Believing is Seeing.

[ The following was originally posted 3/13/06.]

"A Skeptic (with a capital "S") would have the idea that I'm seeing things that aren't there, without allowing for the idea that I'm seeing things that are there. Obviously, it's a matter of differences in perception, which hinges on particular beliefs currently being held before us like a lens of focus. Change the belief, and perceptions will change — which may seem to indicate that things themselves have changed — but actually they haven't. Nothing has changed except perception."
— from the previous post

To follow up a bit on the above — A perception is changed by changing a belief — altering it in some way, or discarding or negating it. Even looking at a belief, examining it, will alter it in some way. A belief is the lens of perception — we view the universe with/through the belief. Multiple beliefs = multiple lenses. Obviously, we are looking at our universe through many lenses. Are we seeing reality for what it is, with 20/20 vision? John Crowley wrote a fascinating novel — Engine Summer — a futuristic post-apocalyptic fantasy of deep complexity and where cats are finally recognized for their wisdom. A shaman-like character possesses hundreds, maybe thousands of what seem to be glass slides from an old projection system, and has developed a system of divination whereby light is projected through selected, layered slides and the resulting projection is studied and interpreted. A core belief here is that somehow, when the right combination of layers is found, "the answer to everything" will be revealed.

My mediumistic abilities are directly related to my beliefs about myself, about the abilities and my experiences. A Skeptic's beliefs will enable or disable their own lenses, as well as abilities and experiences. So I and a Skeptic may be looking at the same event, the same information or set of data, and seeing them differently. It follows that neither is incorrect according to what their lenses are revealing. Is one's perceived version of reality more real than another's?

What also follows is the question, "can we can see reality without beliefs, without lenses? "

Viewing our universe, our experience of our universe, through lenses, is brought about by our dream-like state of mind as we manifest our personal reality. "Waking up" is achieved by gradually (usually) removing the lenses — by removing beliefs. Consider what it's like trying to wake up from a bodily sleep-dream, as if coming up through thick, dark water, where light and sounds are blurred and indiscernable, like looking through thick glass lenses that distort the world we're in. Various states of awakeness reveal various aspects of reality while blurring or hiding others. Perhaps waking up in reality is as difficult (or as easy) as waking up from a bodily sleep dream.

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Medicine, Miracles and Manifestations

We were pleasantly awed to discover that Dr. John L. Turner, noted neurosurgeon and author of the amazing book, Medicine, Miracles, and Manifestations: A Doctor's Journey Through the Worlds of Divine Intervention, Near-Death Experiences and Universal Energy , has been introduced to our book and is endorsing it at his website.

Runic Apport

August here. One of my most beloved things is a set of rune stones, carved by a priestess of Wicca onto river stones from the stream in the hills behind her home in the forests of Wales. I have always had an exceptional resonance with the runes, and have developed a kind of companionship with them; they're the kind of friends who have no problem telling me like it is, yet with compassion, and often wry humour -- just my style. The last time I had the opportunity to talk with them was probably a couple weeks or so ago. They're kept in a special cloth bag that draws shut with a ribbon, sewn for me by the Welsh witch herself. The bag resides on the bottom shelf of the bedside stand, behind a closed door.

After the recent re-posting of Tim's materialization of 4 years ago, I found myself wishing it would happen again, or at the very least, something as equally weird and intensely magical. So I asked Tim, "Could you?" as I was readying myself for bed last night. "I'll see what I can do," he answered. The clock was just striking midnight.

But I couldn't fall asleep -- I was excited that something might happen and didn't want to miss it. I fidgeted and turned my pillow over and over, trying to relax and get still. But A big snow storm was also on its way, and I love such things of Nature, so I kept getting up to see if it had started. And just as I started to finally drift off, my two crazy siamese children decided to get up and continue their nightly pre-slumber game of "Thundering Herds." After ushering them out of the room and firmly shutting the door (one knows how to use doorknobs) I finally felt I could relax enough to let go and sleep. The clock was striking 1:30 am. I rearranged my pillow yet a few more times.

I must have finally drifted off, but not much later I found myself stumbling to the bathroom, although I didn't really have to use it. As I got back into bed and pulled the covers up to my chin, I reached my hands up behind my head and under my pillow to sort of cradle my head through the pillow -- kind of an odd thing I don't usually do, now that I think of it. And my hands felt something under my pillow. My first thought was wondering how McHenry managed to get one of his filthy toy mice under there - but I wasn't surprised, they're everywhere and I'm constantly stepping on them. But this wasn't furry (or wet and soggy as horribly usual) - it was flat and smooth and irregular in shape. I brought it out and turned on the light. The clock read 2:25.

The last thing I expected to see was one of the rune stones, but there it was: Dagaz, the Final Rune. Literally: Day or Dawn -- an esoteric meaning of Awakening. It can mean many things: paradoxical truth, incommunicable experience, conceptual realization, enlightenment, satori; non-dual reality, a fresh start, an awakening of the senses, or greater understanding of the totality of existence, unity, synthesis, transmutation. In a few moments I understood what it was telling me, but wasn't sure if I could believe such a breath-taking suggestion. Tim was close by, watching quietly in support, with his familiar cat-that-ate-the-canary expression.

I'm really not able to share here the exquisite intimacy of the message intended for me in this apport from Spirit, from Tim and many others. But it is sufficient to say that I got my wish for some magic, and wanted others to know that this magic is spiritually all around us, just waiting to manifest at our request.

The snow storm has arrived, in all it's white, windy glory, and I'm glad to report I managed to feed the patient mob of birds waiting for me before everything was quickly covered.

From the Archives: Materialization: Tim Returns

I (August) came across this in the Blog Archives. I was amazed to read it, as I had totally forgotten it, if that can be imagined. This is yet another perfect example of what we call "psychospiritual amnesia" -- an effect that results from the ego-mind coming in contact with numinous events. It appears this effect continues on, unless re-confronted with the event or a record of it.
____________________
From today's journal:

7/24/06

While waiting to fall asleep last night, I made a strong wish to be with Tim – nothing complicated or intense, just sincere. Whether it was in a dream, or in the astral, I didn’t care.

I had almost fallen asleep, or perhaps had fallen asleep, when Tim began to materialize in the bed next to me, very slowly — it gently woke me up. It took me a few seconds to realize what was happening as I came to consciousness. The room was dark and it was hard to see, but I could feel his hair growing thicker as his body grew more solid and warm. I could feel that his eyes were closed as I touched his face, and he kept softly repeating “careful, now.” I was filled with astonishment. It had been over 5 years since something like this had happened, and I had thought that it was no longer possible, or that he had moved beyond this, somehow. He seemed not at all weak but very slow, as if heavy or tired. I held his head between my hands and kissed him on the forehead. “Careful, now,” he continued to mumble, “no lights, no lights, please.” His flesh was still not fully formed and very pliable, like raw bread dough in some places. His lower lip stretched out too much when I kissed him. I told him I loved him. I didn’t know what else to say, except “thank you.” . . . “you made it!” . . . “wow!”

Then he moaned a little, and said softly, “I’m cold.”

“Would you like some covers?” I asked. I had only the sheet on the bed; the comforter was nearby on the chair next to it.

“Yes” he said. I sat up and leaned over him to pull the comforter towards us, but then realized something.

“Wait – you could get too warm from this, you need to stay cool to stay formed.” I don’t know how I knew that, but I did. As I was saying this, I was still drawing the comforter towards us, and then he simply faded away with no sound, no warning. I lay there thinking I should get up and write down all that had happened before the usual psychospiritual amnesia took hold and the experience faded away as well. But I was to enthralled to move, and I fell asleep and had strange dreams. Someone in a dream came and kept telling me to wake up, wake up, go write it down! Somehow, I did wake up, and so the thought to write it down was barely interrupted, and I was able to get up and go to my desk for some paper and a pencil.

Later — In spite of a very long and hectic work day, it felt as quick as a nap, barely real, barely making an impression on me, and I had more energy than I’d had in months. I was thriving on the knowledge that Tim truly lives. And there was a major difference this time. I experienced no sickness or side- or after-affects; Tim seemed to be unaffected as well, and the fading was quick and gentle, not the usual dramatic, sometimes violent affair it had been in the past. I’m wondering — why the difference?

And —what next?

Tim Speaks Some More

Tim continues to maintain contact with Rob of EVP/ITC Australia, and has sent another message to me (August.) Here one can clearly hear him say "Augie!" but in a robotic voice, suggesting it is being generated via some kind of technology. The original "pre-cleaned up" version Rob sent contains quite a bit of other sounds and faint voices, including what I definitely recognize as cetacean clicks and whistles. For those of you who have read The Risen, you will surely understand my delight about this!

More to come, as it appears that Tim has managed to bridge a spirit ITC team with Rob!

Tim Rises Down Under

[Fractal image "Moon On Water" by Susannah Gilley]

Upon receiving his copy of The Risen, Rob Smith, of EVP & ITC Australia, reports he "felt prompted" to record a small radio sweep segment on his computer. He was astonished to hear the name 'AUG' in a US accent on the resulting snippet with a comment by another person saying something like, "Incredible Rob - amazing pick up!"

Rob quickly sent it to me (August). "Serendipitously," my new fancy headphones that were recommended by the Monroe Institute arrived that same day, and I could quite clearly hear Tim saying "Aug!" And although nobody else will ever be able to verify this other than me, so many subtle, layered emotional nuances captured within that one word made my heart go thump like nobody else ever could, assuring me that it could only be Tim.

The other voice sounded to me like it was saying "amazing!" — a voice I recognized -- also with the same "emotional signature of familiarity" -- but not someone of terrestrial origins - meaning it's someone from another dimension beyond Earth and actually in a different dimension from where Tim is — so I'm fairly certain it's someone quite high up, probably of The Risen Assembly.

Rob has made this snippet available for all to listen to.

Music for The Risen

As many explorers into the realms of spirit know — especially those who are involved in mediumistic work and especially seances — music is often used to stimulate, raise, enhance, sustain and catalyze one's vibrations in order to equalize the meeting ground between terrestrial and otherdimensional geographies. A particular piece of music was instrumental (literally) in aiding August to be able to achieve and maintain the high vibration with those higher energy entities that was needed to sustain work on The Risen, especially in the final exhausting months before publication. We'd like to share it with you, and highly recommend listening to it, especially while reading the Foreword and the 1st Chapter.

This particular piece of music by composer/musician, Tim Story, is particularly resonant with our book and would be useful to listen to in order to raise vibration while reading. It's called "Asleep The Snow Came Flying" and is available for download at Amazon.