What we are
grappling with is the successful perception of the super consciousness and
actually accessing it. This very much
entails querying it and returning with the data. This has been done, not so far in an
organized manner. There is also the
matter of limitations. Much that has
come back is the perceptions of a spirit which may well be awful or often we receive
a sense of future tendency. Wisdom yes,
but not precise.
Sometimes we
get hard data. Cayce came up with the
unique importance of Bimini. Decades
later on schedule, observations were made.
Decades after that it became clear to myself and some others why this
locale was important and creditable. I
hope you can be patient. Cayce had it
right. He focused on today’s problem
with today’s solutions.
Showing you
the world’s largest oil field is of no help if after spending $15,000,000 to
drill, you discover that your current technology cannot pump it.
The gold
standard remains the experience of Swedenborg.
He spoke extensively with spirits he recognized and even knew as freely
as you and I can talk. He did this for
years and he has not been unique. He still
was unable to return with interesting theorems in mathematics.
Beyond
the Five Senses: The Powers Latent in Humankind
April 16, 2014
By ROBERT M. SCHOCH, Ph.D.
The traditional five senses – sight,
hearing, smell, taste, and touch – are these the only ways to perceive the
world, to gain information, to experience reality? In fact there are more than
five senses, taking different forms, in various types of organisms, including
humans. For instance, humans can also sense balance and acceleration,
temperature, and pain due to nerve damage. There are other types of
physiological receptors as well, some found in humans, some found in other
organisms. To cite just a few examples, directional awareness based on Earth’s
magnetic field occurs in birds and bacteria, various species of fishes as well
as dolphins can detect electric fields, and for many types of fishes water
pressure detection used to maintain buoyancy is critical.
But is there something more than the sorts
of physiological-based senses described in the last paragraph? The answer to
this question is of profound importance, as it fundamentally divides the world
into two philosophical and metaphysical camps.
On the one hand we have the
“physicalists-materialists” who believe there is nothing more to reality beyond
matter and energy as construed by classical physics and western science more
generally. This position devolves to a dogmatic scientism (sometimes
referred to as naturalism1) that posits the so-called scientific method,
involving empiricism, observations, and laboratory experiments (generally with
a heavy emphasis on measurements), as the only way to gain knowledge.
[ This
position is proving to be seriously wrong and we are learning to measure
effects which tells me that like the once marvelously mystical electromagnetic
field, they too will be de mystified. – arclein]
On the other hand, in sharp contrast to
extreme scientism, are found a wide array of “ways of knowing.” These include a
diverse range of experiences with equally diverse labels: religious insight,
ecstasy, spiritual knowledge, meditative contemplation, divine illumination,
aesthetic and symbolic revelation, visionary trances, out-of-body experiences,
soul travelling, channelling of supernormal entities, and so forth.
In sum, scientism is often contrasted with
spirituality, religiosity, and the preternatural, supernatural, or
supersensitive in all of their disparate forms. Another way of putting this is
that scientism denies any inner or beyond this material world aspects, such as
the concept of consciousness, that are divorced from or in addition to physical
matter and energy as perceived either directly or indirectly (using appropriate
instrumentation) via the five senses. Those following the dogmatism of
scientism often make a sharp distinction between the objective and the
subjective; based on my research, this is a false dichotomy that often blurs
under close scrutiny.
In terms of the mind-body problem, scientism
essentially denies that consciousness is anything more than an epiphenomenon
arising from physical-chemical processes taking place in the brain. The
alternative extreme view is that consciousness exists outside of and beyond
matter, and it is consciousness that in fact infuses the universe and makes
matter manifest. Based on his understanding of modern physics, Amit Goswami
(author of a standard textbook on quantum mechanics2) has written:
[ Conjecture: The conscious expression ‘I am’ initiates the universe and is
both independent and directly informed by the Universe thereafter. I have shown that this is rigorously
sufficient to produce the entirety of our living universe including the total
content of the super consciousness that we call GOD while retaining externality.
I also strongly suspect that it is
necessary but this is not shown rigorously as yet. A thought experiment may be able to exclude
all other choices. I do know that I had
precisely one choice. – Arclein ]
“I propose that the universe exists as
formless potentia in myriad possible branches in the transcendent domain and
becomes manifest only when observed by conscious beings.”3
It is not only from a quantum mechanical
point of view that one can reach the conclusion that consciousness may be prior to matter. ( no! it is coincident with matter – arclein )Erik Verlinde (Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of
Amsterdam) developed a new theory of gravity based on the concept that the
universe is essentially a holograph where the structure of space-time emerges
from information.4 Elaborating on Verlinde’s work, I came to the following
conclusion:
“The most fundamental aspect of the
universe… is information. Information can be equated with thought or mind or
mental constructs independent of any material everyday conception…. The
universe of mass and energy and forces, as we experience it on an everyday
practical level, may have had its origin in a thought that inserted information
into an otherwise blank (data free) holographic system…. Inserting more
thoughts, more information, expands and changes the system…”5
For me the bottom line is that not only can
consciousness exist independent of matter, but consciousness – thought,
information – is prior to matter in a most fundamental sense. This position is
diametrically opposed to dogmatic scientism and opens, even demands, the
acknowledgment that not only is there more to reality than can be perceived by
the “five senses,” but in order to gain a complete picture and understanding of
reality we must gain knowledge in ways that go well beyond the five senses,
beyond the simplistic so-called scientific method. We need philosophical,
religious, transcendent experiences and the genuine knowledge such experiences
bring. Those who limit themselves to their material physiology can never aspire
to understand the ultimate nature and meaning of the universe.
This assertion that consciousness is beyond
matter is not just an empty statement for me. We have latent powers to
exercise, and such powers have been expressed in a variety of contexts through
the ages. Various forms of paranormal and parapsychological experiences elicit
and highlight these latent powers, most often expressed as telepathic
interactions (direct mind-to-mind, direct consciousness-to-consciousness,
connecti
Make no mistake; telepathy and psychokinesis
are genuine.7 Remote viewing, which is essentially telepathy and
clairvoyance8 dressed in modern terminology, has been successfully
demonstrated over and over again under controlled laboratory conditions.9
Indeed, telepathy may be the most
fundamental way to connect directly with the universal consciousness, with the
numinous, with the divine. What is silent prayer but telepathy put to action to
communicate with one’s god?
[ what we are
lacking is a useful system to perceive abstract ideas besides the limitations
of our own language. – arclein ]
Numerous techniques can be used to cultivate
and elicit paranormal experiences, experiences that scientism either dismisses
or fails to take seriously, and these have been developed within many different
religious and cultural contexts, from the rituals of tribal African societies
to the yogis of the Indian subcontinent to Zen practitioners to classic
shamanism to séances in all their diverse forms to western occult and esoteric
studies.10 All, at their core, elicit different but complementary ways of
gaining access to legitimate knowledge that is beyond the five senses.
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Footnotes
1. Alex Rosenberg, “Why I Am a Naturalist”,
17 September 2011, article posted at:
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/17/why-i-am-a-naturalist/?ref=opinion (Accessed
26 September 2011); Timothy Williamson, “What
Is Naturalism?”, 4 September 2011, article posted at:
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/04/what-is-naturalism/ (Accessed
26 September 2011).
2. Amit Goswami, Quantum
Mechanics (second edition), New York: McGraw-Hill, 1997.
3. Amit Goswami (with Richard E. Reed and
Maggie Goswami), The Self-Aware Universe: How Consciousness Creates the
Material World, New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam, 1993 [paper trade edition,
1995], 141, italics in the original.
4. Erik Verlinde, “On the Origin of Gravity
and the Laws of Newton”, paper dated 6 January 2010, 29 pages, available
from
http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/arxiv/pdf/1001/1001.0785v1.pdf (Accessed
28 July 2010).
5. Robert M. Schoch, “Moving the Moai:
Easter Island as a possible psychokinetic laboratory”, Darklore, vol. 5
(2010), pp. 134-155, 268-270 [endnotes]; quotation from page 145.
6. It has not escaped my notice that some
forms of paranormal and parapsychological phenomena may ultimately be
explainable, or at least partially elucidated, by “conventional” physical and
energetic systems, such as if for instance cases of telepathy (or some forms of
telepathy) are electromagnetic phenomena in the extremely low frequency range.
However, I am not convinced that all paranormal and parapsychological phenomena
can be explained using a purely physicalist/materialist paradigm.
7. The reality of these phenomena has been
established despite the numerous charlatans who make fraudulent claims; as the
saying goes, just because counterfeit money exists, that does not mean genuine
currency does not exist. For evidence supporting the reality of paranormal and
parapsychological phenomena, see: Robert M. Schoch, “Thoughts Have
Wings”, New Dawn, January-February 2011, page 11; Robert M. Schoch and
Logan Yonavjak, compilers and commentators, The Parapsychology Revolution:
A Concise Anthology of Paranormal and Psychical Research, New York: Jeremy P.
Tarcher/Penguin, 2008; and references cited therein.
8. “Clear vision,” or the reception of
information about objects, persons, or events, whether in the past, present, or
future, by other than normal sensory means.
9. Paul H. Smith, “Remote Viewing: State of
the Field”, Edgescience, Number 8, July-September 2011, 13-16.
10. See for instance: P. G. Bowen, The
Occult Way, London: Rider and Company, circa 1936; Ernesto de Martino, Primitive
Magic: The Psychic Powers of Shamans and Sorcerers, Bridport, Dorset: Prism,
1972/1988/1999; Caesar de Vesme, A History of Experimental
Spiritualism (two volumes), Volume I,Primitive Man, Volume II, Peoples
of Antiquity, London: Rider and Company, 1931; S. M. Shirokogoroff,Psychomental
Complex of the Tungus, London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner, 1935
[Reprinted: Berlin: Reinhold Schletzer Verlag, 1999.].
ROBERT M. SCHOCH received a Ph.D. in
Geology and Geophysics from Yale University, and since 1984 has been a
full-time faculty member at the College of General Studies of Boston
University. His books include the trilogy with R. A. McNally: Voices of
the Rocks, Voyages of the Pyramid Builders, and Pyramid Quest. For more on
the subjects covered in the above article, see The Parapsychology
Revolution: A Concise Anthology of Paranormal and Psychical Research (Compilation
and Commentary by Robert M. Schoch and Logan Yonavjak, Tarcher/Penguin, 2008).
Dr. Schoch’s personal website is located at:www.robertschoch.com
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