the question what is consciousness up to? It is answered in a YouTube video. A Donald Hoffman Quote from his YouTube lecture on the Weekend University Channel entitled “Is Reality an Illusion?” It begins at roughly 1:13:38 into the video.

Quote:

“If we start with consciousness being fundamental then there is an interesting question; that is what is consciousness up to and why? What is consciousness doing right? And when we think about consciousness inside space and time we often think about it in terms of evolutionary theory and we say maybe consciousness helps you to survive somehow, maybe its an accident, but now we can think differently. Space and time are not fundamental. Evolutionary theory is not fundamental. Consciousness itself is fundamental.

So, what is consciousness up to? I don’t know, but I have only found one idea that is deep enough so far to take the idea seriously. I’m not saying it is right but it’s at least deep enough to be interesting and to take seriously. Kurt Godel, around 1930 proved what are called incompleteness theorems. What Godel discovered was that effectively, the exploration of mathematical truths is unending. There is no way to be omniscient about mathematical truths and what’s interesting about that idea then, is that if consciousness is fundamental and consciousness is all there is then mathematics, consciousness and that endless exploration of mathematics is endless, then that means that exploration of the possible varieties endless and is exploring, it’s a theorem that will never stop. And so maybe that is what consciousness is up to. It is constantly exploring itself!

So what’s happening right now, where we go, we talk, we have questions, we have lectures and so forth. This is just consciousness in space using space time as a virtual reality exploring one of many, many different possibilities, worlds in which there are attended spaces. Dimensions of space is irrelevant there is no dimension.”

I am not a mathematician, and if you want to accuse me of trying to turn science into “woo” go ahead. What I am writing here is intuitive. However, it resonates deeply with me, and I believe that it is correct. So let me explain the above quote in more spiritual and mystical terms. I do not think this explanation is incompatible with Hoffman’s far more scientific explanation.

Consciousness is knowledge. The ancient Greeks called it Gnosis. However, knowledge lacks something. What you may ask? It lacks experience. Knowledge is awareness of all the potential. It is aware of possibility. Experience completes knowledge. One cannot truly understand love without experience. Nor, can one know pain without experience. One can know it exists but only through experience does it become complete knowledge. We participate in the divine nature in order to complete knowledge with our experience. The possibilities are endless and infinite. One could say that we are God experiencing creation.

This is not limited to one life in one plane. Quite the contrary. However, we are also able to rest at will. I do not see reincarnation as a karmic hamster wheel that one is trapped on. It is not a punitive alternative to purgatory or hell. We all, in an egalitarian fashion, based upon our choosing experience joy and pain, good and evil. The unified field of consciousness, the All, God if you prefer, is the eternal present. As Eckhart Tolle states it is the Now. Energy cannot be destroyed it can only be changed. I think that the best illustration of what I am saying is that it is similar to a video game. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. You can get tired, even exasperated so that you put the game down only to become refreshed, perhaps bored, and you pick the game up and try again.

Experiential knowledge is ever increasing as we alternate between being whole consciousness to conscious agents and back and forth.

The Conscious Cosmos: Conquering the Cosmos

John 16:33  “I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.”

According to the author of the gospel of John, Jesus said what is written above. This is a bold claim but I believe it is accurate with regard to our relationship to material and corporeal reality. According to Jesus teaching and claims, how did he overcome the world? This is a question that I hope to answer and also, what did he overcome or conquer? Let’s look at some of the Greek words that make up this claim.

World is translated from the Greek word kosmos. The Greek word kosmos describes and defines the known universe and all of material and corporeal reality. Suffering, tribulation, trouble is from the Greek word thilipsis. It means all of the above meanings. Finally the Greek word nikaho means conquered or overcome. So, I believe that Jesus is actually saying that he has conquered material reality and all of the trouble it presents.

How then did he conquer it? He conquered it with knowledge and faith. In other words, he had faith in his intuitive knowledge. His intuitive knowledge told him that he was the eternal offspring of the creator. He took that intuitive knowledge and applied trust to it. It was a fact in his mind that he relied on. He saw creative consciousness as the parent. While he called it father it was both feminine and masculine. If one believes in as above so below and as below so above then it is only reasonable that the divine parent is both genders. We see in the material world that it is the combining of the two genders that produce offspring. Therefore, the divine parent is the perfect description of creative consciousness that many call God. Thus, Jesus intuitively realized his divinity and went on to explain that it is true of ALL humanity!

That is the good news and it is truly good news. Being an eternal expression of creative divinity is good news we can use. He goes on to explain that by the very nature of the material world, the kosmos, the universe there is the likelihood of trouble, suffering, tribulation etc. However, there is likewise the opportunity for pleasure, peace and love. There is the possibility of experiencing the knowledge of the parent and thereby expanding that knowledge.

Eternity is now. It is always now. It has no future, and it has no past. Therefore, the knowledge that one is eternal and eternally part of the creator and creation, is what overcomes or conquers the kosmos, the material universe. This is the perspective that embraces faith in the eternal conscious creator. It is also the source of theodicy.

Both spiritual and material wickedness is a thought form linked to the material universe. While it has real effects, it does not have eternal effects. Therefore, the nature of creative consciousness which is love and peace conquers the material universe always. Putting trust in that knowledge lets each of us individual conscious agents, offspring of the parent conquer as well. Be of good cheer and have peace!

  

God Beyond Religion: A Panpsychist Panentheistic View of Reality

 

The above diagram is an effort to provide a visual graphic of my view of the nature of reality. The foundation of the diagram is Cosmic Consciousness or Creative Consciousness that I see as primal in the creation of the corporeal material world. I have taken cues from the Kybalion and the seven Hermetic Principles. You can see in the diagram a cyclic construct that keeps individual conscious agents, more commonly known as souls, cycling in and out of material and corporeal reality at the will of the individual. The only place in my view that free will can exist is with the overall cosmic consciousness which is eternal and with the individual aspect of that consciousness which we call souls, which are likewise eternal. It is in the eternal nature of souls that free will exists.

I base the cyclic nature of reality on the principle of correspondence. the second principle of the Kybalion. It states as above so below and as below so above. The idea is that both the material realm and the spiritual realm are similar in nature. Therefore, one can extrapolate from the material realm which is visible the nature of the unseen spiritual realm. We see cycles everywhere in the material world and by the principle of correspondence we can know that the spiritual realm is cyclic as well.

It is the cyclic nature of reality that has me convinced that reincarnation is a reality. I view it in a nuanced way that is different than most of the traditional views of reincarnation. It is the incarnation process that allows us to exercise our free will. While this may anger some people who have experienced trauma, I am of the belief that we choose our life paths and to a great degree what experiences we will have. If we all exist in the eternal now, and if matter cannot be destroyed only changed, then a life span has much less effect on our eternal soul than it would seem while in the midst of incarnation.

When I say I view it differently and nuanced I mean that I do not see it as souls being trapped in a karmic cycle that they must advance in to move off the treadmill. The little that I know about Buddhism and Hinduism assumes that souls are locked into the cycle from some outside superior force. That karma is similar to a punishment reward system that gives an alternate dynamic of the orthodox Christian view of heaven and hell. What resonates for me is that each of us individual souls are autonomous. We ultimately decide what we participate in and consequently what we learn. What we learn is added to the experiential knowledge of Cosmic Consciousness. I do not think that we have to learn lessons over and over. I like the system of spiral dynamics to explain the progression of the soul, the soul’s journey, and the soul’s purpose.

This leads to the concept that we are not trying to move back to oneness. We can do that at will and we do that similar to resting or sleeping. This means that for me the material corporeal world is not evil and not the construction of an evil demiurge. This is the place that I part ways with Christian Gnosticism. I do not think that Yahweh is an evil creator. I think that Yahweh is the construction of a people that saw evil in the world and tried to explain it in human terms. I do not believe that the creator ordered genocide. I do not believe that the creator destroyed the world by a flood because the creation was too evil. I think things like that are merely experiences of Cosmic Consciousness and an innate consequence of geometrical form. Beyond that I will not try to explain as it is perhaps incomprehensible. So, the whole journey back to oneness and the source does not fit into my paradigm.

Another aspect of our reality that is plausible is the reverse of as below so above. That of course is as above so below. If indeed consciousness is foundational, then matter and the corporeal world is very similar to a dream. Is it only our dream or is it a corporate dream. I tend to think it is the latter. I conclude that from the as below so above aspect of correspondence. We see within societal structure governing and planning committees. It is reasonable to me then that the material realm is a construct of what would be similar to a committee. This communal spiritual aspect could be called a dream and locks us into the duration of our incarnation. It is more solid than the dreams we individually dream but made essentially from the same stuff, mind. In this case however, it is from the cosmic mind, the universal mind, or the mind at large. This fits in with the first principle of the Kybalion, “The All is Mind, the Universe is Mental.” So, there is a very plausible way to see material reality as God’s dream.

It does seem natural to me that at some point in our evolution on the incarnation path, we will be able to use our individual minds for the purpose of mental alchemy. There is a way in which we are all capable of changing circumstances by a mental process. This falls back to the principle of correspondence. As above so below. Since Cosmic Consciousness creates reality as we know it, then being a conscious agent, having within us the divine nature of the Logos or consciousness of God, it follows that we too can create reality and change reality with our mind and thought process.

After seventy-six years of living, I have settled on a metaphysical and esoteric view of reality that includes panpsychism and panentheism. My spirituality is syncretistic with an emphasis on the teachings of Jesus and the Tao Te Ching. I think that Buddhism and Hinduism have value as well. However, all religions are merely symbolic metaphorical views of reality. While I find physicalist materialistic science wanting, I am happy to rely on all it has established short of its explanation of creation being accidental. For me, the idea that consciousness is the fundamental reality resonates and it is being more widely accepted by some philosophers and scientists. In other words, I see consciousness as the creative source and would be happy to call it Cosmic Consciousness. I also see Christ Consciousness, Mind at Large, Universal Consciousness as synonyms for Cosmic Consciousness.

It is easy for me to see mathematics as the prime foundational knowledge. It is from mathematics that all other aspects of reality emerge.  Dimensions come from geometry, so I see sacred geometry as an important aspect of reality and the catalyst of form. I view Cosmic Consciousness as ethereal. I believe it to be synonymous with spirit. I am beginning to see spirit as a quality of universal or cosmic consciousness and its connection to matter or corporeal reality is the soul. I define soul as similar to psyche or the Greek word Psuche. This is the spirit of a human or an animal. I contrast that with the Greek word Pneuma and the Hebrew word Rauch. They both are wind and are the metaphor for Cosmic Consciousness or Creative Source/spirit.

I have adopted an eclectic or syncretistic spirituality. I draw from mystical revelations in all religious traditions. I am most familiar with Christianity, both orthodoxy and gnostic expressions. I would say that next I am familiar with Hermetic philosophy. Third but certainly not lesser, is the Tao Te Ching. I am somewhat familiar with Buddhism and Hinduism. The foundation of my spirituality is Christian Mysticism, Gnosticism, combined with Hermeticism and Neoplatonic philosophy. I am also informed by Jungian Psychology, certain aspects of cognitive science and new ideas in quantum physics.

A significant influence for me is the Kybalion and other writings by William Walker-Atkinson. I have studied the Corpus Hermeticum from three different sources and translations. I frequently read the Tao Te Ching and have looked into Greek philosophy that I believe to be influenced by Egyptian mystery religions. While I have not looked into the Kabballah, I am at least familiar to the extent that it reinforces the esoteric teaching of Hermeticism.

I will end this here for now with a quote from the Kybalion. “The ALL is mind, the universe is mental.”

God Beyond Religion: The Importance of Myths, Allegories, and Narratives

From the “age of reason” or the “enlightenment” forward, myths especially, but allegories and narratives as well, took a hit in respectability. As the scientific revolution came into being and physics developed a materialist, physicalist paradigm, they became even less important. It is my belief that myths, allegories, and narratives in general are very important in understanding humanities place in the cosmos, and the material, corporeal world. This is especially true if indeed consciousness is foundational, because then, there is really no difference between consciousness and spirituality and it would be just as correct to say the spirituality is foundational to reality.

It is also true that the last 250 years have emboldened historians to claim that ancient characters such as Pythagoras, Buddha, Hermes, and Jesus did not really exist. First, that is unimportant, and second where there is a plethora of sources claiming something or someone to be true or real, there is generally a reason behind it. Could the role of such individuals be to help us understand this basically spiritual world?

My purpose in addressing this is the Thoth/Hermes narrative. Was Thoth and Hermes a god in the sense that we currently view the term god? Very likely not. But it seems clear that they were also more than a myth. Is Hermetics ancient wisdom? I believe beyond doubt that it is. It resonates with me more than any other spiritual tradition. Even if it cannot be conclusive proven that it precedes Neoplatonism in the middle third to seventh centuries, it is likely foundational to Greek philosophy in general and definitely to the idealism of Plato. Here is an article from the Stanford Encyclopedia that substantiates the fact in my view. “The second assumption, which the Neoplatonists shared with the Stoics and the Hermetists (an influential group of Egyptian religious thinkers that predate the rise of Neoplatonism), was that reality, in all its cognitive and physical manifestations, depended on a highest principle which is unitary and singular.” The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Online. Neoplatonism (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) Notice it mentions the Hemetists along with the Stoics and states that they were an influential group of Egyptian religious thinkers that predate Neoplatonism.

I am sympathetic with the idea that Pythagoras went to Egypt and studied their esoteric, metaphysical teachings and brought them back to Greece. While it cannot be proven that Pythagoras was the mathematician he is credited with being, it is much more certain that he was a proponent of mental alchemy, the occult, and the metaphysical. Pythagoras was claimed to have gone to Egypt to study by Plato, and was credited with inspiring Platonic thought. This again resonates deeply with me. This, I think, makes the idea that consciousness, the Logos, was ontologically the first principle in the cosmos an original idea with the Egyptians, and was likely given to them by advanced civilizations that preceded them.

None of these understandings would be possible without myths, allegories, and narratives. They are what has preserved and handed down so rich a story that is now being given new credence by cognitive scientists, physicists, and philosophers. I refer to these well know academics often. Donald Hoffman cognitive scientist, Rupert Sheldrake biologist, Bernard Kastrup philosopher, Max Tegmark, physicist. They all claim in one way or another that consciousness is foundational to physical reality.

While all religious philosophies have superstitions and aspects that are likely the ideas of humans, they all contain fundamental existential truths. For me, the one that resonates best is Hermetics. This is especially true with the addition of the Kybalion, the Arcane Teachings and Formulas which all point toward mentalism or as some call it mentation.

God Beyond Religion: Poemandres, Father, Word, and Spirit

1.  “And I do say: Who art thou?”

“He saith: I am Man-Shepherd (Poemandres), Mind of all-masterhood; I know what thou desirest and I'm with thee everywhere.” ~The Corpus Hermeticum, Translated by G.R.S. Mead, Section, Poemandres, The Shepherd of Men

It is my intention to examine the Corpus Hermeticum because I think it is a foundational explanation of reality.  One of the problems that is encountered in giving credence to the Hermetica is that Christian orthodoxy has relegated Hermeticism to a recent invention and a rehashing of neo platonic thought. This is largely due to King James and Isaac Casaubon. King James wanted to rid the kingdom of Hermetics and Casaubon gave him the ammunition. However, the ability to read hieroglyphics proved that Casaubon was not entirely correct and while it is true that the Hermetica is a product of Middle Platonism, the first to third century CE, it is highly likely that Platonism was built upon the foundation of Hermetic teaching.

Also, while Hermeticism was accompanied by the superstitions of the age it was introduced, it gives by far the best explanation of the nature of reality and creation than any other western idea. It tells the story of the source God and the word/logos God’s only begotten son. Here is where orthodoxy misunderstood and led people astray from Jesus real mission and message. The Word, Logos, was the mind of God and it was given to humanity as a gift. This word, logos, reason is consciousness. It is why we can say that we conscious human agents are in the image of God “Imago Dei.”

Here is how Hermes expressed it in Poemandres: “But All-Father Mind, being Life and Light, did bring forth Man co-equal to Himself, with whom He fell in love, as being His own child; for he was beautiful beyond compare, the Image of his Sire. In very truth, God fell in love with his own Form; and on him did bestow all of His own formations.” ~Hermeticum G.R.S. Mead pp 6

It is clear here that humanity/mankind are the offspring of deity. That is why John wrote in the first chapter of his gospel that “The Word,” not Jesus, but the word was always in the world. It was because reason was always in the world. The world was created of and by consciousness. Itis important to recognize that this hermetic principle was present in philosophical thought long before John’s gospel was written. It was known to Plato and the Stoics. It was written about by Philo of Alexandria prior to the writing of John’s gospel. This does not in any way diminish the mission and message of Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus did not claim to be God in the flesh any more than anyone else. He just introduced the sure knowledge that he was, as we all are, the incarnation of the Logos. It was this understanding and message that allowed Paul to say that Jesus was the firstborn of many siblings. Awakening to this realization is what created a “new humanity.” It brought into reality through metaphor the new heaven and the new earth. This is why Eckhart Tolle’s understanding of a new heaven and earth is far more correct than orthodoxy’s.

This is an integral and strategic part of the upward spiral of spiral dynamics. The expanded awareness of this happens from age to age. Paul explained that Jesus understood what Hermes wrote. He realized that while he was equal with God, it was not a reason to exploit it, but instead in entering the earth plane he emptied or forgot the concept with the purpose of awakening to the reality. Am I putting Hermes above Jesus? Absolutely not. Both became aware of the same thing. Both taught essentially the same thing. Many did not understand Hermes, and likewise many, probably most, did not understand Jesus. Orthodox dogma is proof of that. However, we at the beginning of a new age are beginning to awaken to this reality. We are beginning to realize who we really are and what Power we possess. Next, we will look at what Jesus actually meant in what is written in John chapter three.

 

 

It’s All Connected: A peek into the theory of everything and the problem of evil.

First look at the preponderance of the evidence. Consciousness is indeed the foundational aspect of reality, and it is the source from which all dimensions exist. Yes, there are several dimensions. This earth plane can be likened to a laboratory and a university. It offers the chance for one to develop love in a real sense. I am speaking of genuine love for self and for the other. The only way to truly love the other is to fully love and accept oneself. It does, however, have its limitations and drawbacks. It can be beautiful and rewarding, and it can be dangerous and unforgiving. The one thing to take to heart is that each of us is eternal and exists in the eternal now. That is a difficult thing to grasp as this dimension of space time hides the eternal reality, and instead provides the illusion of temporary existence. This illusion seems more real than reality and is deceptive to say the least. It is punctuated by the fact of birth and death.

While we are one with the source we are also separate souls or conscious agents and the following paradox is real. We are one and separate at the same time and in that our oneness is greater than our separateness. These facts can be understood intuitively and quite likely will resonate with you as well. This is important foundational information to begin to look at the theory of everything. There is a problem with space-time and quantum mechanics. Physicists have been searching for a theory of everything that would unify the explanation of the material universe. To date, they have not been able to reconcile the two into one congruent theory. I believe it is because they are trying to do it with physics alone and even if they did it would not be a theory of everything.

Along with the problem of physics, there are other problems that face humanity. There is the “hard problem” of consciousness. Alongside of this, philosophers and theologians have been faced with the “problem of evil.” The theory of everything should solve all of the problems. The first problem I want to confront is the problem of evil. To do this it is necessary to create some thought experiments. The reason is that while the problem of consciousness is a more fundamental problem, the problem of evil gets in the way of exploring all the possibilities. My hope is that in presenting these thought experiments I will not create straw men but be faithful to the explanations that currently exist.

I am not that happy with the definition of theist or deist. I would say that I am an amalgamation of both, and perhaps there needs to be another term though I do not have one to offer. Here is how I currently see God. I much prefer the term creative source because of the negative connotation so many have for the term god. I also like the word parent as I want to include both genders in the creator, but I have been willing to settle for father, and I am also growing fonder of the Hermetic term “The All.” I would label myself a panpsychist. I absolutely see consciousness as foundational. There is a ubiquitous history of that concept which I will deal with at a later point.

I see each of us souls as conscious agents. However, similar to what I believe Dr. Donald Hoffman has suggested, there are conscious agents of lesser consciousness than humanity all the way to the smallest building block and it is a combination of these agents that increasingly grow intellect and understanding. I believe that creative source, which I will forward refer to as consciousness is eternal. If it is the first cause of everything, it always was and always will be. It can anticipate everything that is was and ever will be. However, as solely consciousness it cannot experience anything. So then, this is where Dr. Bernardo Kastrup comes to my rescue philosophically. Consciousness chooses to splinter into a kind of dissociative personality Hoffman calls conscious agents that has a unique place in the corporeal and material world. Our experience is that humanity is at the pinnacle, but it is possible that there are conscious agents much more advanced in experience than us. Of course, as of this date that is speculation on my part.

Consciousness is continually expanding, and this expansion is brought about by the experiences of conscious agents. What we can be sure of is that this expansion is happening in the corporeal material world. It is a logical conclusion that there are other dimensions as well. We have hints of this but do not have specific understanding of what they are or what they might be like from a conscious agent vantage point.

Since we are an agent of the one creative consciousness, our essence is eternal as well. That is why all of the mystical traditions explain our existence as children of the creator. In a corporeal, material, temporal world we cannot be sure of this by any other means than intuition or mystical revelation. However, for me it makes sense that our sense of self as conscious agents is as eternal as consciousness. So within the corporeal, material, and temporal plane there is suffering and pleasure, joy and sadness.

I must add to this that within creative consciousness it seems logical that the individual conscious agents would by committee have input and say so in developing the material corporeal world. This is the place where “free will” would come into existence. Furthermore, it is logical that this committee would make certain that each conscious agent was treated in an egalitarian way. Each would experience suffering and pleasure, joy and sadness equally over the multiple incarnation process. This in and of itself would provide a type of theodicy for the creative source, consciousness. Since time is a product of material reality, at the consciousness level or the unification of conscious agents, there only exists the eternal present or the eternal now. It is in this way that suffering could be a logical choice for the expansion of conscious experience. However it would all be evened out in the eternal present. While this may not be comfort for those who are experiencing extreme suffering in the material plane, it never the less would supply a reasonable explanation of why suffering takes place.

There is natural evil and there is moral evil in the material corporeal realm. Neither of these exist in the eternal present beyond the expanding experience of consciousness. This is the place where I believe that it is all moving toward the expansion of love. I base this on spiral dynamics. Spiral dynamics shows that humanity is moving on an upward spiral toward more and more enlightenment. Of course, I acknowledge that there is much that is evil in this world, but the fact is that it is diminishing over time and more and more conscious agents are operating in a benevolent manner toward one another. It therefore seems logical that this upward spiral is the purpose and plan of consciousness. If this is the case it is reasonable to suggest that at the creative conscious source level is the highest vibration which is peace and love, and the purpose is to have conscious agents that become more aware of this concept and experience each in an ever-increasing fashion.

Yes, this concept involves reincarnation, but it is by choice. It is within the whole of creative consciousness, but it is at the individual conscious agent level that free will exists. Each individual conscious agent is aware of the potentiality of each incarnation but does not have that awareness based on experience, and it is experience that works it out in space and time. Likewise, it is experience that creative consciousness is using to expand and grow the universe or if you prefer the multiverse. Each conscious agent being a part of creative consciousness then, is totally free to choose each incarnation. It is also possible to choose not to incarnate and remain in the whole, but that does not last forever in time as challenges arise and a rested agent is ready for the next experience.

It should be stated that the goal is to create the perfection enjoyed by the whole creative consciousness in a material and corporeal world.. My experience thus far shows me that is impossible and is the precise reason for needing occasional rest after many tries. However, spiral dynamics points to the fact that it is improving on and upward trajectory. While this certainly does not explain everything, it logically goes a long way toward explaining the problem of evil and its solution.

Next, we will look at the place of the mystics, Jesus, Buddha, the Tao, and Shamanism within this explanation.

 

God Beyond Religion: Progressive Awakening; Two Mystical Contributions from the Jesus Narrative

One of my friends on Facebook posted that he realized that he was arrogant when he was an evangelical pastor and that it was a waste of precious time. The arrogance came into play as he thought that God had given him a message every week and that it was important for the people to come and hear it every week. He went on to say that he was delivered from that. This caused a light bulb moment for me because I can recall doing the same thing.  I too thought that God was giving me a weekly sermon that was spiritually important for those who I was teaching and preaching too. What I realized with this is that we all, humanity, are going through, and are at different stages of an awakening to deeper consciousness and deeper reality. It could be that this is because of the dawning of a new age, literally. The age of information, the age of Aquarius. I must admit that the presupposition that informs this idea for me is panpsychism. It is best described by the idea that was stated in the Kybalion, “the All is Mind, the universe is mental.” As the days go by, I become more and more convinced of this view of reality.

So, to differentiate me from my online friend, I’m not sure that it was a waste of time. Rather it was a transition from one reality to a deeper reality. I must take into consideration that I likely chose my life path, which means that I chose to be born into a fundamentalist Christian family in 1946 for a specific reason, and for a specific expansion of consciousness having a material and corporeal experience of learning. I should perhaps relate the nuance of the family I was born into. My mother, and my older sisters were fundamentalist Baptists all the way, however, my father was raised catholic but did not really attend any church regularly, and a childhood memory I have had all these years, is when my mother would go off on a tangent like, the Roman Catholics weren’t really saved, my dad would say. “Iva, I think you’ll be surprised when you get to heaven who’s there. I guess that I sensed that he did not take the fear of hell all that seriously, and that likely rubbed off on me.  You can find a more in-depth explanation of my interesting transition from fundamentalist to agnostic, to mystic, back to evangelical, and finally back to an eclectic and syncretistic spiritual mystic that is probably more accurately a panpsychist. I will post a link to it at the bottom of this article.

So, why wasn’t my foray into evangelicalism a waste of time? That is the question that is the main point of this post. While I understand that orthodox Christianity and especially evangelical orthodoxy is very toxic, there is a fairly important mystical message within the Jesus Narrative. It has nothing to do with sin and salvation, and for those who have suffered spiritual abuse, and spiritual trauma by this concept, they are unlikely to be comforted by this realization, at least for a long period of healing, but I will state it none the less.

If one sees some type of spirituality as important, then this realization is best found in a part of the Jesus story. Whether one believes that Jesus was an actual historical person or not, (I believe he was), this message or realization is important either way. I will readily admit that myth is an important part of all religions and spiritual traditions. Some are beneficial and some are not, but myth has proven to be important throughout millennia in the upward spiral of humanity. So, without further ado let me get to the two concepts. They are what has been called the KENOSIS, and the resurrection.

I do not want to minimize the good teaching about ethics and love found in the sermon on the mount or various other parts of the New and Old Testaments, but the two elements that are missing, at least explicitly in other spiritual traditions is the KENOSIS and the RESURRECTION. I base this on the idea that panpsychism is correct, and therefore, it is most likely that an eclectic, syncretistic spirituality is the best way to proceed. This requires that one uses intuition, the presence of spirit within, to discern what is beneficial from a wide variety of spiritual and religious traditions.

Let’s first examine the concept of KENOSIS. This is an idea that Paul mentions in his epistle to the Philippians. I will quote it from the NRSV. Php 2:5-8  “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,  (6)  who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited,  (7)  but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form,  (8)  he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross.” Orthodoxy has limited this to Jesus, but that does not acknowledge what the verse actually says. Paul emphatically states, “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.”  To literally take Paul at his word would require that we have the same view about our deity as Jesus did. Let that sink in. According to Paul in this passage, we as humans, should think the same way about ourselves as Jesus thought about himself. What did he think? He thought that he was the incarnation of the Logos, the conscious, creative word of God. He thought that he was the son of God, and that God was his father. This means that he thought that he was the offspring of the creative energy source.

He also thought that he was the anointing (Christ) of the Logos, and so if we have the same mind, then we would think that we as well are the anointing (Christ) of the Logos. You may ask was Jesus unique in this regard? I would say that his uniqueness is in the fact that he was the firstborn of a new humanity. He was the first one to recognize that we are the anointing of the Logos. The writer of John’s first epistle expressed it this way, “as Christ is in the world, so are we!” It seems very clear that Paul’s meaning was a lot more profound than orthodoxy had expressed. In fact, in a lot of ways, orthodoxy has been a real detriment to the mystical understanding that the Jesus Narrative provides to all. I am advocating for using the mystical messages of Christianity to benefit people who are far more eclectic in their spirituality. These two understandings of Jesus are a benefit for everyone. You don’t have to embrace Jesus as the savior from sin to realize that woven within the message is Jesus the mystical master that can improve ones understanding of spiritual awakening.

Now let me bring this concept’s implications to the one who accepts eclectic spirituality as a valid path. I mean, the one who draws from a variety of spiritual traditions to inform their view of reality, and most especially their place in spirituality. Many of the reincarnation beliefs teach that we forget our past experiences upon arrival into the earth plane at birth. That is a perfect description of Kenosis. In these traditions it is the goal to remember past experience and knowledge little by little with expansion in mind. Kenosis in the Greek is an emptying. Emptying and forgetting are the same thing when it comes to past knowledge and experience. Further, if as some cognitive scientists believe, we are conscious agents, or as Dr. Bernardo Kastrup believes we are dissociative personalities of the one universal conscious, while we are equal with creative consciousness, we empty that knowledge. The Jesus story provides an explanation of how we forget former lives and former information when we incarnate. It is via KENOSIS.

Now let's look at the resurrection. It also is an important part from the Jesus narrative. The only way that we can be sure that we are eternal is if we are resurrected. That is exactly what is claimed that Jesus did or had done to him. There are no other religions the claim to have the resurrection phenomenon. This is yet another place where parts of the Jesus narrative can inform all religions and it isn't necessary to accept the orthodox position of sin and salvation. Rather, one who is accepting of eclectic and syncretistic spirituality can glean truths from various traditions and amalgamate them in the one view of spirituality. So for instance, 1 can include kenosis and the resurrection with reincarnation and form a better picture of spiritual reality.

It's possible that when Jesus spoke of being born again he was referencing reincarnation. He was speaking in spiritual terms. Therefore, being born again, could allow one to realize that they will have the opportunity to experience many lives on the earth plane and forget the past lives only to rediscover the important truths that carry over into the growth of the individual spiritually. This adds additional experiential information and knowledge to the whole and is likely the reason for our incarnating in the first place. This idea allows Jesus to actually be revealing additional truth to what was already present in other spiritual traditions. This could be true even of Judaism if one realizes that the Kabbalah accepts many of the characteristics eastern spiritual traditions.

While it is absolutely not necessary that one embraces the Jesus narrative or for that matter studies it at all it is still true that understanding kenosis and resurrection are important concepts in eclectic and syncretistic spirituality. It seems a shame to me that orthodoxy and Christianity in general has developed a dogma so toxic as to make it impossible for those who have been traumatized by it to adopt certain revelations into their spiritual view.

Here is the link I promised to my story:

 

God Beyond Religion: A Spiritual Download

It was either 1974 or 1975. It was a warm Michigan summer evening. The windows in my pickup were down because in Michigan there is little need for air conditioning in vehicles. I was driving on highway U.S. 127 coming from Mid-Michigan Community College where I had finished teaching a painting and drawing class. It was close to sunset. There is a fairly long hill by Michigan standards coming south from the campus. It begins in a pine forest and ends at fields of new mown hay. As I got close to the bottom of the grade, the trees gave way to two fairly large fields on either side, both left and right. There it was. The moon was rising about fifteen degrees above the horizon to my left, and the sun was setting about fifteen degrees above the horizon to my right.

Instantaneously I could feel a tremendous amount of energy passing through my head, and I began to chant. It was as if I had the awareness of everything all at once as I chanted on. I was truly one with universal consciousness. It was as though I knew everything known, and it was there all at once. This went on for about twenty minutes of a thirty-minute drive to my home in Rosebush Michigan. During the twenty minutes I did not recall driving and my avatar was on automatic pilot. My I-AM was engaged in a knowledge download. The chant was melodious. I was singing rather than simply speaking. I know that I was fully engulfed in an amazing peace that really defies explanation. The only thing I remember from the experience was the last line of the chant and I said, “and to the lion, killing isn’t wrong.” That’s where it ended. The thing that I remember most during this experience; I was filled with an amazing peace, but I can absolutely not remember any of the chant except the last line.

I do believe however, that in that dump of spiritual info, I received all of the words of knowledge and all of the spiritual insight that I have given over the years. I have a strong intuition and there are times when I know things about people that I really have no way of knowing, and when I have the courage to share it… it always proves to be right on and just what the individual needed to hear at the time. Since that time I have been driven to understand the nature of reality and the purpose to which this material world exists.

I believe as Nikola Tesla did that, we are receivers from the mind at large. I think I prefer that term “mind at large: though little known and only by those who have read Aldous Huxley’s “The Doors of Perception.” It is interesting to me how synchronicity works because a couple of years before that experience, while taking a graduate painting course at Central Michigan University, my instructor assigned us to read that book as part of painting class. At roughly the same time I was introduced to Fritjof Capra’s “The Tao of Physics” and another friend suggested I read Carlos Castaneda’s novels. I began with “A Separate Reality,” moved on with “Journey to Ixtlan” and kept on from there. I also began to have people with clairvoyant abilities come into my life. I understood that the world that I was in was definitely shaped by consciousness or what one could call spirit. It was easy for me to accept the reality that somehow spirit, or consciousness was underlying reality.

While I had never heard the word panpsychism nor was familiar with any of the philosophers that held that view of reality, it was definitely my view even if I did not know the term. It would be many years before I would come to study Hermetics or read the Tao, but the foundation was laid in this experience. It was also in this time period, later that winter, that I would experience other phenomena on that drive. I began to see bright lights in the sky above my home as I was driving. This would be during this thirty-minute drive. It was like they were parked right over my house. I would see them in the direction of where I lived and as I got closer and closer to home it was obvious that they were there, in the sky. I remember one evening in particular. I saw the light there, and when I got home, my wife’s aunt was babysitting our children. I ran in the house to have her come out and look at it. When she came out, I swear it turned into a plane with a blinking light and moved on. She must have thought I was crazy. I swear, before I went in the house it was just a bright light, white in color and hovering up in the sky and it actually blew my mind that it turned into an ordinary plane.

I remember another evening in the cold Michigan winter. It was a crisp evening with a full moon shining down on the shivering cold. I looked up at it and I had a sense come over me that I was not from here. I was in reality from somewhere out there. It was an overpowering awareness and then it passed. So yes, most definitely I am a believer in paranormal anomalies. For good reason. I am an experiencer of many paranormal circumstances over the years. So numerous that it would take a book to retell them all. Do I realize that we need to stay grounded and accomplish things in the material world for our benefit? Yes, of course. But, I likewise realize that there is much more to reality than simply meets the eye, and I believe that consciousness is on an upward spiral trajectory with a purpose of enlightenment as one goal.

God Beyond Religion: Ufology and Paranormal Activity It’s All Connected

I recently watched the Netflix Series “Manifest.” The phrase “it’s all connected” was used over and over in the show. It was a drama about the divine consciousness and while it exaggerated the action and suspense to make it appealing to a large audience, it covered basic principles that would be important in a panpsychist view of reality. I have written previous posts about the fact that it is all one thing. If you haven’t read any of my previous posts, you may be asking what’s all one thing? The answer is ufo’s/uap’s, portals, interdimensional phenomena, cryptids, poltergeists, etc. 

There is a controversy on UFO Twitter with respect to the veracity of Lue Elizondo, Christopher Mellon, Sean Cahill, Dr. Garry Nolan, Ross Coulthart, George Knapp, Dr. Travis Taylor, Dr. Eric Davis, Jeremy Corbell, et.al. When I look at it with historical retrospect, I see that the critics are very likely wrong. The reason?  they do not take an overall historical look at the phenomenon. I am including in the critics Steven Greenstreet, Mick West, John Greenwald, and most recently Lu Angeles. So what are they missing? They overlook years of a preponderance of evidence that begins with the Air Force acknowledgment of a crash in Roswell New Mexico in 1947 with a questionable at best quick retraction. That alone should be all the evidence anyone needs but fortunately, that was but one event of a plethora of events, and the recent advocates are just a few of the historical many that believed the phenomena was real.

 

I am old enough to have been in my late twenty’s early thirties in the 1970’s. I was privileged to attend a lecture by J. Allen Hynek at Central Michigan at that time. His presentation was very convincing. He told of many encounters and was convinced that the subjects of his many year’s investigation were telling the truth. I am sure that the ilk of Greenstreet and West would find a way to show Hynek as a misguided believer, but that is the only thing they can do. They just sling mud! In large part they do that by believing the DOD and that in itself is a joke and should show what they are.

 

Here is an excerpt from and Article that J. Allen Hynek wrote for the Journal of the Optical Society of America in April 1953. It is entitled “Unusual Ariel Phenomenon” and it is in vol 43. Here is the quote:

 

“Radar observations as well as visual observations are involved in this problem. Early last month shortly before dawn colored lights were observed in the sky southeast of the radar station. At the same time and the same azimuth, unidentified targets appeared on the scope. Only a very slight temperature inversion was present, 1° at 25,000 feet. No more than two lights appeared at one time. They were observed to be moving in a rather erratic pattern and changing colors occasionally. The last thirty minutes of observation revealed the lights remaining yellow prior to that they were red, green, and blue. They moved in no apparent formation but mostly appeared in one area and disappeared in another, when either the light went out or the objects dived behind clouds. They were starlike objects and appeared to develop long, white vapor trails, when they dived. They were motionless at times and moved rapidly at other times. This corresponded to similar movements observed on the radar scope.”

 

The article itself is an interesting read and can be found at ufo - UFOs at close sight: J. Allen Hynek paper in the Journal of the Optical Society of America, 1953 (patrickgross.org). When you add this to the multiple testimonies of military and law enforcement individuals, and the documentary films by James Fox such as “Moment of Contact” and “The Phenomenon” the preponderance of the evidence is overwhelming. For anyone to believe the government over Lue Elizondo, Christopher Mellon, Sean Cahill, Garry Nolan et. al. defies logic and demonstrates that those skeptics have ulterior motives. When you add to that the high strangeness of the Uintah Basin via the show “The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch” it simply adds another layer to the preponderance!

God Beyond Religion: A Christ, Taoist, Idealist, Panpsychist Ontology

The lyrics of John Lennon’s “Imagine” is something to consider and even move toward. A siblinghood of humanity that is inclusive and not exclusive. This could be achieved without sacrificing various kinds of spirituality as long as the exclusive nature of them is eliminated. Whether it is religion, philosophy, or national division and divisiveness it is unnecessary with the simple addition of tolerance. Tolerance and acceptance should be at the heart of any ontology. Beating swords into plowshares is a noble goal. It is in this vane that I would suggest the above title. It is not designed to start another divisive religion, but rather to provide a way in which people can honor their traditions, by embracing the best and eliminating the worst of belief systems. Letting go of terms like dogma, orthodox, and heterodox, and further letting go of the ideas that exist behind the terms is the first necessary step.

Still, there is nothing wrong with holding onto spiritual explanations of the nature of reality. For example, the Christ concept is a reasonable one when considering that it is the Christ of the Logos, or in other words, the anointing of creative consciousness. Christ as Richard Rohr has so eloquently stated is not Jesus of Nazareth’s last name. It is important to realize what the terms meant within their original language and too their original audience. Christos was an anointing, a rubbing on of an ointment as done for anointing kings. Logos was a word but in the Greek philosophical sense it was creative consciousness. So, the universal or cosmic Christ is a description of the anointing or the presence of the Logos. Jesus taught that it was the natural state of humanity. While he acknowledged his Christ, he also saw it as being for everyone. He did not think it was unique to him but available to all. This is one of the main themes of John’s gospel.

A concept that fits well with the Christ of the Logos is the Tao. Simply stated, the Tao, pronounced Dao is the creative conscious source of the universe and is similar in nature to the Hermetic concept of “the-all.” It should be noted here that most all civilizations had in one way or another the concept of the universal creative source. Many of the indigenous tribes, especially of the Americas called it the great spirit. While it is easy in retrospect to romanticize the concept of the great spirit. The indigenous tribes certainly had their share of wars, violence, and inhumane practices it is interesting that the concept was essentially similar to the concept of pneuma or qi (chi.) The life force and breath have been ubiquitous in cultures over millennia in describing the prime source of life and energy.

For an ontology to be plausible it needs to have consistency in agreement across multiple areas. It must at the very least take account for previous spiritual traditions and recognize the truth that is embedded with all of them to one degree or the other. It must also take into consideration scientific thought, theories, and established data. However, it is important to be able to recognize that science too has dogma, and dogmatic factions that make it difficult for the non-scientist to easily filter out the dogmatic from the exploratory and theoretical. When one recognizes that within the scientific community, especially within quantum and astro-physics, that there is a wide variety of disagreement. Likewise, when it comes to the nature of consciousness there is equally a wide range of theories. While there is currently an effort to advance those aspects of science, consciousness itself is a difficult topic to study with mathematical precision. Some are trying, especially Dr. Donald Hoffman, but it is in the infancy stage, and most are locked into the dogma of physicalism and believe that consciousness is an evolutionary product of the brain. However, in so doing they simply bypass the hard problem of consciousness.

This in my view devalues the purview of logic and epistemology. There are things that can be knowable that are not mathematically provable or modeled. It is especially in this area that panpsychist idealism offers a more plausible explanation of reality than the materialist, physicalist explanation that stops short of explaining the why of existence. In a nutshell, the Panpsychism Idealist view sees consciousness as the foundational basis for reality. It is not completely out of the question given the nature of the quantum field of waves that collapse into particles based on observation.

Further, it explains the many paranormal and supernatural occurrences that are common over millennia that have been reported ubiquitously across cultures, eras, and among a plethora of reliable people. If you name the anomaly, Panpsychist Idealism explains it.

God Beyond Religion: Does Spiral Dynamics point toward a benevolent creator of the universe? Spiral Dynamics and Theodicy

Spiral Dynamics and Theodicy

There was a song written in 1995 that asked this question. “What if god was one of us?” It went on to ask, “a slob like one of us, a stranger on a bus?” There is a way in which that song rings far more true than at first hearing. In fact, it is plausible that it could indeed be true. Let’s assume that the creator of the universe is collective consciousness. That the reason for calling it collective is it is made up of individual conscious agents in a collective that are jointly and severally divine. I will show later on in this article that this idea is indeed the most likely of all possible scenarios. Further, I will show that heretofore all of the mystics that religions were built upon were simply misunderstood, and that their message was coopted. It is my view that the orthodox Christian view of the creator is the least likely scenario with respect to reasonable plausibility. That view makes theodicy impossible.

Here is the description of the model of deity that I believe to be the most plausible and reasonable of all possibilities and likewise, I will explain why the scenario, of not having a conscious creative source, is probably the worst of all possibilities. Eternal consciousness exists and has always existed and is dark energy that produces dark matter. This is the first and only miracle needed. The materialist view also needs a first and only miracle and that is the existence of hydrogen atoms. So, in this both theories begin with a miracle or at least an unknowable circumstance. Dark energy contemplates all the dimensions and dark matter is continuously expanding and sustaining material creation. It is by conscious energy that the waves of potentiality are collapsed into particles. We then, jointly (the collective) and severally (individual conscious agents) collapse the waves of potentiality into the particulate matter of the corporeal world.

We create these modalities of existence to expand consciousness. Further, we are divine and eternal being a part of the collective. This eliminates completely the concept of an all wise and potent creator apart from us and creates us as divine agents experiencing the expansion of consciousness. All of the various religions have created metaphors to explain the collective. The metaphors are father and mother, and the individual conscious agents are the offspring or the children. It is in this realm that free will exists. It is likewise in this realm that eternity exists and therefore, being eternal, no actual lasting harm can come to any. While suffering is real in some realms of existence it is not eternal and all experience it. Likewise, what one could call fortunate, pleasurable, and beneficial, though not eternal is experienced equally by all from time to time as expanding consciousness dictates. This is not meant to minimize the suffering or the contentment, but rather places each in perspective of the eternal purpose of expanding consciousness. It makes conscious agents masters of their own fate with free will. This alone provides complete theodicy.

So where does spiral dynamics enter the picture? It is evident in the upward spiral of humanity over the millennia.  Individually and collectively, we are creating a better, more loving, more equitable world. Further, consciousness is expanding toward a more widespread and eventually enlightened reality. Examples are everywhere. Medicine and quality of life is expanding, equity of opportunity is expanding. Statistics bear this out. The amount of people living in extreme poverty has dropped from 2 billion in 1981 to 1.2 billion in 2011 according to the World Bank Poverty: the past, present and future | World Economic Forum (weforum.org). We have progressed from the archaic, through the tribal, the authoritarian, ethno-nationalistic, democratic, and are heading toward the democratic social stage. I realize that there are remnants of many of the stages still present or coinciding with the highest achievement, but that is the way spiral dynamics works. In addition to this, there are more and more people headed to the tier two aspects of spiral dynamics, with the ultimate being enlightenment.

Here is an image that shows the stages of spiral dynamics.

So then, of the three explanations of reality, the emperor god, atheism, or panpsychism, the latter is by far the best choice, and it completely eliminates theodicy. One can equate monotheism with the emperor god and of course atheistic physicalism speaks for itself, there is no god and no purpose just accidental evolution, and with the panpsychism explained in this article there is a purpose and a reasonable explanation of good and evil, and more specifically the existence of evil. Both moral evil and natural evil (earthquakes, disease etc.) are a natural result of the material corporeal experiment but conscious agents being eternally divine experience an "evening out" of suffering and comfort.

The reason that the panpsychist view is superior is that it ultimately produces hope and a reason to love. While the emperor god view promotes trauma, guilt, and shame, the atheistic physicalistic view is ok for those who are encountering even a modicum of comfort but, it is devastating to those who were born into poverty and harshness. In those cases, atheism can lead naturally to one becoming a murderous outlaw. It increases crimes against people and property. Without eternal hope and understanding, deep suffering can produce a complete disregard for life.

Let’s examine the three positions in terms of what they provide most individuals that have ever lived. The emperor god cannot be absolved of creating suffering no matter how one looks at it. It is a view that makes the divine creator arbitrary and capricious and no, giving human’s free will and choice does not eliminate culpability. So many people have been born into poverty and suffering, or just vary hard living conditions that overall life was not that great a gift. They would have been better off not existing.

The same thing rings true for the atheistic view. If there is no purpose and life evolved for no reason, then this view is the most toxic of all. It leaves everything in life to chance. If one was born into wealth and comfort, great but if not, they simply lose. Further, when you consider the numbers of people who were born prior to the last two centuries it was really an unfair plight to have been born.

Finally, the panpsychist view, that all is consciousness and is created by consciousness is a view that offers eternal equilibrium and justice. If we are in fact all divine and individual conscious agents that participate in developing the material corporeal experience, and also have a multitude of other dimensions, worlds, circumstances that cannot even be imagined, we then have a narrative that will allow all to feel that over time and development all will experience the expansion of consciousness by participating in each creative experiment available to conscious agents that is ever expanding in an upward spiral. Further having each dimensional experience adding to the whole in the same way that humanity has developed as viewed by spiral dynamics and seeing that the potential for growth is well beyond imagination. In my view this is the best possible scenario, and it resonates well with me.

It is my belief that all of the mystics and masters of the past were actually trying to communicate this idea but were misunderstood. Sometimes it was from real misunderstanding and in some cases, it was purposefully misrepresented to favor those who were passing on and writing down the message. Those who wrote their own like Lao Tzu and Rumi had a clearer more pure message, and of course, Jesus who had all of his teachings passed on by second hand and third hand messengers was likely the least clear. However, with our intuition and the divine spirit that indwells each and every one of us, even there the real message can be discerned.

God Beyond Religion: Musings of a conscious universe, “it’s all one thing Part 2”

Panpsychism makes it all one thing:

If the universe is a creation of consciousness. If the main energy source of the world around us is consciousness. If indeed consciousness creates reality, then all phenomena stem from one thing. And to state the obvious, that one thing is consciousness. This would include normal phenomena, and also paranormal phenomena, or anomalous phenomena. Over the centuries, there have been a multitude of stories about anomalous phenomena. So, what are the various forms of these anomalies? Well, there is the UFO/UAP phenomenon. There is the spirit/ghost/poltergeist phenomenon. There is the cryptid phenomenon. There is the power spot or power vortex phenomenon. There is the interdimensional portal phenomenon. There is the psychic, clairvoyant, medium, telepathic phenomenon. I do not claim this list is exhaustive as I have probably missed many paranormal phenomena, but I simply want to point out that it is widespread. It is widespread over the planet, and from stories of the past it is widespread over time. In fact, from petroglyphs and hieroglyphs it goes back thousands of years, and conservatively, fifty centuries, and quite likely one hundred centuries. What is the old adage? Where there is smoke there is fire, and the smoke of these ubiquitous stories, point to a fire of plausibility. I like the term, preponderance of evidence. In this regard, the preponderance is overwhelmingly evident.

All of these anomalous phenomena have been met with skepticism over the ages, and I would say that over the last one hundred plus years, they have been ridiculed. And yet, over this same time frame, religions with likewise wild claims, have been accepted without question.  Who are the main ridiculers? Dogmatic Christian groups and dogmatic materialist, physicalist scientist. The obvious reason is that they interfere with the dogma and bring it into question. Yes indeed, I am linking materialist, physicalist scientists with dogmatic religion. There is a level of hubris in both groups that is unmatched. Likewise, they both have a vested interest in downplaying and debunking these phenomena.

On the other hand, the mental universe has been a continuous story across cultures for millennia. While I mostly understand it from the perspective of hermeticism and Taoism it is prevalent in other spiritual traditions including animism. So back to the concept of preponderance of the evidence. There is a preponderance of views about mental alchemy. The Logos, which is the conscious word of the creator has been widely reported for thousands of years beginning with Pythagoras and the Greeks who claimed that it originated in ancient Egypt. Circle all the way to 2022 and you have many scientists that hold a view called panpsychism. Of course, I have often mentioned Dr. Donald Hoffman and Dr. Rupert Sheldrake as two scientists that believe that reality is first and foremost mentation. Hoffman is a cognitive scientist and Sheldrake is a biologist that has developed a theory describing morphic fields of resonance in animals and humans.

But now breaking it down into the categories. There are Multiple reports annually about flying saucers. There are thousands per year in the USA. In fact, in 2020 there were 7200 reports in the USA alone. Many of these reports are from the military and military pilots who have seen and captured them on cameral. Added to this, there is radar evidence to back them up. Not only do they fly at unheard of speeds and maneuver in ways that impossible to our current technology, but they can zip into the water and emerge. In fact, the evidence is beginning to show that some of them at least may have a base of operations in the oceans. It is a phenomenon that affects the navy more than the air force.

So, what is the implication of these craft? What is the implication of the presence of other worldly or extraterrestrial beings observing us? I say other worldly because they may be extra-dimensional or they could be from another planet, star system within the galaxy. The fact remains that if the universe is mentation, then it is possible for worm holes and portals to be accomplished by mental manipulation, a skill that we have not yet understood or developed. If from another dimension it could be that they have constructed UFO’s, UAP’s, and USO’s that help maneuver in this three-dimensional world. One thing for sure is that it expands greatly the concept of the creative source of the universe and eliminates a god in the box that religion has created. It also establishes the fact that what was once ridiculed and considered mass hysteria is now admitted existing by governments around the world. It is not a quantum leap to believe that all paranormal activity that is widely reported across cultures and time has validity as well.

But what about spiritual dimensions? Could they simply be dimensions within the universe that we as yet do not understand? That is more than likely the case. However, if the universe is an organic and atomic computer creation, and if it is sentient then it is possible that what we have come to call the spiritual world or spiritual dimension is all there is. At this time, I lean in that direction. There is one thing that is undeniable. What we call paranormal activity is reported extensively over all locations and time eras. It crosses cultures and centuries and by the sheer preponderance of the reporting it should be taken seriously. Especially when the reports are so similar.

There is a growing number of panpsychists that offer the possibility that it is all one thing. Many of them are well respected and published scientists and philosophers. While not all of them are comfortable calling consciousness spiritual, the fact is that it operates as essentially the same thing. Most metaphysicians look at spirituality being another name for panpsychism. It is definitely in this realm that all of the above-mentioned paranormal phenomena can fit nicely together as one thing, and that is likely why you have such wide reporting of a variety of phenomena at places like Skinwalker Ranch in the Uintah Basin, and Mount Shasta in Northern California. Up until the time that I began to understand panpsychism I had a hard time accepting that cryptids, and portals and other spiritual anomalies accompanied UFO/UAP activity. Panpsychism offers a unifying medium for all of them. Certainly, panpsychism offers a plausible answer to the problem of inter-stellar distances, explains how it is possible for extraterrestrials to hide in plain sight. It also explains portals in the sky and on the earth.

 

God Beyond Religion: It’s all one thing!

If we live in a mental universe; If the first axiom of the Kybalion is correct; If the All is mind and the universe is mental, then the corporeal and material world arises from consciousness and conscious activity. I am finding this increasingly interesting in view of the fact that it seems that paranormal activity, UFO’s/UAP’s, portals, and cryptids all seem to be connected. Further, often when you have one, you also have another and sometimes all of them. In the last post I mentioned the TV series on the History Channel, The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch. Certainly, in that area, in and about the ranch all of the forementioned phenomena are reported and observed.

It is also interesting that petroglyphs and hieroglyphs, many which are thousands of years old contain images that resemble space travelers and portals. There are petroglyphs in Utah, near the ranch in the Uintah Basin that are thousands of years old. If we simply trace the concept back to Egypt, it goes at least 5,000 years in the past and quite likely is much older than that. Add to this the recent archeological find of Gobleki Tepe, and it dates to 11,000 years ago. Of course, Plato wrote about Atlantis, an ancient civilization that was destroyed by water.

The point to all of this is simply that the concept of the universe being mentation is thousands of years old. While it cannot be proven, it is not wild speculation that people from an advanced civilization interacted with the ancient Egyptians and many of the Mezo-American civilizations. Imagine if you will that those of ancient Egypt were visited by advanced people from the sky. Further, imagine that they also experienced cryptids emerging from portals on the earth. This is a very plausible speculation about how various ubiquitous myths came about, and how they were similar across time, regions, and cultures. The myths are very similar even when the cultures did not have contact with one another.

There are two regularly recurring myths that span thousands of years and thousands of miles. One has to do with the concept of father in the sky, and the other is the demons and the underworld. So, what if they originated from people having experiences with UAP’s and cryptids? The myths of father in the sky could have originated from UFO’s/UAP’s, and the myths of the underworld and demons could have originated with portals and cryptids. It is important to note that while the concept of heaven has been given a spiritual connotation through the various myths, the Greek word describing the heavens was simply Ouranos meaning the sky. Many indigenous people thought of father sky and mother earth, and that the “great spirit” inhabited both.

I am including below a quote from the Kybalion. As I have stated many times before the Kybalion was written in 1908, likely by Wm. Walker Atkinson. I refer to it often because it is a no nonsense stating of the Corpus Hermetica, or in other words, the hermetic material that dates back at least to ancient Egypt 3,000 years BCE. I use this quote as many believe that the archaeological data suggests that the ancients had tutors from an advanced civilization. The quote comes from the beginning of chapter three in the Kybalion which covers the idea of mental transmutation.

Mental transmutation is the craft of the alchemist. This passage is meant to suggest that those who instructed the ancient Egyptians were very sophisticated in the sciences.

Chapter 3.

Mental Transmutation. "Mind (as well as metals and elements) may be transmuted, from state to state; degree to degree; condition to condition; pole to pole; vibration to vibration. True Hermetic Transmutation is a Mental Art." — The Kybalion.

“As we have stated, the Hermetists were the original alchemists, astrologers, and psychologists, Hermes having been the founder of these schools of thought. From astrology has grown modern astronomy; from alchemy has grown modern chemistry; from the mystic psychology has grown the modern psychology of the schools. But it must not be supposed that the ancients were ignorant of that which the modern schools suppose to be their exclusive and special property.”

“The records engraved on the stones of Ancient Egypt show conclusively that the ancients had a full comprehensive knowledge of astronomy, the very building of the Pyramids showing the connection between their design and the study of astronomical science. Nor were they ignorant of Chemistry, for the fragments of the ancient writings show that they were acquainted with the chemical properties of things; in fact, the ancient theories regarding physics are being slowly verified by the latest discoveries of modern science, notably those relating to the constitution of matter. Nor must it be supposed that they were ignorant of the so-called modern discoveries in psychology — on the contrary, the Egyptians were especially skilled in the science of Psychology, particularly in the branches that the modern schools ignore, but which, nevertheless, are being uncovered under the name of "psychic science" which is perplexing the psychologists of to-day, and making them reluctantly admit that "there may be something in it after all."

~ The Three Initiates. The Kybalion: A Study of The Hermetic Philosophy of Ancient Egypt and Greece (Illustrated) (p. 13). The Kybalion Resource Page. Kindle Edition.

I want to emphasize the sentence above that is emboldened and underlined. But it must not be supposed that the ancients were ignorant of that which the modern schools suppose to be their exclusive and special property.” This definitely suggests that the ancients were knowledgeable and skilled in the sciences we have today, and quite likely much more advanced. The bottom line is that This explains why the various paranormal anomalies that are found here on the planet are often accompanied by a variety of phenomena that at first glance do not seem related but actually are because they are all a product of transmutation of a material universe that is mentally generated. Likewise, it accounts for many of the spiritualized myths that form the various religions.

  

God Beyond Religion: Skinwalker Ranch, Occam’s Razor, UFO’S and Mentalism

 There is a fascinating show on the History Channel called “The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch.” I know, the History Channel has a dubious reputation, but this series is on the up and up based on the people featured in the show. Skinwalker Ranch is a ranch in the Uintah Basin of Northern Utah that has an infamous history surrounding UFO’s and a variety of other paranormal activities. It would take several posts to explain all that has gone on with the ranch but to list the phenomena, there is UFO/UAP activity, potential portals, poltergeist activity and cryptid activity. This has been documented over the century by many including the federal government. There have been mysterious cattle mutilations as well.

There have been three seasons produced already, and I believe they are working on season four and if you want to binge on a series, this one has my highest recommendation. It should also be noted that the U.S. Defense Department recently organized the Unidentified Arial Phenomenon Task Force (UAPTF.) It was disclosed on various YouTube channels, that the physicist on the show, Dr. Travis Taylor is also chief scientist for UAPTF. I mention this because I want to explain that not all the people on the show are fellow travelers with what is called woo woo. And, I want to also explain that those who are on this show have all experienced what one would call woo woo while working on the experiments on the ranch.

The most recent owner of the ranch is in my view above reproach with his integrity and honesty. He has devoted his time, energy, and most telling his money to try and explore, explain and understand the anomalies that have plagued and accompanied the ranch for at least the last eighty years. They do scientific experiments and scientific inquiry to try to ascertain the anomalies. This brings me to my purpose and interest in telling, about the show, the ranch, and the work being done there.

They are trying to solve the mystery of the ranch through scientific endeavor, and while they are uncovering a great deal of data, the ranch seems to be an illusive entity. Yes, you read me right. The ranch behaves like a cognizant entity. Perhaps more accurately, it behaves like a pre-cognitive sentient entity. So where does Occam’s Razor fit into the picture? In this case, not from a materialist, physicalist point of view but from a mentalist perspective. As I have documented over and over in this blog, there is a rich history that spans at least 5,000 years beginning with Hermetic teaching that explains that the creative force of the universe is conscious energy. This was passed on in western civilization through the Greeks and recently revisited in what has been called the “new age” movement.

So, for Occam’s Razor, here are my thoughts. Occam’s Razor states that the simplest explanation of a situation is probably the correct one. how does this correlate with the Skinwalker Ranch show? The varied phenomena that present on the ranch can be examined by measuring various types of electromagnetic radiation and studying the concept of inter and intra dimensional portals, unidentified ariel phenomenon, and cryptids. However, if as is stated in the Kybalion, The All is Mind, the Universe is Mental, that is the place to begin the investigation. Bringing in a genuine psychic, such as a clairvoyant, clairsentient, or claircognizant would be a great place to begin study.

It would require one who is grounded in the understanding that the creative source of the universe is love and peace, and that peace is the highest vibration prior to enlightenment. If such a person went to the ranch with a reverent regard for the forces at play and was grounded in love, light and peace at its highest vibrational state, then one could examine all that is at play there and perhaps discover the most beneficial path for exploring and explaining all the anomalies. That one would need to be cautioned of the fact that originally, the ranch was the source of a conflict between indigenous tribes and a curse put in place by one of the parties. Perhaps it could be liberated from its malevolent past and become a jumping off place for additional scientific and metaphysical study.

God Beyond Religion: The Cognitive Self and the Ethereal Self; the key to mental alchemy

I once thought that we were tripart beings, or in other words, mini trinities, but I am having to relinquish the idea in favor of dualities. We have a higher self, and a lower self. We have a cognitive self and an ethereal self. Even in Christianity, you have Jesus the word incarnate, and the Father. In the Hermetica you have Atum/ALL and the word, Atum’s son. In John’s gospel Jesus says the following:

John 17:20-23  "I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word,  (21)  that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.  (22)  The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one,  (23)  I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”

Ok, for a minute set aside religious connotation and look at what is being said. Ignore the patriarchal idea for a minute and realize that the Father represents one half of the two-part divinity. In this passage, Jesus the son, the incarnate word is the lower self, and the Father is the higher self. The salient idea presented in the passage is the amalgamation or marriage of the two into one. It could best be described as unified duality. By extension, Jesus is also stating that this amalgamation should be the goal of all humanity.

I have stated before that I see Jesus as an ultimate mental alchemist. All of the miracles are an example of mental alchemy. In John’s gospel, the first miracle is changing water into wine. That is not just mental alchemy it is physical alchemy as well. How was he able to accomplish that? He had joined the cognitive self with the ethereal self to create a unified duo. It is the unified duo that finds nothing impossible. He had amalgamated his higher-self with his lower-self. Please understand that you do not have to take all of the things credited to Jesus and accept them as fact to understand what I am proposing here. Set aside if you will, the cultural aspects and the belief system of the people that Jesus came to, and observed the miracles claimed and see that they all fall into the category of mental alchemy. Again, I want to emphasize for clarity that this was possible because of the amalgamation or marriage of the higher self and the lower self.

Now let’s examine what Jesus went on to teach.

John 14:12  “Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.”

Believes in what? Believes that he has amalgamated his higher self and his lower self. He is aware that he is the incarnation of the Logos or the word of the Father. He is conscious of his unified duality and has allowed that knowledge to unite the two into one. That is the goal for each of us. He stated that we would do greater works. How would that happen? It would happen when we make the two one by amalgamating the higher-self and the lower self, the cognitive self and the ethereal self. This is indeed the key to mental alchemy.