From The Archives: Towering Turtles

[This is for Tyler and M.L. ... This was originally posted January 25, 2006]

Sir Oliver: Then you live in a world of illusion?
Raymond: So do you, father, in the right sense of the word you do. We live in what you might call an extension of the illusory world in which you live. The outer rim of it. We are in touch with a world of reality because we are in the outer rim of the world of illusion. We're more sure of the world of reality than you are, Father, the spirit-universe is the world of reality. Spirit and mind both belong to the world of reality. Everything else, that is external things, are necessary for a time, but superfluous and only temporary in existence as far as the world of reality goes—which is eternal and indestructible. Spirit and mind belong to that world. The world of ether is only created by the power of mind. We are not entirely free from your world of matter, we are more independent of it but are still concerned with it."
—from Raymond, Or Life and Death⁽¹⁾
(Image: Yertle The Turtle, by Dr. Seuss.


Fellow mind-traveler E.W. ponders—

"I don't know why this is but part of me is powerfully attracted to dark matter. I feel it is the source of everything, and also the resting place; yet it is something that is beyond understanding, it can't be seen or smelt or touched or purchased on-line. It is a black box that can never be opened, a kind of invisible and intangible factory utterly beyond knowledge of any kind. I liken it to the "eye that can not see itself", there but not there, neither noumenal nor phenomenal (if noumenal is understood as something that can be detected by subtle senses). [see August's note.⁽²⁾] It is like the ground that supports all and the stage that the play is played upon, or the medium that allows knowing (of any kind) to occur but which can't be known itself.

"My question is, in your view is there anything that can not be eventually known? I understand your universe as one that is eternally prolific with infinite extension, but, assuming that dark matter is the source, is this dark matter ever used up or otherwise made known?

"And do we almost have the choice whether we want to "identify" with dark matter or with that universe (or those universes) that can be detected by senses, subtle or otherwise? Can the eye see itself?"

Although briefly explored in The Risen, dark matter is a big dark mystery, E.W., and feels almost like some kind of practical joke of the Creator Source. It may be the ground whereof you speak. Ground rises from another ground, or "turtles all the way down."⁽²⁾

My intuition, as informed by Risen Healer-Scientists, seems to be saying that what’s being detected as “dark matter” is really not “matter” but an effect, like light being reflected/refracted on the surface of the bottomless ocean of samsara, which is a reflection/refraction on the surface of the bottomless ocean of Reality. This visionary conception of "Reality vs. Illusion" and the various layers (or "geographies" as the Risen conceptualize them) seems to be very like what Sir Oliver's transitioned son, Raymond, is trying to convey in the quote above, during one of their mediumistic exchanges. It also speaks to how some disembodied spirits can continue to access our terrestrial geography, while others no longer can.

When you perceive someone perceiving you, Self perceives Self. "You" here must exclude the "you" of ego-self, so perhaps better to say I AM. This is most evident within our material manifestation when we are looking into the eyes of someone with whom we are in love and who is in love with us. I have this experience with the kittens and other animals, for they have no ego-self and it is clear to me I am looking into the eyes of God, who is looking into my eyes and sees God as well. This is the I seeing Its Self—the All-Seeing I. The animals cannot see my ego-self; they see only who I AM. They see only that I AM. I also have this experience with trees.
[I can’t say that I know what “know” means.]

E.W. responds —

". . . It's kind of like the mirrors facing each other creating a false infinity (which you mentioned, I think, while writing of the diakka) but there's obviously a difference in this case, a true living selfless infinity perhaps. Trees knock me out too. When you put that double tree image on the blog I came across a couple very similar images elsewhere around the same time.

I sometimes take long soaking baths in the morning, which I was doing this morning when this black box thing came to me."

Water is especially conducive to intuition enhancement and especially to spirit contact. Being over running water is especially potent, which is why probably a lot of great ideas come to us while on the toilet—perhaps the combination of being in an exceptionally vulnerable position while flushing now and then. I'm often joined in the shower, in the rain, and in the bath by the Risen. 

E.W. responds—

"That could be why one of the best feelings is to wake up to the sound of light rain outside. Hey, wait, you wrote about water just the other day. "

Yes, I did! This kind of watery synchronicity needs a special designation—maybe something like a woo-wee event"?


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⁽¹⁾ Sir Oliver Lodge, Raymond, Or Life and Death. (New York: George H. Doran Company, 1916).

⁽²⁾ Phenomenon (an occurrence, circumstance, or fact that is perceptible by the senses) vs. noumenon (an object as it is in itself independent of the mind) — Kant's distinction between things as they appear to us and things as they are in themselves {Ger. Ding an sich = thing-in-itself}. Although cautious application of transcendental arguments may provide a firm basis for knowledge of the former, Kant supposed, the latter lie forever beyond our grasp. But as some of us know, the Risen, as phenomena, are not necessarily beyond certain aspects of our grasp.

⁽³⁾ "Turtles all the way down" refers to an infinite regression myth about the nature of the universe. The most widely known version today appears in Stephen Hawking's 1988 book A Brief History of Time, which begins with an anecdote about an encounter between a scientist and an old lady:

A well-known scientist (some say it was Bertrand Russell) once gave a public lecture on astronomy. He described how the Earth orbits around the sun and how the sun, in turn, orbits around the centre of a vast collection of stars called our galaxy.

At the end of the lecture, a little old lady at the back of the room got up and said: "What you have told us is rubbish. The world is really a flat plate supported on the back of a giant tortoise."

The scientist gave a superior smile before replying, "What is the tortoise standing on?"

"You're very clever, young man, very clever," said the old lady. "But it's turtles all the way down."